After Oil: The Economic & Political Promise of a Post-Petroleum Society
Moderated by:
Senator Tom Daschle, Distinguished Fellow, Center for American Progress
Featured Speakers:
Representative Stephanie Herseth, U.S. House of Representatives
David Morris, Vice President, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
David Hallberg, Chairman/CEO of PRIME BioShield, LLC; President/CEO of E3 BioFuels, LLC
It’s official: America is addicted to oil. The Center for American Progress and The American Prospect team up to showcase the solutions at hand today, hosting a panel of leading experts on the political, economic and social dimensions of a post-oil world. The coming transition from an economy based on hydrocarbons and the quest for dwindling supplies of oil, to one based on carbohydrates fueled by sunlight and the growth of plants can bring exciting innovations in agricultural technology, reduce our national thirst for oil, reverse environmental destruction, and help revive rural America and its populist politics. This event highlights a Special Report on bio-energy in the new edition of The American Prospect, featuring articles by panelists Tom Daschle and David Morris, as well as Senator Barack Obama, CAP fellows Bracken Hendricks and Gayle Smith, American Prospect senior correspondent Chris Mooney, and other leading thinkers on these issues.
Resources
Video
Note: All video provided in QuickTime (MPEG-4) format.
Monday, April 3, 2006
Program: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Admission is free.
Center for American Progress
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Maps and Directions
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Click here to RSVP or call 202-741-6246
Biographies:
Senator Tom Daschle is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Senator Daschle’s work for the Center focuses on health care policy and global economic, security and health issues. Senator Daschle is also a member of the Global Alliances’ steering committee, an international coalition of progressive leaders dedicated to the development and exchange of progressive policy ideas. In addition to his work at the Center, Senator Daschle is also a visiting professor at the Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, conducting student seminars, guest lectures in classrooms, and holding public discussions related to politics and policymaking. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, Tom Daschle served there until 1986 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from South Dakota. He became Minority Leader of the Senate in 1994 and Majority Leader in 2001. He was the second longest serving Democratic leader in history. Daschle now serves as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Washington office of the law firm Alston and Bird. Senator Daschle attended South Dakota State University and graduated in 1969. He served for three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Command.
Representative Stephanie Herseth is South Dakota’s at-large Member of Congress. She is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats committed to fiscal discipline and strong national security, and is co-chair of the Rural Working Group, which is dedicated to raise the profile of issues important to rural America. She also serves on three committees vital to South Dakota’s interests: Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs and Resources. She is Ranking Member on the Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. Stephanie grew up on her family’s farm and ranch near Houghton (HOW-ton), in the northeast part of the state. She graduated from Groton High School, Georgetown University, and the Georgetown University Law Center. She is a member of the South Dakota Bar and has taught classes on government and politics at Augustana College in Sioux Falls and South Dakota State University in Brookings. In 2003, she served as the executive director of the South Dakota Farmers Union Foundation, working to further economic prosperity and cultural vitality in rural South Dakota. Stephanie currently lives in Brookings
Dr. David Morris has been an energy consultant or advisor to the energy departments of Presidents Ford, Carter, Clinton and George W. Bush. Since 2000, David has served on a Congressionally-created Advisory Committee to the US DOE and USDA on biomass-related issues. David is the author of four books and more than a dozen monographs on energy, including his pioneering 1992 report, The Carbohydrate Economy. David’s columns have appeared in over 150 newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. David has been a consultant to local, state and national governments here and abroad, and to businesses as large as IBM and ethanol refineries and as small as neighborhood recycling centers and microbreweries. Dr. Morris is currently Vice President of the Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis based Institute for Local Self-Reliance and resides in Minneapolis.
David Hallberg has been involved with alternative fuels, especially renewable fuels such as ethanol, in the U.S. and worldwide for nearly thirty years. His interest in petroleum alternatives was sparked during an extended tour of Israel and the Middle East region shortly after the 1973 Arab/Israeli War. Upon his return, Hallberg attended the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, where he received an M.A. in International Relations and Economics. For the next five years, Hallberg served as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. In 1981, Hallberg left the Congress to form the Renewable Fuels Association, which today is the nation’s leading ethanol trade association, and served as its president/CEO until 1985. In recent years, Hallberg’s activities have included public policy formulation, technology innovation and advancement, and ethanol/ETBE plant financing, startup, and operations. Hallberg received U.S Patent No. 5,070,016 in December 1991 for his Multiple Oxygenates Production (MOP) technology for the integrated production of ethanol, ETBE, and MTBE. Until 1998, Hallberg was President/Chief Operating Officer of BioClean Fuels, Inc. (BCF) in Omaha, Nebraska. In March 2002, Hallberg received U.S. Patent #6,355,456 for his invention of an integrated process for the production of fuel ethanol, beef (or milk), and biogas/biofertilizers. Currently, Hallberg is Chairman/CEO of PRIME BioShield, LLC, which was the exclusive licensor of the proprietary technology in North America, and developer of integrated farm energy systems combining animal feedlots, anaerobic digestion, and ethanol production. In February 2005, PBS merged with E3, LLC, a Kansas City, KS entity, to own, construct, and operate the first solid waste management/ethanol complex located in Mead, Nebraska. Hallberg currently serves as President & CEO of E3 BioFuels, LLC (website www.e3biofuels.com). Hallberg has also been active in the global climate change area. In February 2000, he was a member of the U.S. Government delegation to the G8 Forum on Climate Change Best Practices in Shonan Village, Japan, where he served as chair of the Working Group on Agriculture, Land Use, and Forestry. Hallberg is a Director of the Nebraska Ethanol Board; the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition; a member of the Governor’s Carbon Sequestration Advisory Committee; a member of the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition’s Advisory Committee; and a Co-Chair of the Western Governors’ Association’s Biomass Task Force of the Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee.