Divide and conquer is oil, gas strategy
Watching the pundits tell us how divided our country is prompted me to look for the next divisive issue facing our nation.
I guessed it might be the upcoming fight in Washington regarding our “drive off of the fiscal cliff.” Much as the pols and pundits might want us to think this, I have found another issue in our near future that came as a surprise.
Our nation is on the verge of an oil boom, and the next big issue should be the question of exporting that oil and who benefits.
Without getting into too many details, there is a world of difference between exporting crude oil and oil products. Crude is much more difficult for companies to export due to laws (policies) currently in place.
There are numerous shale formations within our borders beginning to be exploited with new fracking technology. Light, sweet crude, the most commonly produced from the large Bakken and Eagle Ford deposits, will fetch a higher price on the global market.
Oil companies have invested billions in its Gulf Coast refineries, much of which is now idle because it is better suited for the cheaper and heavier imported crude. Most U.S. refineries suited for the light, sweet crude are on our East Coast.
Because crude export is tightly regulated, one proposal is to have the light, sweet crude shipped or piped to Canada for refining, then import it back to the U.S. markets.
When we start to hear about the Keystone Pipeline, we will know where that crude is going. Not so much to Gulf Coast refineries but to ports on the Gulf Coast to be exported.
The lobbying efforts and money that comes with these efforts will be flooding not only Washington but local governments very soon. Indeed, by some of what I can discern, this has already begun.
This inquiry of mine did not start out with Koch Industries in mind, but the more I delved into this subject the more Koch came up. I am not anti-Koch. I love their toilet paper! Really. No joke. Well, maybe a little one.
Koch has built a vertical profit-taking machine from every aspect of carbon-based energy.
A few clicks of the mouse to sites like TXsharon Bluedog, LEAN and The Investigative Fund will leave you stunned.
While the pundits on MSNBC, CNN and Fox keep our heads spinning, we will be missing the big picture.
As consumers, we may benefit in the short term from this new oil and gas boom, and certainly, entities like Koch and Exxon Mobile (reporting $9 billion in profits so far this year) will benefit, but we all lose in the long run because of climate change and health issues caused by fracking.
Divide and conquer is the multinational corporate strategy.
Anthony Fornof
Yuma
