ALERT***TONIGHT 6/14/10:

See John Hofmeister on The Tavis Smiley Show- Late night on PBS

Check your local listings!

The Dallas Democratic Forum presents: John Hofmeister – “Why We Hate the Oil Companies -Straight Talk from an Energy Insider”

Friday – June 18th
Belo Mansion
2101 Ross Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75201

11:30  AM – Registration/Buffet
12:00 – Program

***RSVP IS REQUIRED***

To reserve your place, please email wdgriggs@yahoo.com

Please cut and paste the below links into a new web browser window:

John joins Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews”  June 4th 2010

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/obama-back-in-louisiana/6o2tzui?from=sharepermalink

John visit with “Blommberg Radio”  June 5th 2010

http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1435&DateTime=6%2F5%2F2010+10%3A31%3A18+AM&Term=john+hofmeister&PlayClip=TRUE

John appears on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal”  June 5th 2010

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2010/06/05/HP/A/33844/Fmr+Shell+Oil+Company+Pres+John+Hofmeister+Citizens+for+Affordable+Energy+Founder+and+CEO.aspx

John is interviewed by WABC-AM, New York City  June 4th 2010

http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=230&DateTime=6%2F4%2F2010+3%3A23%3A19+PM&Term=john+hofmeister&PlayClip=TRUE

Please check back frequently for more updates on John Hofmeister’s media appearances….

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OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
Plan B in the Gulf

By RIKI OTT, KEN ARNOLD, JOHN HOFMEISTER, TERRY HAZEN and KEVIN M. YEAGER
Published: May 10, 2010

Over the weekend BP learned that its latest effort at stanching the Deepwater Horizon oil spill — placing a huge metal dome over the leak — had failed. With the oil slick now washing up on the Louisiana shore, the Op-Ed editors asked five experts for their thoughts on what should be done now — and how we can avoid future catastrophes.

Avoid Dispersants

ONE of the oil industry’s favorite tools in fighting oil spills is chemical dispersants — indeed, over 300,000 gallons have been used so far in the Gulf. But as anyone who studied high school chemistry knows, like dissolves like: crude oil responds only to oil-based solvents, which are extremely toxic.

The first dispersants, released in the late 1960s, were quickly shelved because they turned out to harm wildlife more than crude oil did. Drums of Corexit 9527, a dispersant used to clean up the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, came with warning labels: “prevent liquid from entering sewers, watercourses or low areas.” Little has changed in 20 years. Even worse, spraying dispersants in the Gulf in an attempt to minimize the oil’s damage to the coast would kill shrimp eggs and larvae and young fish in the open water. They can linger in the water for decades, especially when used in deep water, where low temperatures can inhibit biodegradation.

Dispersants may sound like a good idea, but they’re bad news, and their use should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

— RIKI OTT, marine toxicologist and author of “Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill”

Forget Acoustic Sensors

IN Norway and Brazil, offshore oil rigs are required to have switches that close valves whenever they sense an acoustic pulse in the water, which could signal a blowout. In the wake of last month’s accident, many have argued that similar switches should be required on American rigs.
Stop Outsourcing

LIKE many other American corporations, oil and gas companies have been outsourcing critical, high-risk operations for several decades, sacrificing control to save money. Today, platforms like the Deepwater Horizon resemble small villages, home to distinct chains of command from several different subcontractors. Workers for different companies may hardly know one another despite working side by side; they often answer to different bosses.

Some argue that the level of specialization and technical expertise required to run a platform demands teamwork by different companies, each with its own research and development and command structures. True, but specialization and cost-cutting can go too far. Fragmented control is not likely to blame for the Gulf spill, but it is likely to hamper the search for the real cause and the effort to enact reforms to keep such disasters from happening again. Slowing, or even reversing, the outsourcing trend is a critical next step for the industry.

— JOHN HOFMEISTER, former president of Shell and author of “Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an Energy Insider”

Soak Up the Oil

But the Deepwater Horizon was hardly without safety precautions: it had manual switches at several different stations and two backups — a “dead man” switch that would automatically send a shut-off signal to the valve if there was a loss of electrical communication from the surface, as well as a mechanism to allow a remotely operated vehicle to shut it off. Either these all failed, or they worked and the valve still failed to close. Would a third backup sending yet another signal reduce risk? Maybe. But it would be of marginal benefit, and could result in a false alarm or premature signal. When a safety switch is thrown, a device cuts the drill pipe, letting it fall into the hole. Fishing it out, and even testing it regularly, is a dangerous proposition, putting worker safety at risk — precisely what such systems are designed to avoid.

— KEN ARNOLD, energy industry consultant

Do Nothing
THE best thing to do in response to the Gulf spill’s landfall is … nothing. Sure, larger oil concentrations can be sopped up, and large animals can be cleaned. But cleanup efforts can do only so much: evidence suggests that they reduce hydrocarbon concentrations only over the short term. And many responses have harmful side effects. Controlled burning spreads toxic materials and kills plants that retard erosion, thus hurting the very lands we’re trying to protect. Nutrient-rich detergents or active bioremediation — which encourages the growth of bacteria that can break down oil — can fundamentally disturb the ecological balance for decades.

