The Russian energy avalanche is approaching...

...I posted earlier this week on the next move for the green left now that their fantasy of AGW is losing credibility and international political pulling power. It seems likely that TINA 'there is no alternative' will be wheeled in because of so called 'peak oil' - the finite reserves of fossil fuel energy. Hence of course, 'green' energy; wind, solar, tidal and pedal powered bamboo bicycles. It's TINA, you see...I also mentioned Julian Simon's wonderful book 'The Ultimate Resource 2' whose central theme is technological innovation and ingenuity. Fellow blogger Al Fin observes that Russia is poised to take a huge leap forward by exploiting its colossal energy reserves...
...Russia is full of valuable energy and mineral assets -- enough to make any oil sheikh envious. For a number of reasons, Russia's energy assets have remained largely undeveloped up until now. But with enormous discoveries of unconventional natural gas in North America, and with increasing development of Canada's oil sands, Russia is beginning to understand that if it doesn't develop and sell its energy assets now -- it may never have the chance. As young ethnic Russians disappear from the planet, the ability of Russia to defend its vast mineral wealth is shrinking daily. And as unconventional fossil fuel use, plus nuclear energy infrastructure, plus bioenergy development all expand, the world's need for Russia's product is beginning to shrink. The lesson to Russia: use it or lose it...more here...
...and this just in...“Exxon Mobil (XOM) announced today that in 2009 the company’s proven reserves increased by 133% of the amount of oil produced. Exxon now has 23.3 billion oil-equivalent-barrels of reserves comprised of about half liquids and half gas. It’s the largest amount in the company’s history.Amazingly, Exxon, who has been accused in the past of being too conservative in terms of exploration and development, has been finding more oil than it produces for each of the last 16 years, to the dismay of peak oil proponents.” H/T Heliogenic Climate Change...more here...

...and, from Charlie Martin, a word of caution...Climategate: Skeptics Can’t Relax Yet — Real Fraud Is Measured in Dollar Signs, Not Degrees...while the world's attention is focussed on academic and scientific misconduct the questions remaining are ...'Once the theory of AGW was politically established, it was inevitable that the so called 'scientific consensus' leaned in that direction. So... how did the theory become politically established, and who are the beneficiaries?
...Al Gore had already been a devotee of the CO2 apocalypse before he lost the 2000 election...He joined in several financial ventures with people like Richard Sandor, who had been a faculty member at Berkeley...and... with Peter Knight, his one-time aide, and David Blood, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and Gore’s campaign manager for 2000. Another part of this group is Maurice Strong, (see the masthead above ) who moved from involvement in the UN “Oil for Food” scam into environmental issues, and now lives in the People’s Republic of China where he advises the Chinese government. Sandor and Blood, along with Goldman Sachs and its then-CEO, Hank Paulson, founded the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), using seed money from the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation. One of the major stockholders, along with Goldman Sachs, is Generation Investment Management (GIM), a trading company co-founded by Al Gore and David Blood...The scientific climate clique of Jones and others provide the scientific basis for the political action, which in turn provides the need for the carbon credits that are created and traded by the carbon and climate cartel of Strong, Gore, Blood, and Knight. (Boy, that sounds like a Steve Reeves movie, doesn’t it?) And the money provided by these trading schemes then supports the science — as long as it’s the “right” science. And this is why we can’t get cocky. There’s no question now that the science must be re-examined. Re-examining the science, though, doesn’t mean that the political and financial machine just stops operating. There’s a lot of money involved. A whole lot of money. Potentially trillions of dollars. So we’re not done yet...more here...

...and, doesn't it strike anyone else as odd, scandalous even, that this issue has not been taken up by the MSM ? Why would that be do you think ?