SAM STEIN
Stein is a spokesperson at the Center for Public Integrity. He said today: “Our nation’s ‘addiction’ to oil did not happen by accident; far from it. For the past decade, the oil industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in its attempts to influence our political system. In the process it has ensured not only the passage of legislation favorable to industry interests, but also that a demand for its product continues to exist no matter what the price or environmental damage.” The complete study by the Center for Public Integrity titled “The Politics of Oil” is posted at Public Integrity’s website.

TOM ATHANASIOU
Athanasiou is the author, most recently, of Dead Heat: Global Justice and Global Warming. He commented today: “What I can say is that [oil] demand is rising, particularly as a result of the booms in China and India, that the Peak Oil hypothesis appears to be essentially true, and that the Mid East is not likely to be stabilizing anytime soon. Given all this, we should probably assume that prices in the current range will be normal in the future. This has implications, not the least of which is that renewables will be more competitive. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there are powerful actors out there arguing that nuclear power and mega-dams are renewable, which they are not. Still, the game has changed, and the pace has quickened. Which may even be a good thing, if only because things are going to have to move fast if we are to have any chance at all of avoiding a global climate catastrophe.” Athanasiou is the executive director of EcoEquity, a small activist think tank focused on understanding, and campaigning for, a fair and workable solution to the global climate crisis.
More Information

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
David Zupan, (541) 484-9167