oil

File this under That's Rich...(pun intended)

Despite record crude prices, the major oil companies are struggling to access resources that are being jealously guarded by national companies with whom they are forced to establish partnerships.

As paradoxical as it may seem, high oil prices do not mean a golden age for the likes of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Totalor BP.

As a result they are being forced to explore in increasingly extreme conditions.

Let's convert pig manure to oil.

Welcome to part 5 of the series on Renewable Energy.
This next installment could easily be a stand alone story, but I wanted to keep it in the context of the entire problem. (especially in light of the Supreme Court's ruling reducing the penalty to Exxon for the Valdez oil spill - an average of $15,000 per plaintiff, some of who lost a year or more in wages)
This segment is about the human cost in blood and lives. I hope that your anger about what has been done in this world in our name, for the consumption of oil, will stir you to the necessity to GET OFF OIL NOW through an immediate change in U.S. consumption and policy.
Here is my interview with Doug Vilsack, son former Presidential candidate, Tom Vilsack and Iowa Governor. Doug is someone I met while stumping for John Edwards, and he was stumping for Hillary. After we met, I told him about the show I host and he mentioned this story, which although I had heard about it, could not believe the depth and scope of the despiteful tactics of big oil and the complicity of our Media, most notably, CNN.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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The CFTC gets the Brits to impose trading regs on Atlanta-based ICE Futures Europe. On the very same day, Dubya acts to open ANWR, the OCS and shale oil reserves. All of this is occurring with $140 oil in the background. You couldn't have choreographed a screenplay better.

Remember when the Republicans said that we had to invade Iraq because of 9/11? Remember when they told you that the war on terror meant that we should allow warrantless wiretaps and torture? Remember when they told you that voting against Bush in 2004 would lead to armageddon?

Well, they are playing to the passions of the people again, telling them that if we only drill in ANWR, cheap gas will magically appear.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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The experts weren't shy about inflicting their predictions on us, so now let's look at those predictions with the proverbial 20/20 hindsight.

[crossposted on Daily Kos and my campaign blog]

It’s critical to understand the reasons for our skyrocketing oil prices if we want to lead our country away from protracted conflicts in the Middle East and towards energy independence.

The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil, using about 20 million barrels per day. Petroleum is not traded in a free market. If the oil market were truly free, it’s unlikely we’d be paying over $100 a barrel. Oil prices are in fact highly manipulated by people who claim to be proponents of free market capitalism and cartels that are interested in anything but a free market. But our government has the power to manipulate oil prices as well. It could bring down the price of oil, if it so chooses, by opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Tapping this cache of over a half a billion barrels of oil would have a dramatic and immediate impact on oil prices.