Page - 72 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

more environmentally oriented than the previous Conservative government. To some, this decision was justified on the basis that if the US won’t take even small symbolic steps to reduce carbon emissions and global warming, why should other nations striving to improve their economies undertake such efforts. Others continue to believe that ‘TheKeystoneXL fight hardly matters in the grand scheme of the global climate. Perceptions of US climate leadership depend on Environmental Protection Agency rules to reduce emissions from US power plants and cars, not on adomestic political psychodrama (38).’ 6.2.2 Peakoil Another topic that has comeup consistently in recent decades is the notion of PeakOil: is theworld running out of its crude oil resources? The reality seems to be that this is not true on any near-term timescale. Fossil fuels are finite and we are using them much faster than nature can replace them, but much remains to be found and utilized if people wish. This is even more true today with the anticipation of new discoveries in ice-free arctic regions. An important participant in this discussion was M. King Hubbert, who, at ameeting of theAmerican Petroleum Institute in SanAntonio, Texas, in 1956 proposed his theory on oil well production and depletion and published the ‘Hubbert Curve’ (seeFigure 6.1). It depicts a world oil production distribution, showing historical data and future production,with a peakof 12.5 billion barrels per year about the year 2000. It is valid for some assumptionsbut ignoresother realities thatmakehis conclusions invalid for long-term planning. Before discussing this in some detail, it is important tounderstandwhat ismeantbyPeakOil. Hubbert’sPeakTheory is basedon the fact that theutilization of a finite resource must go through an initial start-up, reach a peak level of production, and eventually tail off as the resource Water,Energy, andEnvironment–APrimer72