When President Bush refers to the Axis of Evil, he should include an unkindly word to the Energy Industrial Complex. This is a loose consortium of auto makers, coal mining interests and the power plants that use their carbon-spewing, mercury-poisoning product, the oil cartel that creates shortages to punch up their bottom line, and manipulate prices for political purposes, and just about any one who benefits from our addiction to fossil fuels. Their practice takes money out of your pocket while endangering your health and that of the planet. Fossil fuel combustion and resulting greenhouse gasses emissions is the major cause of global warming. |
You can’t talk about the sins of the oil industry without mentioning its most prominent sinner, ExxonMobil Corporation. They don’t officially recognize Global Warming, and have, in fact, invested some of their obscene profits to conduct phony research in an attempt to refute the indisputable evidence. Mr. Bush and ExxonMobil share in common a doubt about the Climate Crisis, which the scientific community and global political leaders almost universally accept. Unlike his British counter-part, Tony Blair, who fully recognizes the threat, campaigning actively to combat it, the only enemies George wants you to see are the terrorists. |
At the very beginnings of the current administration, Vice President Cheney, who shares his boss’s oil industry background, impaneled a task force that would determine our nation’s energy policy for the foreseeable future. We’d love to know what was discussed at those meetings, but Cheney has invoked executive privilege, and refuses to surrender the minutes of those gatherings, despite attempts by some members of congress to open this up to public scrutiny. |
We don’t know all of the attendees, but Big Oil was there, representing their interests. Who was representing yours? Certainly no one from the environmental community. So what did Cheney want to hide that drove him to such great lengths to fight transparency? The Sierra Club unsuccessfully sued in the Supreme Court for the right to make these meeting discussions public. The court is stacked with appointees who instead of serving in their constitutionally mandated watchdog role, rubber stamp whatever the administration wants; and it doesn’t hurt for Justice Scalia to be a favored Cheney golf partner. Add to that mix the most unpopular congress in history, which has unburdened itself of its checks and balances responsibilities. |
Has ExxonMobil and other Big Oil profited from our fossil fuel addiction? Does a polar bear pine for his disappearing pack ice? At the close of 2006, Chevron, the nation's No. 2 oil company reported earnings of $3.6 billion. Conoco Phillips, $3.8 billion, BP, $6.5 billion, Royal Dutch Shell, $9 billion and ExxonMobil a whopping $9.9 billion in just three months. Does the word “windfall” strike a familiar note? |
Congress, which never met a lobbyist it didn’t like, should repeal subsidies bound for Big Oil and Big Coal, sucked from the wallets of the U.S. taxpayers and use those funds to promote energy efficiency, encourage development of sustainable fuel alternatives. Congress must boost fuel efficiency standards, and not let makers of gas guzzlers off the hook. Can you imagine? