http://66.225.205.104/GC20100629.mp3
For John Hofmeister, each gallon of oil that continues to pollute the Gulf of Mexico represents something is drastically wrong with our country's energy policy. He says it's time for the federal government to stop ignoring important energy policy issues. Hofmeister offers a plan in his book "Why We Hate the Oil Companies." He spoke to WFAE's Mike Collins on Charlotte Talks. He'll speak at Queens University on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. On Monday, he spoke to WFAE's Mike Collins on our program Charlotte Talks. Hofmeister wants and independent energy regulatory agency that's similar to the Fed. "It's my view that because of the political time priorities of the 2-year and 4-year election cycles, Congress and the White House are really not capable of making long-term energy decision that will sustain themselves through changes in majority rule or through changes in who is our president," Hofmeister said. You can hear the entire Charlotte Talks here. Click here to listen to a portion of the conversation that aired Monday during All Things Considered. Here's a transcript of that segment: Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Hofmeister: It's my view that because of the political time priorities of the two-year and four-year election cycles, the Congress and the White House are really not capable of making the long-term energy decisions that would sustain themselves through changes in majority rule or through changes in who is our president. And as a result of their inability because of political priorities through the election cycle, which is a constitutional requirement and I'm not protesting or have any issue with the constitutional requirement, what I'm concerned about is that energy policy and political priority do not connect. And so I'm suggesting in the book that we create an independent regulatory agency. Let's call it the "federal energy resources board." That that board of governors, operating much like the Fed, with independent authority granted by Congress, signed off by a president. Governors appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. That the independent regulatory agency can be that governmental body which delivers to the American people long-term energy policy through election cycles, through investment cycles. Collins: So this would become like a Fed of oil or a Supreme Court of oil that is removed from the political process? Hofmeister: Call it the Fed of Oil, yes, or the Fed of Energy, not just oil. Collins: Have you floated this with people in the government? And what has been their reaction? Hofmeister: I have, and with every elected official with whom I have discussed this matter, I can declare it dead on arrival. But that's not good enough. It's dead on arrival to them because they say, "Look my prerogative as a governing elected representative of the people is to set energy policy." And my response to that is, yes, I understand your role, but the facts are, since president Nixon was president, and the seven successors to president Nixon promising the American people energy independence, and 18 Congresses during that period of time, all of you have failed to come up with an energy policy that maintains US competitiveness, assures our future generations of affordability, sustainability, and puts our national security at risk because you have failed to put energy policy in place. And, thank goodness, even in this most recent debacle, that the Fed was there to basically do what it does. It managed the money supply, it managed interest rates, it still is, to bring the nation back from the brink of financial collapse. I think we're headed for an abyss for energy where we won't have enough liquid fuel. We won't have enough electrons to keep us going within the decade, given the path that we are on. So, if we don't have this regulatory body to look after our energy future, we don't have an energy future. Collins: Is this debacle in the Gulf something that can push this forward, this idea? Hofmeister: I think the debacle in the Gulf tees up exactly the failure of energy policy. For example, why in the world is the industry in that dangerous, risky, deep water to begin with? Now, during my days at Shell, I was part of many investments in the deep water in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere around the world. The reason is, we could not get access to closer-in shallow water because government policy prohibited it. So that since we couldn't drill in shallow water, and we couldn't drill on federal lands, the only places where the government allowed us to drill were to grant leases in the deep water.