[Global Public Media]: Richard Heinberg asks ‘Where is the Hirsch Report?’
Evidently the US Department of Energy is interested enough in the Peak-Oil debate to commission a report on the subject. Released in February this year by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and titled ‘Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation and Risk Management,’ the report examines the likely consequences of the impending global peak. It was authored principally by Robert L. Hirsch (bio: www.d-n-i.net/fcs/hirsch_bio.htm), and is as remarkable for its subsequent reception as for its content.
The report’s Executive Summary begins with the following paragraph:
The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem. As peaking is approached, liquid fuel prices and price volatility will increase dramatically, and, without timely mitigation, the economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented. Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking.
…
Here, then, is a significant report produced by an independent research company for the US Department of Energy, warning of a global problem of ‘unprecedented’ proportions with economic, social, and political impacts that are likely to be extremely severe. The authors forecast ‘protracted economic hardship’ for the United States and the rest of the world. It is a problem that deserves ‘immediate, serious attention.’
Yet, half a year after its release, the Hirsch report is nowhere to be found. For several months it was archived, in PDF format, on a high school web site (www.hilltoplancers.org, Hilltop High School in Chula Vista, Calif.). On July 7 the report disappeared from that site. The Atlantic Council (www.acus.org) is considering publishing the Hirsch report; however there is no projected date of release. When contacted, Dr. Hirsch replied that the document is ‘a public report, paid for and released by DOE NETL, and that it therefore could be reposted at will.’
Project Censored is therefore posting the report in full at: http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/The_Hirsch_Report_Proj_Cens.pdf
Offered without comment, just concern. Read and discuss.