Rob:  We wouldn’t be focusing on our energy needs if we weren’t at THE BRAKING POINT; that’s the title of a new book about our country’s energy future.  Joining me now is its author, Mark Stansberry.  Well, you spelled braking with an A; B-R-A-K-I-N-G.  Why is that?
Mark Stansberry:  Well, we are at the braking point, meaning the stopping point.  We need to examine where we are, where we’re going to go, for the future.  You know, as far as America’s energy dreams, and global economic realities; are we just dreaming, or are they realities?  And that’s what we’re facing today.  We need to debate; inform the consumers.  What the book was about, being able to inform the consumer, government officials, and really be a reference for the industry itself, as well.
Rob:  Well, let’s talk about those realities, especially for Oklahoma.  Where do we stand?
Stansberry:  Right now, we stand in a great position.  We are the leader, in my opinion, in energy excellence.  But we need to keep working that direction.  Right now, not just America’s energy center, but actually the world’s center, natural gas being one of the most important parts of the energy mix, for now and to the future; I mean, if you think of companies, like Chesapeake and Devon, and so forth.  But also we need to look at the opportunities in research and development, technological advancements.  We have research universities here, OSU, OU and other universities.  We have the opportunity to be the leader in education.  And so, I think that for the next several years, we need to look at how we can broaden that expertise, and put funds in those areas.
Rob:  Now, in the book, you say America’s energy dreams and the global economic realities, what are some of those economic realities we all must recognize?
Stansberry:  Well, we need to recognize that we’re short, you know, first of all we went through a depression, in the oil and gas industry for about 20-plus years, and it’s only been a few years since we’ve been out of the depression.  And, so we lack manpower.  We lack infrastructure.  We need to expand on that.  The economic realities as far as that, geo political, we’re looking at countries, like Venezuela, where Chavez is a leader there, and very threatening, Putin in Russia, we have that threat as well, throughout the world.  And so we have to look at economic realities, also geo political.  The weakening of the dollar right now has caused a big problem for us.  And how do we compete in the world?  And we are a global economy, so we have to look at it from a standpoint of, where do we fit in, in the global economy?  
Rob:  Well, Mark, it’s certainly an interesting book, something I think we all could learn something from by giving it a read.  And I will continue my conversation with Mark on our web site.  Just go to OkHorizon.com and click on value-added.