Response from Governor Heineman

Today I received a response from Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman to my letter regarding the issue of peak oil, which you can read in previous posts below. The text of the letter is as follows:

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the world reaching peak production of oil and the potential impacts, if that is indeed the case. Some take isue with Hubbard's premise. But, whatever the resource, it needs to be used wisely.



As you stated, the nation's transportation fuel dependence on petroleum does not have easy solutions. As we transition away from oil as a transportation fuel, there may be many parts to the solution. You highlighted some of them: increased vehicle efficiency, alternative fuels such as hydrogen or ethanol, electric vehicles, conservation and others.



I would hope Nebraska, which has been on the energy resource sidelines in the past, can be part of the nation's energy future. One of the keys to the state's economic future is adding value to the resources with which we have been blessed. That can be the sun, wind or crops. While ethanol by itself cannot solve the nation's petroleum dependence, it can start us down the path of reducing our foreign fuel dependency. I am very proud the state is on track to become the nation's second-largest producer of ethanol.



Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.

This is pretty much what I expected, though it is a little disjointed and obviously partially composed of canned responses (I didn't mention Hubbard in my letter, and that sentence is an exact copy from the previous response I received from the governor's office). The response doesn't show any awareness of the importance of the GAO report (links below) the seriousness of the problem, or provide any hint that the governor has any clue what to do about the problem. He mentions 'hope' for the state's economic future as it concerns energy, but gives no indication that he is engaged in or plans any sort of activity to mitigate the effects of declining oil production.



I didn't really expect that he would.