6/19/2006 1:07:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Sonja Gold, 972-883-6325; Kevin Finneran, 202-965-5648;
Web:
http://www.issues.org
DALLAS, June 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The United States, long
"addicted" to foreign oil, now risks becoming dependent on foreign
natural gas as well, according to an article in the summer Issues in
Science and Technology.
In Natural Gas: The Next Energy Crisis?, Gary Schmitt of the
American Enterprise Institute, writes that demand for natural gas is
rising rapidly, but supply is lagging far behind. Expanding domestic
supplies, taking steps to create a global market, and countering
Russian efforts to create a dominant market position are critical to
reducing U.S. dependence on foreign gas, he says.
Schmitt's article is one of five energy-related articles in the
summer Issues.
In The Myth of Energy Insecurity, Philip Auerswald of George Mason
University argues that increasing oil imports do not pose a threat to
long-term U.S national security. Indeed, Auerswald views the recent
run-up in oil prices as highly beneficial, arguing that increasing
prices create powerful incentives for overdue investments that have
the long-term potential to increase industrial productivity, lower
consumer costs, and limit the adverse effects of global climate
change.
In Power Play: A More Reliable U.S. Electric System, Jay Apt,
Lester Lave, and Granger Morgan of Carnegie Mellon University lament
the continuing problem of power outages in the United States,
especially as compared with other industrialized countries. U.S.
utilities could learn a lot by examining the experience of foreign
utilities, other U.S. industries, and even their own nuclear power
plants, they write.
In New Nukes, Richard Lester of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology argues that the Bush administration's plan to use fuel
reprocessing as the spark to revive nuclear power will not succeed.
Only centralized interim waste storage can make a difference in the
near term, he believes.
In Nuclear Waste and the Distant Future, Per Peterson and William
Kastenberg of the University of California, Berkeley, and Michael
Corradini of the University of Wisconsin, write that regulation of
nuclear hazards must be consistent with rules governing other
hazardous materials and must balance its risks against those linked to
other energy sources.
Also in the Summer 2006 Issues:
The Pentagon's Defense Review: Not Ready for Prime Time. Leading
Washington defense analyst Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., argues that the
quadrennial review fails to realign the military against new threats
or reorder funding priorities to meet those threats.
DEE-FENSE! DEE-FENSE! Preparing for the Pandemic Flu. Henry Miller
of the Hoover Institution writes that federal research, economic
incentives for industry, and a more responsive regulatory regime will
all be necessary to produce a timely and widely available vaccine.
A Healthy Mind for a Healthy Population. The U.S. health care
system must pay more attention to providing quality care to people
with mental health or substance-use conditions, write Mary Jane
England, president of Regis College, and Ann E.K. Page of the
Institute of Medicine.
Let Engineers Go to College. C. Judson King of the University of
California, Berkeley, argues that the best preparation for a
productive and satisfying engineering career is a broad undergraduate
education followed by a postgraduate degree, as in law, business, and
medicine.
ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY is the award-winning journal of
the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering,
Institute of Medicine and the University of Texas at Dallas. The
University of Texas at Dallas is an equal opportunity/affirmative
action university.
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