Yesterday an interesting item from The Oil & Gas Journal was delivered to my inbox. Allow me to quote from EIA cancels 2011 US reserves compilation as it cuts budget. The acronym "EIA" stands for Energy Information Administration, which is the data-gathering/research wing of the Department of Energy.
WASHINGTON, DC, May 2 — The US Energy Information Administration will not prepare or publish US oil and gas reserves data for 2011 as it cuts $15.2 million, or 14%, from its budget, the US Department of Energy information and analysis agency said on Apr. 29. The reductions are part of Congress’s latest continuing resolution (CR) that was signed into law by US President Barack Obama on Apr. 15. The resolution keeps the federal government running through Sept. 30.
“The lower fiscal 2011 funding level will require significant cuts in EIA's data, analysis, and forecasting activities,” EIA Administrator Richard G. Newell said. “EIA had already taken a number of decisive steps in recent years to streamline operations and enhance overall efficiency, and we will continue to do so in order to minimize the impact of these cuts at a time when both policymaker and public interest in energy issues is high.”
Well, of course, I thought, this makes perfect sense. Of what possible use could knowing the nation's oil and natural gas reserves be? Those misguided souls (like me) who have closely followed various kinds of EIA data in the past should just move on. It's clearly a matter of "Drill, Baby, Drill" or, failing that, surely we're just a few successful science experiments away from converting switchgrass or poplar trees into diesel fuel of such high quality that refining will become a thing of the past.
And we've got shale gas coming out our ears! We're drowning in the stuff. We could convert our entire oil and gasoline supply & distribution chain to natural gas in no time! Just let the private sector loose. They'll make the magic happen.
Why do we need an energy policy at all? In line with achieving a total state of blissful ignorance about energy, there were other EIA program cuts that will increase that ignorance.
In addition to not preparing the annual oil and gas reserves data survey, the agency said it will be necessary to curtail efforts to understand linkages between physical energy markets and financial trading; suspend analysis and reporting on the market impacts of planned refinery outages; suspend collection and dissemination of monthly state-level data on wholesale petroleum product prices including gasoline, diesel, heating oil, propane, residual fuel oil, and kerosine; and halt preparation and publication of the annual petroleum marketing data report and the fuel oil and kerosene sales report.
EIA said it also will suspend auditing of data submitted by major oil and gas companies and reporting on their 2010 financial performance through EIA's Financial Reporting System; reduce collection of data from gas marketers; cancel a planned increase in resources to be applied to petroleum data quality issues; and reduce data collected from smaller entities across a range of oil and gas surveys.
The agency also announced cuts in its electricity, renewables, and coal information data collection; its consumption, efficiency, and energy information activities; and its energy analysis capacity as well as live telephone support at its customer contact center. Newell said that the changes were initial steps, and that additional actions were being evaluated and may result in further adjustments to EIA’s data and analysis activities in the near future.
I was a bit curious about the size of the cut in the EIA's budget. Did I read that right? 15.2 million dollars? 14% of the EIA's total budget? Since I've been writing DOTE, I don't recall ever mentioning such a small number. Perhaps we need some points of comparison.
$9,654,950,165,830 (trillions, federal debt held by the public as of April 29) $708,000,000,000 (billions, estimate of the Defense budget + war expenditures) $15,200,000 (millions, cut to EIA's budget in 2011)
What a bargain — so much ignorance achieved with so little saved!
I for one am glad to know the nation has its budget priorities in order. Does anyone doubt that all other federal expenditures, especially on Defense, are more important than knowing what America's oil & natural gas reserves are? More important than efforts to understand linkages between physical energy markets and financial trading?
Some insightful souls have suggested we scrap the Department of Energy altogether. Why not? This country doesn't need an energy policy. We don't need energy data that might guide such a policy. If you're going to avoid Reality, go all the way. Halfway measures won't do. Go big or go home.
Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!
I guess they decided that it is too late to do anything about peak oil, so we don't need to spend more money to investigate the depth of our problems. Instead they opted for their Plan B (or A) for their energy policy, and that is called the military and more defense spending...
Posted by: Remi | 05/03/2011 at 11:26 AM