Step Right Up And Be Amazed

It struck me today that our fearless leaders, would-be’s, and corporate giants seem to think we’re all a bunch of rubes gathered outside a carnival sideshow, leaning on the barker’s every word.

Urging Congress to lift its ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, our fearless leader, you know, President Bush, told lawmakers, “There is no excuse for delay“.

It got worse, “Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response.”  Gimme a break.

In response, House Democrats, in a news conference, propose nationalization of refineries, a way to better control the flow of oil supply. Stay tuned, this will be one hot potato.

One of our presidential wanna-be’s, Sen John McCain (R-AZ), has jumped on the bandwagon, even though he’s on record supporting the moratorium on drilling.  Flip-flop, what do we believe?

The Senator also proposed a gas tax holiday.  Woop.  Arizona made it clear the other day that it won’t happen here, and I doubt the idea will ever get off the ground.

Not only has McCain changed his tune, he’s asking for 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030, and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds to “make clean coal a reality.”

You can bet that’ll get my vote; for Obama.

Florida’s Governor, Charlie Crist has gone on record, changing his position on offshore drilling.  Gas prices too high, we must do something now.

Drill Now?  How Long Will It Take To Get Some Relief?

Think about it for a minute.  There are approximatley 68 million acres of offshore waters under lease by oil companies at this moment, but none are under development.

Let’s say the oil companies decide to get busy and help us poor folks get out of the gas crunch.  By the time they set up new platforms, drill, recover and ship crude to refineries, my great-grandchildren will be voting.

How about that for a quick fix?

See my point?  It truly is a dog and pony show, smoke and mirrors, whatever, but let’s look further.

Big Oil’s Take On The Problem

In this case, “BIG OIL” is Chevron Corp, whose CEO David O’Reilly told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that big oil isn’t to blame for high gas prices.

It’s a matter of supply and demand, that’s what we’ve been hearing all along, and it makes as much sense as anything.

Domestic production of crude, according to O’Reilly, has declined over the years, putting America further in debt to foreign oil producers.

Meanwhile, Chevron claims to be reinvesting it’s $18.7 billion profit from last year in new supplies.  He didn’t say what constituted “supplies.”

Saudi’s To Increase Production

The world’s leading producer of oil, Saudi Arabia, plans to increase production by 200,000 barrels a day through July.  That would bring production up to 9.7 million barrels a day.

The U.S. alone consumes an estimated 20 million barrels a day, roughly half of that amount is imported.  I doubt the 200,000 barrel increase in Saudi production will make a huge impact on the world’s thirst for oil, or bring relief to high prices in America.

The rest of the OPEC nations have decided not to make a committment until their meeting on Sept 9th.  History has shown they usually follow Saudi Arabia’s lead, but given the instability and tensions in that area, they may just take the money and enjoy.

Environmentalists Are Weakening

I read with great amusement this article in the LA Times, inferring that the environmental movement is now on the defensive.

It’s worth a read, still more of the same as listed above.

What I find most interesting, in this time of environmental awareness, is the call for more oil out of one side of the mouth, while the other side speaks boldly of developing alternative energy sources.

So there it is folks, step right up and get your ticket now, the only cost:  A gallon of gas for the greatest show on earth.

Welcome to the circus, are you having any fun, aren’t you glad you came?

CNN’S “Fueling America” site..interesting.

Image Credit:  http://www.jamestilley.com/

“Some of the nation’s largest oil companies will over the next 30 years have to pay to clean up groundwater befouled with gasoline additive MTBE. In settling a suit brought by 153 public water providers in 17 states, a dozen companies — including BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron — will also have to pay a total $423 million cash.”

Thought #1: Finally!
Thought #2: 30 years! How about 3? And how about shipping clean water to homes in the affected areas in the mean time?
The article goes on to state that the estimated cost of the cleanup is $30 billion…
Thought #3: Why $423 million then?! I’m taking that same logic with me next time I fill up my car. “What, the cost is $4 a gallon? I’ll pay $1.50.”
It also mentioned that Exxon Mobile (among others) did not agree to settle…
Cartoon #1: Big Oil’s Mess? It MTBE, It Could Be, It Is!
And,
Thought #4: How can 17 states worth of contaminated groundwater even be cleaned up?
That’s when discovered that a few University of Aberdeen researchers have found that a whiskey bi-product may just do the trick.

The whiskey DRAM (Device for the Remediation and Attenuation of Multiple pollutants) was announced in early March. This article from the University of Aberdeen does not explain how it will work, but does explain the following:

The DRAM technology is different to current remediation techniques in a number of ways:
It is the first technology that can remove metal contaminants at the same time as degrading organic pollutants such as pesticides. No intervention is required to apply it to contaminated sites as it can use existing infrastructure and remain in place unobtrusively for years.

Now for getting this technology on the market.

The University of Aberdeen researchers – Dr Graeme Paton, Professor Ken Killham and Dr Leigh Cassidy – are considering forming a spinout company to commercialise the technology that could be licensed to land consultants and other companies involved in remediation.

Terrific. I hope this stuff goes as well as planned. If so, we may be able to clean this MTBE mess up quicker than the allotted 30 years and maybe even for the minimal sum of $423 million.

More articles on the whiskey Dram:

BBC news–”Dram ‘helps clean contamination’ “
The Telegraph–”Whiskey bi-product helps clean contamination”

More on the MTBE cleanup settlement:

NY Times–”Oil Giants to Settle Water Suit”

Photo credit: http://blogs.jsonline.com

The federal excise tax on gasoline was first implemented in 1932, although the states began taxing fuel in 1919. It is estimated that suspending this tax, as proposed by Clinto and McCain, would result in a loss of revenue of nine billion dollars for the Highway Trust Fund, which is used for interstate maintenance. McCain says he would shift revenue from other sources, and Clinton proposes enacting windfall-profits tax on big oil companies to make up for the loss. Both candidates are making Obama look like the bad guy for not wanting to save consumers 18 cents per gallon, but would this temporary suspension of the federal excise tax on gasoline really be the catalyst to change our current oil dependency and the harm it causes to the environment?

Apparently, Obama trusts the oil companies as much as I do. Last week, he stated:

You don’t know that the oil companies are going to pass on the savings to the consumers or whether they’re just gonna, you’re just gonna see an increase in prices, by the same amount that the gas tax goes down. And it would deplete the highway trust fund that we need for rebuilding our roads and our bridges.

I agree with Obama that this is just a “short-term quick fix”, and I can’t help that it is just a ploy to get votes by the two other candidates. I do, however, appreciate that Clinton wishes to tax the record profits big oil companies are scamming out of the American public, a move Senator McCain admitently opposes. In truth, the amount saved by consumers through the removal of such a tax over the summer months is only about $30, so what’s the big deal.

What is the big deal? How about improving gas mileage in all vehicles, providing incentives for car companies to vamp up production of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids now (and I’m not talking about some joke of an SUV hybrid that gets 30 MPG), stop farm subsidies for not growing food and put it into biofuel productions, etc. A “gas tax holiday” will not solve the problem of peak oil. It is not a long term solution, and of course, our bozo of a president proposes the same old policies to help big oil rape the American public of their hard earned income. Somehow, I don’t think saving $30 over the summer will help when oil reaches $200 a barrel.

Image: Judiciary Report

Related posts on big oil companies and politics:

• The Big Oil Company Scam

• Mean Joe Green #5: “Big Oil and The Loggers” Continue to Play to a Sellout Crowd

• Clinton Takes Jabs at Obama’s Energy Policy