Probably one of the more candid interviews I have heard in a long time. It's nice to see a CEO tell it like he sees it. Most today will try to cover their tracks with political correctness and self serving statements meant to appease those who disagree with their views. Apparently Chevron's John Watson is not one of those CEO's.

The interview lays bare the idea that we as a country can eliminate oil and gas and still prosper. That the energy unicorn and leprechaun will shower us with green energies that will take us into this century and beyond and fulfill all our needs from an economic and social standpoint. Well reality has a way of chasing the fairytale off to la la land. If you noticed my heavy use of sarcasm, then hopefully you are not offended. My problem, as I have stated on this blog before, is the idea that we must destroy the economy to save ourselves. That the oil companies are out to kill us all and get rich. That the only hope for a bright future lies in solar and wind etc... All these wonderful ideas never ever live up to the hype that follows them around.

Oil and gas are not easy and cheap to extract. It takes years if not decades to find and operate a viable well or field. You have a mountain of regulations and government red tape. Above all you have politics. Lately, politics has been saying one thing, promising another and doing neither. If they keep this up, along with an energy policy not based on reality, we will lose whatever edge we have gained to foreign markets and governments that are serious about energy and the security of their people. Our oil rigs will leave our shores and the manpower and knowledge to run them will follow. As for the myth that oil companies are the only influence in setting the price of gas, think again. You have external forces like demand, social unrest in oil producing regions, dictators, a US dollar that is losing more value every day, oil markets/traders and taxes. Lots and lots of taxes. So before you go off and say lets get rid of the oil majors and domestic production, take a deeper look. You may be shocked at what you will find. 

An interesting story from The New York Times. The details of the story have me shaking my head.

It appears that in Idaho a small group of residents are trying to block construction equipment from using public roads for transportation. The equipment is coming from Washington State through Idaho and Montana and ending up in Canada. What is on these loads that is drawing the ire of the local residents you ask? Is it toxic material? Is it nuclear waste? It is neither; the loads are large metal modules headed to the tar sands of Canada.

The problem the activist say are two fold. First, they believe the passing of these loads through areas near rivers will damage the scenic vistas of those vacationing and living on these areas. Secondly, they don't like the fact that the shipments are headed to tar sand developments in Canada which in their opinion are bad for the environment. On the first objection I would agree that the site of these big trucks would not be the most visually appealing thing to look at. I know the country up there is beautiful and that locals take pride in that beauty. However, what gives them the right to stop commerce on public roads? Again we are not talking about toxic or nuclear waste, we are talking about big metal boxes. Secondly, just because they don't like the destination of the equipment is no reason to say it can't pass. If you don't want to see big trucks on public roads, move somewhere else. You don't like energy from oil sands, don't purchase a car or anything made from the products derived from them.

I bring this up because it goes back to what I feel is the non-sensical approach taken by some when it comes to energy. They love to use it and the products made from it, but hate the product itself or where it comes from and how it is extracted. The comment by one of the opponents who says that tar sands are the biggest generator of climate change on the planet is absolute nonsense and I am not sure why the comment was even included in the article. People need to wake up to the fact that we need energy to run this country and run this planet. I am all for green technologies if we can find some to replace what we get from fossil fuels. Until them, small bands of energy deniers trying to block public roads from being used by people they don't like is absurd.

It appears that 8 months after the start of the oil spill in the Gulf, the administration is going after BP. How this plays out is anyones guess. Obviously, the region, its economy and the people that live on the coast have suffered. They have lost their business, their tourism and for many, their way of life. The effects of the spill are still not fully know and it could be years before all the damage is understood.

What I want to know is what is the plan from here? Do we push ahead with drilling in the region or do we abandon it altogether? Do we try and find out what oversight was lacking and who did not meet their responsibilities or do we say the heck with it and give up?

With projects of this size and complexity, there are risks and they need to be evaluated. With oil creeping back towards $100 a barrel and the economy still teetering on a ledge, can we abandon domestic production? Do we want to run off producers and exploration outfits to other countries who would be happy to have them? Do we really want to depend even more on foreign sources of oil? I think these questions should be asked and we need to be careful how we proceed. We need to hold those who did not follow the regulations and safety guidelines responsible, but lets not destroy and industry and put our national security at risk. Lets not make the problem worse by punishing everyone in the industry for the acts of a few.

The third annual Colorado entrepreneurship Meeting is currently taking place in Limon Colorado. This meeting put together by the Colorado Rural Development Council is a forum to help those in rural areas gain access to information that helps them improve and diversify their business. Many times small business people in rural areas don't get access to the information that is available to those living in larger urban areas. As well their needs are different but they can all benefit by learning about social media to reach a national audience, marketing, development, business incubation and grants or funds available to help them grow.

