International energy policy is back in the headlines as the United States considers a deeper role in global energy markets. With domestic natural gas and oil production surging, policymakers are weighing the pros and cons of building new infrastructure to export fossil resources. Nevertheless, imported fuels remain a key and potentially growing source of supply, as other nations — notably Canada, which hopes to export bitumen from Albertan tar sands fields via the cross-border Keystone XL pipeline — develop their own unconventional fossil resources with a view towards exports. At the same time, growing environmental concerns about local pollution and global climate change put pressure on governments to expand renewable energy efforts and curtail the harmful effects of a continued reliance on fossil fuels.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Julia Nesheiwat, an official with the Bureau of Energy Resources at the U.S. Department of State, will offer her views on the geopolitics of energy and the role energy policy plays in contemporary diplomacy. Created in 2011 in response to the State Department's Quadrennial Review process, Ms. Nesheiwat's office is charged with managing the Department's energy diplomacy missions, transforming energy markets, encouraging energy governance transparency, and assisting the effort to provide energy services to the 1.3 billion people who currently lack them today.

Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating opportunity to learn about the U.S. government's engagement in one of the most important policy issues of the day.

Sponsored by the Stanford Energy Club, the SLS Energy Club, and the Environmental Law Society.

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