Shell official: Energy out there

 

May 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Greg Edwards Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

We can secure the abundant and affordable energy needed to maintain our economy and lifestyles far into the future, said the U.S. president of Shell Oil Co.

John Hofmeister, whose unit contributes one-third of Shell's global revenue, spoke last night at a meeting of the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond, attended by 224 members and guests.

Achieving energy security, he stressed, will require a coherent energy policy, which we now lack, and for these pieces of the U.S. energy equation to fall into place:

--providing producers access to 110 billion barrels of domestic crude oil on and offshore that are now off limits;

--making better use of the nation's abundant coal supplies and stepping up the importation of liquefied natural gas to meet demand that exceeds domestic supply during the next decade; and

--developing alternative energy sources such as biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells and solar and wind power at a faster rate.

Shell is neutral on energy sources such as nuclear, tidal and geothermal energy because they are outside the company's area of competency, Hofmeister said. But, he stressed, America cannot achieve the energy security it desires without access to off-limit reserves.

Eighty-five percent of the outer continental shelf remains off limits, as do oil shale deposits in Colorado's Rocky Mountains that contain an estimated trillion barrels of oil, an amount equal to the resources of the Middle East, he said.

Other policies also must be addressed, he said. Dealing with greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, and energy education for the young are important. Probably the most effective way to get energy security is to improve the efficiency by which cars, homes and society at large uses energy, Hofmeister said.

National leadership is needed on energy policy, Hofmeister said. Leaving the solution to the marketplace will put special interests in control; government needs to consider the social justice aspect of energy policy, he said.

Shell has joined the United States Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of U.S. industrial giants and environmental groups dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "The time has come to stop the debate and the time has come to get on with solutions," Hofmeister said.