Lisa Margonelli

If the casing of the spewing oil well is deteriorating, the flow of oil could increase and the situation could become much worse… More »

The oil spill sparked a heated debate on oil policy, but rhetoric may not turn into action… More »

The oil spill is starting to look a lot like the financial meltdown -- the product of unrealistic expectations, ridiculous risk, and lax regulation… More »

The Gulf oil spill has Congress scrambling to tighten offshore drilling regulation. Here are 7 suggestions for how to start.… More »

Unlike other disasters that could be blamed on a clear villain, the Gulf spill was the result of technology, individuals, companies, and circumstance. Which may make offshore drilling harder to justify in the future.… More »

A case for using the political will generated by the Gulf oil spill to stop business as usual—by reducing our dependence on oil… More »

I always get reflective this time of year because today is Saddam's Birthday, a harsh and surreal spectacle that I attended in 2001… More »

The environmental community should give up its opposition to federal money for drilling and instead try to change drilling itself… More »

Whew! It's been a very exciting decade in petroleum. We started in the spring of 2000 with an infamous Foreign Affairs article fretting about the "shocks to the world of cheap oil," a cataclysm they expected to set in at around $7/barrel. By summer of 2008 we'd hit $145/barrel, and now, despite falling demand and a surplus of supply, prices are about $80. We've had many exhausting years of real war in Iraq that some argue is "over" oil, and a long-running domestic…… More »

I was reading a summary of the leaked supposed proposed Danish climate treaty when it hit me: This is what climate treaty porn looks like. There, in flagrant display, you can see all the shameful elements of the rich developed country fantasy of treaties: Lock poorer countries into half the per capita emissions of developed countries, move control of credits out of the willy nilly TJ Maxx of the UN and into the hushed boutique halls of the World Bank, and throw out…… More »

Two months ago I posted on the energy politics around Azerbaijan's arrest of two "donkey bloggers," who obliquely criticized the government. Today Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty is reporting that the two young men have been sentenced to 2 years in prison. The article contains cell footage from inside the courtroom as well as outside. The article also quotes a US State Department statement about the sentences: … More »

Imagine, for a minute, that you're the president of the United States and you have to deliver a barn burner of a speech about...electrical meters. It certainly helps if you can mention the $3.4 billion dollars in Stimulus Funding headed to the creation of a Smart Grid (and Whoo! Thank goodness for a snazzy term like Smart Grid, without which the president would be stuck with phrases like "real time electrical pricing" and "demand response"). We're lucky President…… More »

Last week internet inventor Tim Berners-Lee apologized for the waste of time and paper he caused by inserting the slashes in web urls back in the early 90's. The CO2nfessional, Mea Carbona -- this particular form of apology needs a name, because it's only a matter of cultural moments before the GREAT QUANTIFICATION begins. And when it does, we'll all be caught up in an actuarial frenzy to determine the carbon price tag of every keystroke, plastic spoon, and ice…… More »

If you look at crude oil prices, still bobbing around in the high $60's, you might think that not much happened last week. But I think we may look back 10 years from now and realize that last week the needle began to move towards dramatic changes in U.S. energy and climate policy. First, on the foreign policy front, the U.S. was forced to recognize that it cannot enforce sanctions on Iran without China's support, and China is too wrapped up in its oily relationship…… More »

The Germans have found a new way to solve a classic greenhouse gas logic puzzle while keeping their auto assembly lines running.The puzzle: What's the cheapest way to increase electricity generation while reducing carbon emissions, bearing in mind that installing more wind and solar will require investing $2 trillion in new transmission lines and a single 1 Gigawatt nuclear power plant now runs about $17 billion? Two additional facts: Generating electricity…… More »

The political debate over Waxman Markey and the US response to climate change is on brief hiatus, but the cultural process of adjustment crunches onward obliviously. This hit me while reading Lorrie Moore's new novel A Gate at the Stairs, where the following scene occurs on a Midwestern farm: "We pushed past the gate at the far end of our property and walked down one of the old half-frozen cow paths terraced slightly with old roots and stones to form steps. A small…… More »

This morning, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry whined that its U.S .ambassador was invited to Hilary Clinton's post-Ramadan feast but NOT Barack Obama's. Azerbaijan has been described as America's "one true friend" on the Caspian, a key ally in the thing formerly known as the "war on terror," a major player in the U.S.-backed Baku Ceyhan Tiblisi oil pipeline and BTE gas line, as well as the most important "undecided" in the potential Nabucco pipeline, which is…… More »

Exactly 150 years ago oil was drilled out of the ground for the first time in Titusville, Pennsylvania. In honor of the energetic hydrocarbon, here's a birthday song called "Gas Gas" by the Croation bombshell Severina. (Lyrics are here but I've heard there is some resonance between the smell  of gas and hormones, which seems credible given the video.) Considering the piles of money the government is spending on a "green economy" to "leave oil behind" it's…… More »

So yesterday the much discussed Cash For Clunkers ended its $2.877 billion run, moving 690,114 new cars off America's car lots and into the traffic jams. According to the Obama administration, it created or saved 21,000 jobs. So far so pat on the back. Except that each of those cars cost US taxpayers $4168 per car. And for that much money, we could have gotten a lot more. Consider this: C4C only required a fuel economy increase of 2 mpg over the original car, so…… More »

I know I'm supposed to be outraged that lobbying firm Bonner and Associates, acting on behalf of the (ironic tongue twister alert!) American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, has filed 13 forged letters on behalf of senior centers and the elderly with a House Committee against the Waxman Markey climate bill. And I'm also supposed to be furious that the American Petroleum Institute is trying to whip up an astroturf teabagger death panel anti Waxman Markey…… More »