Skip to content
Who's in the Video
Robert Bryce is a Texas-based freelance journalist and the current managing editor of Energy Tribune.  His most recent book,Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence (2008) has been heralded as[…]

Why are we aiming for the impossible?

Question: What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong?

Robert Bryce: Well, what are we doing right and the key thing the US is doing wrong in terms of energy policy over all, I think letting congress mandate foolish legislation like that they ethanol’s scam, the congress in December of 2007 past the energy independence and security act of 2007 and doing so mandated the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022 it is not going to happen this I mean they what they have done is mandate the creation of huge amount of motor fuel that the market cannot supply but what is also happening is that they are increasing demand for corn and there by and there fore other grains as causing enormous amounts of inflation in food prices, and it is hurting consumers all over the country so I think what the US has been doing wrong with to regard energy policy is allowing congress to meddle too much in the market and mandates certain solutions that are not economic and are not helpful and what is US doing right I am not to think about that because there are no answers that come to mind, I think that we really, the mistake that we are making as well in addition to the ethanol is relying on militarism. US has really since the 1970s in particular had an approach to energy security they and that requires wrongly over militarization of the person goal which I think has been a very deleterious effects on the US. The second Iraq war was no matter how you size it was in fact about controlling the flow of well out of Iraq and resting the control of Iraq’s oil from Saddam Hussein mean while other countries around the world have turned to the market place. They are not using militarism as a way to try and assure energy supply and they are thriving and we are going bankrupt.

Date Recorded: 03/20/2008


Related