Instead, we should recognize that nature can do many things far better than we can, and with less collateral damage. Oil is a natural byproduct of biological and geological processes; if left alone in coastal environments, wave action, the sun and microbes in the sediment will naturally break down hydrocarbons. Meanwhile, money saved can go to helping local economies deal with the loss of income, improving safety regulations and enforcement and developing a clean energy policy.

— KEVIN M. YEAGER, assistant professor of marine sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi

John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil Company, presents his thoughts on energy alternatives and the role politics plays in the energy debate in his book, Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk From An Energy Insider.  Mr. Hofmeister is interviewed at the annual book publishing trade show, Book Expo America, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

To see John’s interview, please copy and paste the link below in a new web browser tab:

http://www.booktv.org/Featured/11610/2010+Book+Expo+America+Author+Interview+with+John+Hofmeister+Why+We+Hate+the+Oil+Companies.aspx

Also, see a re-airing of the program on C-SPAN’s Book TV  Sunday, June 6th 3:30 AM EST

ALERT:  Johh Hofmeister will appear on Fox Business Channel with Neil Cavuto, TODAY June 3rd, 2010  6:00PM EST

Please check local listings for your Fox Business Channel station.  Check back here frequently for more updates on John Hofmeister’s media appearance….

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MMS “cozy” with industry? Hardly

– John Hofmeister is founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy, former president of Shell Oil Company and author of Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an Energy Insider. Any views expressed here are his own. –

How bad, really, was the Minerals Management Service (MMS)?

The quick answer is no one will ever know.

Despite all the accusations of a “cozy” relationship with industry, the recent termination of President Obama’s appointee who served less than a year, as well as the re-organization by the Interior Department suggest that any sleaze has been swept aside by political calculations in the rush to assert that the administration is on top of things in Washington.

I must admit I was surprised to hear of this cozy relationship, since my experience with the MMS was exactly the opposite.

During my term as Shell’s president, my company experienced the frustration and huge costs of being turned down repeatedly by MMS for licenses to drill in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska because the professional regulators were not satisfied with the environmental plans that had been submitted to support test drilling operations.

They said conditions in the Arctic warranted extra review and consideration.

No amount of argument, debate or revision satisfied them over the next few years; rather, it got more difficult every year, with tougher conditions placed on the prospective drilling efforts.

Even in the face of climbing gas prices, as well as urgent warnings from Congress and the administration in 2006 and 2007 about energy dependence, the permit writers would not budge.

As disappointing as it was to waste literally tens of millions of dollars preparing to work off the North Slope, pending the permit, I had to admire their tenaciousness.

After the point was moot due to the return of winter ice, I decided to visit with the regulators to see what I could learn.

Around a Washington table, which I was assured had never hosted a company president before, I heard straight talk from the MMS staff about what they required and how Shell fell short. It was a valuable lesson, not forgotten.

What’s unfortunately overlooked in the midst of the current scandal and reorganization is the work of hundreds of staff and managers who served their country day in and day out as professional regulators of a critical American industry – and the importance of their task in the face of looming energy crisis.

In recent years the United States has been struggling to increase its domestic production of natural resources to combat our insidious dependence on foreign imports from nations that don’t like us.

MMS staff have been encouraged and motivated to do their jobs, to regulate and inspect industry according to long established policies and protocols, and help relieve our national energy insecurity.

Energy bills in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 promoted and encouraged more energy production in our country. Congressional hearing after Congressional hearing lamented our dependence on imports.

Imagine you work for an organization to which you have dedicated your professional best for years.  You read the papers, listen to your bosses and have a role to play in permitting your nation to produce more energy while regulating how it is produced. You’re showing signs of success.

Domestic production has increased over the past two years.

Then, in the midst of a dire recession, as energy demand sinks, a well blows out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Suddenly, your new bosses of just over a year, the cabinet secretary and the president of the nation, who you don’t know at all, condemn your work and that of your colleagues in front of the entire nation, calling your integrity, ethics and service into question, based on allegations and facts that had nothing to do with you.

Were there instances of irresponsibility, misplaced trust, individual failings, and immature judgments over drugs, sex and other temptations?

The Inspector General of the Interior Department in 2007 says there were. I have no reason to doubt the report.

How extensive and penetrating were such behaviors? We’ll never know.

Is this the first, or last, government agency to employ individuals not worthy of their station? Certainly not.

Is this the only large organization that houses individuals who get too close to their peers, cross the line, get caught and dealt with? Hardly.

Every organization I know, from universities to corporations to major nonprofits, have had employees who did not meet their responsibilities. Do their leaders trash the whole company, university, organization or an entire department on such basis? Not if they understand how leaders lead.

