That's just one of the many headlines relating to the new reserve of crude discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, it's too small to.... That's just one of the many headlines relating to the new reserve of crude discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, it's too small to make the United States independent of foreign oil and it too will run out. Still it's not a headline Kunsler and others expected to read when predicting the end of oil, the end of suburbia, etc.

Sure, this oil is out further and deeper and likely more costly to abstract. I'm making this post because when reading predictions I imagined, from my limited knowledge, the pendulum won't swing as fast as many on this segment of the left expect. Higher-priced gasoline will mean more exploration and refining shale oil.

On the other hand, we can't assume this new reserve is the end to our oil problems. Burning of fossil fuels is by most accounts causing global warming. Whatever amounts of new oil we find it is critically importatant to reduce the buring of these fuels. On a purely economic basis, high oil costs have sent folks looking for smaller, more fuel efficient cars, and where practical, to mass transportation. Oil that's harder to extract will necessitate a higher price and lower demand.

It's no less important to continue developing in a more dense, efficient and sustainable fashion, developing and improving mass transit and improving the fuel efficiency of automobiles.