Black-Gold Booster
Energy's future: A onetime oilman admits we need alternatives, but says there's plenty of petroleum left.
Lee Raymond succeeded as an oilman by staying focused on oil. (In the mid-1980s, he was responsible for unwinding the alternative-energy program at his former company, Exxon.) Now chairman of the National Petroleum Council, Raymond says that petroleum remains plentiful, and a new report he's prepared for the Bush administration argues for developing new sources of oil and gas. But the report also advocates moderating demand, especially by raising fuel efficiency in cars. As for global warming? Raymond, who is also chair of President Bush's alternative-energy committee, says, "No comment." He spoke to NEWSWEEK's Fareed Zakaria. Excerpts:
RAYMOND: Frankly, if the conversation is going to be largely focused on global warming, that's not really where I'm going to go. The National Petroleum Council's study says, on the question of global warming, if policymakers conclude that actions should be taken, that would force, likely, a change in the energy mix and would force higher costs of energy.
The notion of energy independence in this country may sound attractive to Americans, because Americans tend to think they can divorce themselves from the rest of the world, but the United States can't be [truly] independent. We are part of the worldwide system. This notion that people have that "we're going to stop importing crude oil from Saudi Arabia"—facts are, [wherever you buy from] in effect you're still importing Saudi crude oil, because the Saudi crude oil is in the world pool.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
Fareed Zakaria was named editor of Newsweek International in October 2000, overseeing all Newsweek editions abroad. The magazine reaches an audience of 24 million worldwide. He writes a regular column for Newsweek, which also appears in Newsweek International and fortnightly in the Washington Post. He also hosts an international affairs program, Fareed Zakaria GPS, which airs Sundays worldwide on CNN.
Zakaria was the managing editor of Foreign Affairs, the widely circulated journal of international politics and economics. He is the author of several books, including "The Future of Freedom," which was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages. His new book, "The Post-American World," was published in May 2008 and became an instant best seller.
Zakaria has won several awards for his columns and cover essays, in particular for his October 2001 Newsweek cover story, "Why They Hate Us." In 1999, he was named "one of the 21 most important people of the 21st Century" by Esquire magazine. In 2007, he was named one of the "top 100 public intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines. He has received honorary degrees from many universities. He serves on the board of Yale University, The Council on Foreign Relations, The Trilateral Commission, and Shakespeare and Company.
He received a B.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard. He lives in New York City with his wife, son and two daughters.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
Comments