April 26, 2007

Oil forum asks: Who will lead crisis response?

By Dateline staff

The UC Oil Forum announced a public program titled "Energy Crisis Ahead: Who Will Lead Us?"

Organizers said in a news release that they want "to consider appropriate directions for us as individuals and as a society" in dealing with the "liquid fuels-transportation predicament."

Questions that arise, according to organizers, include: Is oil and natural gas production peaking? Is gas cheap at $3.30 a gallon? What happens to California when the cheap fuel is gone?

"Our focus is on California, government, and leadership," the organizers said in announcing the program. It is scheduled from 6:30 to 9:15 p.m. May 10 in the Activities and Recreation Center Ballroom at UC Davis.

The oil forum, a volunteer organization comprising alumni from several UC campuses, drew some 500 people for a public program last year at UC Davis.

The keynote speaker for the May 10 event is listed as Ronald Cooke, author of Oil, Jihad and Destiny: Will Declining Oil Production Plunge Our Planet Into a Depression?

The program lists these other speakers and topics: oil forum Chair John Theobald, a communications lecturer at UC Davis, "Living Within Limits — Nature Doesn't Make Deals With Government"; UC Davis geology lecturer David Osleger, "What Government Should Know About Science"; and UC Berkeley student Ashley Barry, "Oil, Governments and People in the Middle East."

Three elected officials also are on the program: state Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis), Napa City Councilman Mark van Gorder and Huntington Beach Councilwoman Debbie Cook.

Admission to the program is free, but prior registration is required: www.ucoilforum.org (click on "Register for event").