(Photo from bbs news)From certain government documents we learn that we are being sold a bill of goods (as if we didn't already know that) by the oil men and the oil companies that run our government.
According to an article at BSAlert, the rapidly rising price of gasoline has nothing to do with a shortage of oil. The U.S. Department of the Interior reports that the oil companies have access to as much oil as we need, but they refuse to drill for it. "They're letting prices go up in an effort to put pressure on consumers to put pressure on lawmakers to give them even more access to drilling areas." As of this moment, "only 17% of the oil leases available are actually being drilled."
I'm not surprised when political office seekers like John McCain and the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, flip-flop on drilling for oil off the American coast, for they inhabit the bottom of the food chain, but I am constantly amazed as to why so many Americans allow themselves to be fooled by the corporate behemoths who operate with only one goal - to take more money from the pockets of Americans!
Typical is this comment: "As we wait around for countries like Norway, China and Vietnam to drill for oil off the coast of Florida, thanks to Cuba, we will sit back and miss out on a share of the bounty." Such a statement is vivid testimony to the effectiveness of the propaganda spewed by Cheney and his friends - Chevron, Mobil, Exxon, BP, etc. It's a statement reflecting not only ignorance of the facts, but a willingness to be deluded by the very ones picking his pocket.
What we have had in place for some 26 years is a moratorium on off-shore oil and gas drilling in certain areas. "Other areas are not only open to drilling but leases and drilling permits have already been issued.
"And they are not being drilled."
As noted, "only 17% of the leased areas is in production." There are some 33 millions acres of offshore areas that are currently available for drilling. "The fact is that nearly 25 BILLION barrels of oil off the coast of the United States" is in position for drilling.
The truth is this: "...more than 44 million acres of onshore public lands are leased for oil and gas development and yet most of it is not being drilled. All told (onshore and offshore), 68 million acres are leased and sitting idle. Over 10,000 permits are currently 'stockpiled' by industry. But still they want more."
Could it be that the oil and gas industries are not satisfied with their record profits? Could it be that they want to increase these profits on the backs of the American consumer?
Current estimates indicate that "if all those ... inactive leases were drilled, the USA would produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas EVERY DAY, accounting for a doubling of US oil productino and a 75% increase in US natural gas production.
"The Minerals Management Service tells us that about 80% of fossil fuels available in offshore are currently available for development."
Is it possible that these facts describe "yet another cynical attempt by the GOP and the oil and gas robber barons to increase and assure huge industry profits at the expense of the American people. ... [Is it possible that] They want to hold them as assets to limit the amount of oil and gas on the market so that prices rise still further - and they make more money"?
You bet. Below is yet another example of the power of the oil and gas robber barons:
Last Tuesday, the U.S. Senate "blocked debate of a bill to offer about $17.7 billion in tax incentives for consumers to build renewable energy sources like windmills and solar arrays, and buy plug-in cars that run on electricity rather than gasoline."
The global corporations are not our friends! Their operations are not tempered by a concern for the public good. Their god is mammon and they serve it with a unconscionable ferocity. They feed us their lying propaganda dressed up as truth. Unfortunately, too many Americans believe these lies and thus parrot notions against their own best interests by promoting a lifting of the moratorium and to allow these self-serving corporate monsters to ensure their future profits even though their actions are in radical opposition to the interests of the people and the national interest.
It's a mammoth oil company con job greased by greed.
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