I’m naturally appalled at companies that cajole federal regulators to lighten up if conditions are not met.

On the other hand, I’m just as appalled if political leadership takes advantage of past wrongdoings of a few to make themselves look powerful to the public at the expense of their powerless and hardworking staff.

ALERT: John Hofmeister’s television appearances June 2 2010

John Hofmeister will appear on NBC News with Brian Williams TONIGHT June 2nd 6:30 EST, top of the telecast

John Will be interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox News TONIGHT June 2nd, 9:00 EST

UPDATED June 23th, 2010:  Here is John Hofmeister’s scheduled media appearances and interviews for JUNE 2010.  PLEASE check back to this site frequently for changes and updates to the schedule….

June 1st

John appears on “America’s Nightly Scoreboard” on Fox Business News 7:00 PM EST

John appears in a live interview on Al Jazeera English 8:00 PM EST

June 2nd

John will be interviewed on “Doug McIntyre’s Red Eye Radio” for Citadel Media  1:00 AM EST

John will appear on CNN’s “American Morning” 6:30 AM EST

John appears on “Mancow in the Morning” Talk Radio Show  8:30 AM EST

John tapes an interview with CTV News Channel  9:00 AM EST

June 3rd

John interviews with “Clean Skies News” for various media outlets  1:00 PM EST

John is interviewed by Neil Cavuto on FOX BUSINESS CHANNEL  6:00 PM EST

June 4th

John appears on yahoo.com “Yahoo! Finance” 7:30 AM EST, taped interview will be posted within 48 hours

John appears on XM/Sirius “Sean Hannity Radio Show”  1:45 PM EST

John is interviewed for the BBC WORLD SERVICE News Hour 2:30 PM EST

John interviews with “Clean Skies News”  3:00 PM EST

John appears on CNBC’s “Closing Bell”  4:30 PM EST

John appears on MSNBC’s “HARDBALL with Chris Matthews”  5:00 PM EST

John is interviewed for KLX-AM “Lars Larson Show” 6:30 PM EST

John appears on NBC’s “Dateline Friday” 9:00PM EST

June 5th

John appears on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” 8:30 AM EST

June 7th

John interviews with BBC World News 8:30 AM BST (UK)

June 9th

John appears on MSNBC’s “HARDBALL with Chris Matthews”  5:00 PM EST

June 11th

John appears on BBC World News from London, UK  12:30 BST (UK)

June 14th

John is interviewed on “The Pete Tilden Show” on KABC-AM Los Angeles  9:00 AM EST

John is interviewed by the “Money Matters Financial Network” radio program  10:00 AM EST

John appears on “The Tavis Smiley Show”  4:00 pm EST

June 15th

John appears on “Charlie Rose”  (check local PBS and BloombergTV listings for airtimes)

John appears on “Nightly Business Report” (check local PBS listings for airtimes)

John is interviewed by Susan Li for BloombergTV  7:20 PM EST

June 16th

John appears on 1070KNTH “Max Out Savings” Show 11:00 AM EST

John returns to “The Dylan Ratigan Show” on MSNBC  4:00 PM EST

John appears on WDRC RADIO “The Talk of Connecticut”/ Buckley Broadcasting  4:30 PM EST

John is interviewed on 550-KTSA AM/ ABC News Radio “The Kevin Wall Show”  5:00 PM EST

John is interviewed on “Ian Masters’ Background Briefing” on KPFK-FM Los Angeles  8:00 PM EST

June 17th

John appears on WHO Radio 11:00 AM EST

John is interviewed by Neil Cavuto on Fox Business Network  4:00 PM EST

John appears on MSNBC’s “HARDBALL with Chris Matthews”  5:00 PM EST

June 18th

John appears on CNBC’s “Closing Bell”  4:30 PM EST

John addresses the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth at Rosewood Crescent Hotel, Dallas  9:00 AM EST

John addresses the Dallas Democratic Forum and guests at the Belo Mansion, Dallas  1:00 PM EST  (RSVP Req’d)

June 23rd

John is interviewed for 640 Radio Toronto CA  8:00 AM EST

John is interviewed byKGO-AM San Francisco  9:00 AM EST

June 24th

John will appear on “The Laura Ingraham Show”  9:30 AM EST

John takes part in an online chat hosted by the Ottowa Glob and Mail 11:00 AM EST

June 25th

John appears on Fox New’s “Hannity’s America”  9:00 PM EST

June 28th

John is interviewed for “Charlotte Talks” on WFAE-FM  9:00 AM EST

June 29th

John will host a book signing at Joseph Beth Booksellers  Charlotte NC  7:00 PM EST

June 30th

John interviews with WAMC/Northeast Public (NPR) 10:00 AM EST

Please check back here frequently for more updates on John Hofmeister’s media appearances….