Mr Speaker

Well, oil is up another US$10 a barrel to OVER US$70 (60% higher than one year ago) - That means another Peak-oil update. Wooo!

Yes, yes, oil prices are up, yes, yes, we are going to run out. Pfft. These updates are getting a little on the predictable side. So I thought we'd spice it up with a little conspiracy theory - Nothing like a conspiracy theory to spice up stories of global oil production, that's for sure. This conspiracy comes via an undisclosed source of mine. We shall call him/her "PeakThroat". Because that's what Tom, I mean - him/her - suggested:

Here's a good one for your blog, conspiracy cover-up "pyramids on mars" type story: The US department of Energy hired an independent team of scientists and engineers to advise them on Peak Oil earlier this year. The report predicted enormous risk management problems for the US if a "business-as-usual" approach is continued regardless of when the peak will happen (within range of optimistic and pessimistic experts' predictions).

No news there. But ~mysteriously~ (and I use those little squiggly lines increase the sense of mysteriousness) 6 months after the release of the report, it had disappeared. Upon release it was originally stored in the Californian Hilltop High School archive, then ~mysteriously~ on July 7th, 2005 - it was gone. Erased.... from existance.

Conspiracy? You decide. Thanks to the magic of the wayback machine, The Hirsch Report was recovered and posted on Project Censored. And if you're wondering how society might react when there is only a few barrels-full of oil left, just have a look what happens when people think they can get cheap ibooks! Should be fun!

Anyhoo. That's the conspiracy theory. It's just a theory you know. Like gravity. "PeakThroat" goes on to conclude nicely with:

Pretty good summary actually, though I noticed a few errors, which is odd in a government report. Maybe Hirsch gave the internet his own draft copy or something? He's legitimate, and admits to writing it for the US government though, so I doubt it's a conspiracy and frankly the Pentagon has paid for worse: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing.

Further reading: counterpunch