SMH - Perthlings, please take us to your railway system

I say most cities have serious rail projects, because Perth does not. It has spent the last 20 years modernising and extending its railway, largely because of the political backlash to a conservative state government's attempt to close the railway down - in the middle of the first major oil crisis. It mobilised everyone and showed how important a modern electric railway was to the future resilience of the city.

Perth's new Southern Railway already is something of a model for other cities as they prepare their plans. It goes deep into the outer suburbs, places badly hit by last year's oil crisis (a foretaste of many more). Now, 50,000 people a day are carried along a corridor that before could only manage 14,000 on buses. It cost $30 million a kilometre, including a one kilometre tunnel under the city and two river crossings. Sydney's recent Epping-Chatswood rail project cost $200 million a kilometre due to the extensive tunnelling.
The Southern Railway is a model in other respects, too. Most significantly for Sydney, some stations have transit oriented developments, or TODs. These are high density, mixed-use areas with homes, shops and offices, designed to integrate closely into the station and which can provide a local area with many city services.

Worldwide concern is growing over high oil prices, the security of supply of fossil fuels and its impact on many sectors of our society. Such concerns voiced at the oildrum over the past years are becoming part of the mainstream energy discussion. On 21 & 22 January 2009 a major business conference will be held in the Netherlands in which I am involved as an advisor in my role as President of ASPO Netherlands.

I invite you to come and listen to top executives and leaders from many industrial sectors who will explore the effects of high oil prices in their field of expertise or industry. Day 1 is dealing with political and macro economic aspects of changing oil supplies. Day 2 is teaching more about specific economic sectors, like Transport & Infrastructure, Food & Agriculture, Energy Systems and Chemicals & Materials.

There will be many speakers including Maria van der Hoeven (Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs), Matthew Simmons (invited), Peter de Wit (President Shell Netherlands), Kjell Aleklett (ASPO International), Jeremy Tomkinson (CEO The National Non-Food Crops Centre), Jörg Schindler (ASPO Germany) and Ger Bemer (CEO Royal Nedalco). For Conference Agenda and Registration, go to the the Permanent Oil Crisis website.

Under the fold, find the highlights from the program. Come to Amsterdam!

Russia oil output falls for first time in a decade

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian oil production fell by around one percent in 2008, official data showed on Friday, the country's first annual decline in a decade after large increases in previous years and a sign of things to come.

The decline is widely expected to continue because of ageing reserves and plunging oil prices, which combine with heavy taxation to leave producers with limited cash to invest in maintaining production and opening new fields.

Oregon looks at taxing mileage instead of gasoline

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon is among a growing number of states exploring ways to tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive instead of how much gas they use, even going so far as to install GPS monitoring devices in 300 vehicles. The idea first emerged nearly 10 years ago as Oregon lawmakers worried that fuel-efficient cars such as gas-electric hybrids could pose a threat to road upkeep, which is paid for largely with gasoline taxes.

"I'm glad we're taking a look at it before the potholes get so big that we can't even get out of them," said Leroy Younglove, a Portland driver who participated in a recent pilot program.

The proposal is not without critics, including drivers who are concerned about privacy and others who fear the tax could eliminate the financial incentive for buying efficient vehicles.

But Oregon is ahead of the nation in exploring the concept, even though it will probably be years before any mileage tax is adopted.