With the economy in the doldrums, this is a great time to learn how to expand, improve and market your product or service. By putting together a panel of professionals, the Colorado RDC is making sure that those in rural areas don't get left behind. If you are in the area, stop by and see what you can learn to increase your business knowledge.



Look at the moves in corn, soy, oats and wheat. All jumped into market lock up today. What this means is if the price moves up to a certain point during the day, the market gets shut down so the price can't rise any more for the day. I don't trade commodities, however I have not heard of this happening recently. If anyone knows differently, please e-mail or post in the comments.

What does this mean? Look for food to get more expensive. What drove this today I'm not sure. The employment figures came in with net job loss, however I don't see how this would matter. I will dig around and see what I can find out. I will update with any new information later.

We have talked about commodity prices before but it is worth discussing again in light of recent price increases. Recently, I have been seeing several articles discussing the rapid rise of prices in commodities. This is an issue that should be a concern to all of us. Our food supply and access to affordable food is a national security issue in my opinion. Currently, we have more Americans on assistance or welfare that at any time in this countries history. The poor economy has left many people living paycheck to paycheck. It only takes one crisis event for a family living this way to become destitute. Why is this happening? There are several causes. Some are obvious and others are harder to pinpoint.

For one, most would agree that we are experiencing deflation. However, that is not the case for food and oil. The prices of these have been inflationary to say the least. With interest rates getting close to zero, cheap money is moving into commodoties and pushing prices higher. I find it interesting that when the CPI is released, they say that prices are holding steady. What they don't clearly tell you is that food and energy is not included in the formula.

Secondly, you have increased demand worldwide. This piece of the puzzle is only going to get worse. The estimates for population growth are staggering to me. Not to mention, several large agricultural producing nations such as Russia, Argentina, Australia etc... have all had bad weather or droughts that have decimated crops. You might have seen a few months ago where Russia stopped all grain exports due to the fires and droughts. Not a pleasant experience when you are a country in Asia or the Middle East who depends on Russian agriculture.

Lastly, you have pressures from bio-fuels. The recent debate here in the US about ethanol would be a great example. We are trying to reduce pollution by requiring more ethanol in gas. However, this just increases the price of corn for cattle and human consumption. Putting more pressure on those struggling to put food on the table. I would prefer the corn go to feed the people and animals and not the cars. We have plenty of oil if we would just drill it.

As I said, there are many reasons for prices rising and the examples above are just a few. However, we as a country are not keeping our representatives in congress accountable for our food security and I am afraid it will come back to haunt us. If incomes continue to plummet and food and gas prices continue to rise, we could be in for some rough times. The disruption of the social cohesion we have long enjoyed could be tested and it won't be pretty.

First we must be willing to pay more for electricity nothing is free and the costs we pay per KwH in the US as some of the cheapest in the world.  Secondly the increase in cost and the consumption savings need to be reinvested in the utility infrastructure, new generation, consumer self generation programs, transmission and distribution upgrades.  This will provide us with the tools necessary to make use of Smart Grids.  In the coming weeks I will break down this discussion into separate areas such as generation, consumer self generation programs, T&D and IT.  The last is the most important without a strong well protected IT infrastructure none of this will reach its full potential which in my mind is making all of us well educated consumers.  We can really choose what's important and create a more market and consumer driven industry far from what it is today.  If you look at the telecommunications industry over the last 10 years that is where the utility industry has to go and it will not happen without us driving it.

Alberta has oil sands. Environmentalists do not like oil sands. What do you do? You re-brand and call it ethical oil. Some may look at this as a sales ploy or spin from government entities. In reality, I think you have a well thought out description of the oil itself and the region it comes from. Much of today's oil comes from the land of dictators and despots. Working conditions and wages are a joke. There are no safe guards or rights for workers in these countries. 

However, in Canada you do. As the article briefly points out, the wages earned and the regulations in place far exceed anything found in the third world oil patches. Not to mention a willingness to work with those who oppose the use of oil in the first place. Alberta has put up with a good deal of grief from the environmental movement. I wish the movement would see the positives in obtaining oil from Alberta and praise them for trying to be good stewards. The constant brow beating and hypocritical stance they take will eventually hurt the environmental movement and the seriousness with which they would like to be taken. I hope Alberta keeps on fighting because we need the resoucres they have.

Looks like wind and solar are leading the way for renewable energy. I think most people feel that they have the most potential in helping us cut our energy consumption from current sources. What is interesting is that the current economy has not had as big an impact as might be expected in the R&D and use of these new technologies. Europe is losing market share but proponents are looking to the US and China to pick up the slack. My feeling is that turning to these alternatives will help save money in the long run for the individual homeowners. It's already happening in Massachusetts and hopefully it will happen in other states. I'm all about the win-win scenario this represents.