[Peak Oil Action] Peak oil testimony in the Senate Energy Committee today, and next steps

[Vermont Peak Oil Political Action Alerts]

Hi folks,
Just wanted to update you on today's testimony in the Senate Natural 
Resources and Energy Committee on peak oil and talk about the next 
steps in getting a statewide conversation going and positive 
legislation.

The room was packed with interested people; people were sitting on 
the window sill because chairs were all taken. Now it's a small room, 
so "packed" means 19-20 people, according to one person's count. The 
large majority of those listening were from our groups.

Here's how it went:
We got off to a late start, as senators were in other meetings, but 
they allocated us the full half hour. I talked for a little over 15 
minutes, explaining both what peak oil is and how it's likely to 
affect Vermont in particular. Scott Printz helped pull together great 
charts and statistics on the impact of increased gasoline and oil 
prices on Vermont family budgets.

The senators seemed engaged in what was said, and there was some 
discussion afterwards about how much potential there was for 
increasing flows by tearing up environmental regulations and drilling 
everywhere. It was clear that they were not advocating such a policy, 
but they wanted to hear what our response would be. I told them that 
it's not possible to know how much oil is in places that haven't been 
drilled, but that oil companies have been ramping up drilling in very 
many places in the last five years, and nonetheless discoveries have 
declined. I also took the opportunity to point out the distinction 
between reserves and flow rates, pointing out that the Athabasca tar 
sands may contain huge reserves, but they can't be tapped at much 
greater than the present 1.5 million barrels per day.

There was also a lot of note-writing and note-passing among three of 
the five senators; I'm not sure how to interpret it. They've heard it 
all before? Clearly at least one of them was pretty new to the 
subject. Or they are just good friends and enjoy keeping up a running 
commentary? Don't know.

John Kaufmann of the Oregon Department of Energy did an excellent job 
of presenting the work of the Portland Peak Oil Taskforce, which he 
participated in. For one senator in particular, it was clear that it 
was important to see that other policy makers in the US were 
wrestling with these issues. If you want to see the slides he worked 
from, you can download them at
http://www.aspousa.org/proceedings/houston/presentations/John%20Kaufmann%20Portland%20PO%20Task%20Force.pdf

Some of us stuck around afterwards and discussed next steps in the 
statehouse cafeteria. We're going to make another stab at finishing 
the Vermont Peak Oil Report by the end of the month and holding a 
press conference in the statehouse on it. We developed a timeline 
that involves inviting input from you all on the final draft starting 
in the middle of next week.

I'll keep up a conversation with legislators about incorporating 
planning for peak oil into legislation; we're looking at getting a 
peak oil committee of some sort in bills the senate is now 
considering. We'd like to have other recommendations based on the 
peak oil report's conclusions, too.

Finally, if you're not already signed up for the February 3 peak oil 
activists' retreat in Randolph, please consider doing so. (The 
registration deadline is the end of this week, and it's filling up 
fast.) It's the first statewide gathering of peak oil activists, and 
I think the workshops will be very good. Also, at the end of the day, 
there will be a meeting of the Vermont Peak Oil Political Action 
Group. Details below.

Thanks to everyone who showed up and to everyone who beamed good 
thoughts our way during the testimony!

Cheers,
Carl


PEAK OIL ACTIVISTS RETREAT - FEB. 3

On Sunday, February 3rd, peak oil activists from around the
state will gather to spend the day engaged in reflection,
training, networking and discussion.  The main event will be
a workshop by Phil Rice and colleagues from the
Sustainability Institute in Hartland on "Four Capacities for
Effective Leadership on Peak Oil."  We welcome Vermonters
interested in promoting peak oil education and preparation
at community and state levels to join us.  Registration is
limited to 50 participants; registration deadline is January
20th.

For more information, contact Annie at
<mailto:newsletter at vtpeakoil.net>newsletter at vtpeakoil.net.
-- Please put "VPON Retreat" in the subject line.

[This event has been posted on the VPON Calendar and was
mentioned in the January VPON Monthly News and Views.  This
will be the final registration call.]

-- 
Carl Etnier
Peak Oil Awareness
carl @ etnier.net
225 Sparrow Farm Road
Montpelier, Vermont 05602  USA
Tel +1 802-498-4443
Relocalizing Vermont radio show: http://www.wgdr.org/relocalizingvermont.html
Archived radio segments: http://www.vtpeakoil.net/community/folder.php?id=29
Relocalizing Vermont blog: http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/257
Archived Energy Matters columns: 
http://vtpeakoil.net/community/folder.php?id=33