Professor Smith speaks to Tulane students
“Renewable energy just is not economical,” noted Professor Eric Smith to the room full of Tulane students. The university’s College Republican club teamed up with the CFACT chapter on October 30th to host Professor Smith, the Associate Director of the Tulane Energy Institute. He came to speak to the students about many issues surrounding the environment and energy production.
Focusing on several different aspects, the students enjoyed the opportunity to hear an expert go into detail about several concerns, including EPA regulations, federal government control over land, the benefits of shale gas production, and even discussing conventional hydrocarbon energy and its many uses. Professor Smith offered some very interesting perspectives on this vast array of topics.
Speaking on the concern of pipelines, he noted that Long Beach, California, due to concern for environmental safety, denied the construction of a pipeline. Instead, the oil was contracted to a foreign source and the oil will go overseas for the next forty years. In a similar issue, he discussed how the Keystone XL pipeline could have a similar ending, with the oil going overseas if the U.S. does not capitalize on these resources.
He ended his talk saying that the United States needs to take seriously the jobs and economic benefits of refineries, pipelines and traditional energy sources.
