Both sides of the political aisle agree: Dependence on foreign oil has become a dangerous game. They say energy independence is a must, but the best way to get there remains a big question.
There has been much speculation about the effects offshore oil drilling will have on our economy and our environment. Will drilling off the U.S. coastline lower prices at the pump in the immediate future?
What will the environmental impact be? Join a panel of experts to discuss both the short-term and long-term advantages and disadvantages of offshore oil drilling- The Commonwealth Club of California
Bio
Michael Brune
Michael Brune is the executive director of Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and a founding board member of Oil Change International, an organization dedicated to dissolving the political barriers to a clean energy transition.
At age 26, Brune joined RAN to direct its campaign to convince Home Depot to stop selling wood from endangered forests. After a year of creative protests, celebrity activism, and shareholder advocacy, Home Depot agreed. Time magazine called it the top environmental story of 1999, and the announcement led to the protection of 5 million acres in British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest.
Kerry Curtis
Kerry Curtis is a professor emeritus at Golden Gate University and a member of the board of the Commonwealth Club of California.
Randall Luthi
Randall B. Luthi was appointed Director of the Minerals Management Service on July 23, 2007.
Luthi, a former speaker of the Wyoming State House of Representatives, is a rancher and attorney in private practice from Freedom, Wyoming. He previously served in the Department of the Interior and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Peter Schwartz
Peter Schwartz is co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network (GBN), a unique membership organization and worldwide network of strategists, business executives, scientists, and artists based in Emeryville, California.
Established in 1988, GBN specializes in corporate scenario planning and research on the future of the business environment. From 1982 to 1986, Schwartz headed scenario planning for the Royal Dutch/ Shell Group of Companies in London. His team conducted comprehensive analyses of the global business and political environment and worked with senior management to create successful strategies.
Before joining Royal Dutch/ Shell, Schwartz directed the Strategic Environment Center at SRI International. The Center researched the business milieu, lifestyles, and consumer values, and conducted scenario planning for corporate and government clients.
Schwartz is the co-author of both The Long Boom, and When Good Companies Do Bad Things: Responsibility and Risk in an Age of Globalization. Schwartz is also the author of The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World. This seminal publication on scenario planning has been translated into Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese.
Schwartz also co-authored Seven Tomorrows: Toward a Voluntary History with James Ogilvy and Paul Hawken in 1982, and The Emergent Paradigm: Changing Patterns of Thought and Belie with James Ogilvy in 1979. He has published and lectured widely and served as a script consultant on the films War Games and Sneakers. Schwartz received a BS in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Joe Sparano
Joe Sparano is the president of the Western States Petroleum Association. He previously worked for Tesoro Petroleum and Pacific Refining Company.
BRITISH Petroleum. So just what percent of their stock is controlled by HRH Elizabeth? Corporations are so much easier to control than colonies and colonial governments. And, thanks to bi-partisan efforts by our elected representatives, We The People get to subsidize oil.
"This is a global market." If we permit offshore oil drilling, what measures have been created to prevent that oil from being sold to other markets? Consider how much oil we currently export. Drilling offshore doesn't seem to solve the issue of energy dependence, rather it seems to serve the interests of corporations in fattening their bottom line.
member. 
