Free Republic

There is an open secret in the oil industry that dare not speak its name: peak oil. Well, two did speak its name and gained no acclaim for it. One, M. King Hubbert, died years ago. The other and the most controversial, Matthew Simmons, died at his Maine summer home Aug. 8. The peak oil idea is simple: Oil is a finite commodity, and one day we are going to use up all of it. Hubbert, a geologist, began speculating on the effects of the gradual decline in worldwide production in the 1950s. He expressed this in a simple graph,...

This is truly bizarre, and makes us think of the movie 2012, where the White House had people killed in weird accidents whenever they seemed like they were going to spill the secret that the world was ending. Matthew Simmons has been found dead in a hot tub in Maine. He’s the man who’s been saying for the last few years that Saudi Arabia is lying about how much oil it has in its reserves, and that “the twilight in the desert” is coming (which is the name of his book on the subject). What’s really interesting to us is...

This Letter Is The Reason Matthew Simmons Is Embarrassed By And Resigning From Simmons & Co Courtney Comstock Jun. 16, 2010, 1:56 PM Image: AP,P> Simmons & Co and Matthew Simmons are ending their feud with a divorce: Simmons is resigning from the company he founded. It all started when Simmons & Co sent a letter to investors saying that the company didn't agree with what its founding father's negative views on BP about a month ago. (The letter is printed after the jump.) Then Simmons & Co upgraded BP to a buy on Friday. (Check out their analyst research...

Matthew Simmons: The Relief Well Will Fail, And An Undersea Oil Lake May Be Covering 40% Of The Gulf Joe Weisenthal Jun. 15, 2010, 2:21 PM Image: AP Matthew Simmons is on Bloomberg, living up to his moniker as the "Dr. Doom" of the oil spill. He confidently predicts that the relief well will fail (due to structural problems with the pipe) and that unless we're content with having 100K+ barrels spill each day, then we have no choice to nuke the well. Beyond that, he suspects that a giant undersea oil lake may already be covering 40% of the...

One is by rail; two is by sea The United States must prepare for the inevitable day when fuel oil supplies run short. If the White House won't lead, the states should. The Roanoke Times Gov.-elect Tim Kaine's transportation listening tour has brought out the rail enthusiasts along the congested Interstate 81 corridor. The need for massive improvements, including dedicated truck lanes and expensive tolls, could be avoided if only truck traffic were diverted off the highways and onto the railroads, chants the rising chorus of rail enthusiasts. They have a point. But making the case on congestion alone won't...