The All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas

PowerSwitchJames · Post by **PowerSwitchJames** » 26 Jun 2007, 21:27

Dear all,
I have just returned from the first All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas. There was a decent turnout, and the level of support is quite strong for a newly born APPG. I shall write more on this tomorrow, but we (PowerSwitch) put a lot of work into helping this get set up and it is great that we can get this talked about in Parliament.

Bandidoz · Post by **Bandidoz** » 26 Jun 2007, 22:11

Fantastic! Well done!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 26 Jun 2007, 22:13

Well done. Who's involved? 30 years ago I was on the Parliamentary Liason Group for Alternative Energy Strategies. We got nowhere much. Tony Benn was Energy Minister and still believed that nuclear generated electricity would be, if not actually too cheap to meter, at least cheap enough to distribute free to pensioners and the poor.

Post by **clv101** » 26 Jun 2007, 23:19

biffvernon wrote:Well done. Who's involved? 30 years ago I was on the Parliamentary Liason Group for Alternative Energy Strategies. We got nowhere much. Tony Benn was Energy Minister and still believed that nuclear generated electricity would be, if not actually too cheap to meter, at least cheap enough to distribute free to pensioners and the poor.

About a year and a half ago Tony Benn did a radio programme all about nuclear power and history of it in Britain. Held his hands up and said straight out that he was wrong, was hoodwinked by the industry and didn't do his homework. I think he said something like his support for nuclear was his biggest political mistake.

PowerSwitchJames · Post by **PowerSwitchJames** » 27 Jun 2007, 12:20

For the first bit of news on the APPGOPO
http://johnhemming.blogspot.com/2007/06 ... party.html

PowerSwitchJames · Post by **PowerSwitchJames** » 27 Jun 2007, 14:45

On Tuesday 26th June 2007, Tony Blair?s last full day as Prime Minister, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO) held its inaugural Annual General Meeting, ensuring that the issue of declining global oil supplies will feature much more prominently in Parliament in the Gordon Brown era.

APPGs are composed of politicians from all political parties and have members from the House of Commons and the House of Lords. APPGOPO will enable interested MPs and Lords to discuss Peak Oil and all its surrounding issues. The interest by MPs and Lords in Peak Oil, and indeed the All Party Parliamentary Group, was much higher than the average Peak Oil commentator would expect. Often it is charged that politicians are not willing to talk about such a difficult subject, but the APPGOPO has the support of over twenty MPs and Lords. This actually makes it the largest political grouping looking at Peak Oil in the world.

The AGM, held at 6.30pm in Committee Room 19 in the House of Commons, made the election of officers the first piece of business. Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, who has been vocal on this issue since becoming an MP, was elected as Chair, while Colin Challen MP, highly respected for his work on pushing the issue of Climate Change with the APPGCC, and Lord Robin Teverson took the positions of Vice Chair. Labour MP Austin Mitchell, with 30 years of Parliamentary experience, took the position of Secretary, while Mark Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion, was elected Treasurer. David Drew, Labour MP for Stroud, was also present. Many more Parliamentarians have offered their support for the group, but could not attend.

The AGM also established the initial parameters for its mission. It will use available Parliamentary processes to raise the issue, and there is likely to be regular meetings, open to the public, discussing the issue. The first APPGOPO event may take place before the end of July. The group wants to look at the technological and geological issues, the geopolitical issues, the government viewpoints and those of the industry, the impact of alternative fuels such as biofuels, how peak oil and climate change relate, and mitigation and solution options. Although the group will not produce its own prediction for the date of Peak Oil, it will analyse the various predictions that exist.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas is the result of several months work of collaboration between PowerSwitch.org.uk, The Oil Depletion Analysis Centre (ODAC), and John Hemming MP. Although it has no formal powers, and receives no funding, this group is a vital step in raising the necessary awareness of the issue, from which a rational response to the challenges can come. Educating key decision makers and challenging established views on the issue is a task this group must, and can, achieve. The formation group also provides further evidence that Peak Oil is far removed from the days of being a fringe subject. Many of those concerned about the impending decline of global oil supplies may take hope that a significant group of their representatives are finally going to speak about the Peak openly in the corridors of power.

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 27 Jun 2007, 15:18

That sounds brilliant news James. It's good that the group is going to focus on mitigation and education, much more productive than focusing on prediction. Was Diane Abbott one of the 20+?

PowerSwitchJames · Post by **PowerSwitchJames** » 27 Jun 2007, 15:42

Unfortunately Diane wasn't - maybe send her a reminder?

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 27 Jun 2007, 16:07

PowerSwitchJames wrote:Unfortunately Diane wasn't - maybe send her a reminder?

Yeah, I got the impression she was politely nodding when I talked peak oil with her outside the farmers' market a few weeks ago. She did it very convincingly though. Will drop her another line, as she does appear to be very concerned about climate change.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 27 Jun 2007, 16:27

I am sure I can speak for all of us on here and say, Well done James!

It is certainly about time that this issue was raised as high as possible in these circles.

I will contact Lembit Opik and try to persuade him to turn from cheeky issues to more serious issues and become involved.

PowerSwitchJames · Post by **PowerSwitchJames** » 27 Jun 2007, 16:35

Lembit should be easy - he is peak oil aware, has received our invite several times, and is a LibDem, and the LibDems, as far as I can tell, have a very high proportion of Peak Oil aware MPs.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Jun 2007, 17:16

Excellent. Now we just need David Miliband to turn up

tattercoats · Post by **tattercoats** » 27 Jun 2007, 18:13

Fantastic news. Very well done indeed.

lancasterlad · Post by **lancasterlad** » 28 Jun 2007, 07:00

Well done to everyone involved. The wife of our local LibDem city councillor is starting an 'evironmental interest group' in the area - the words Peak Oil were mentioned so there is certainly awareness.

I will be supporting her, as one day, her hubby may be an MP!

Erik · Post by **Erik** » 28 Jun 2007, 08:14

Brilliant! Best news I've heard for ages! And what with all the doomerism affecting many of us around here lately, the timing is perfect!