November 6, 2011
U.S.

Official’s view of grid creates some worries

Written by Morris Beschloss, Special to The Desert Sun, www.mydesert.com 5 November 2011

In a dramatic warning of upcoming nationwide breakdowns of America’s energy capability, John Hofmeister, Chairman of “Citizens for Affordable Energy” and former Shell Oil CEO, stunned a packed Houston audience of PVF Roundtable members at the city’s Hess Club recently.

This group, comprised of manufacturers, distributors, end-users and product specifiers of international energy-oriented products, meets quarter-annually to focus on the state of the industry and its ongoing ramifications.

Hofmeister’s Washington, D.C.-based action organization strives to enlist millions of Americans to support a new centralized energy agency to circumvent a 40-year deadlock of the politicization of this crucial bedrock of America’s electric power and transportation network.

He described the current status of the nation’s electrical grid as approaching a rolling breakdown in the next five years.

He attributed this primarily to the refusal of U.S. government action to confront an aging energy production and facilitating capability so critical in the functioning of America’s still world-leading economy.

Describing the mid-20th Century development of this nation’s previous electrification and gas energy infrastructure as rapidly deteriorating, Hofmeister blamed succeeding presidents and members of Congress for refusing to confront this inevitable disaster in the making.

The former Shell Oil CEO went further in blaming the multiple trillion- dollar renewable energy programs of ethanol, solar, wind power and geothermal as a “pathetic waste.”

These could, at best, provide two to three percent of the what the U.S. needs to support a population growth exceeding the current 312 million-plus.

Hofmeister’s solution is to enroll millions of Americans in support of a professional, centralized agency divorced from political interference, akin to the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.

As an exemplar of the success of such a focused strategy, he cited China’s aggregation of world oil supplies and upgrading of a 21st Century power and transportation infrastructure.

This the intrepid Chinese are accomplishing through contracts for an ownership of worldwide energy sourcing.

He concluded his stirring presentation by blaming the “destructive” paralysis imposed on an unrestrained Environmental Protection Agency by imposing its “fanatical” will on all aspects of America’s attempts to urgently bring its increasingly deteriorating energy network up-to-date. It’s Hofmeister’s hope that a growing citizen-led outcry will reverse this trend.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/06/officials-view-of-grid-creates-some-worries/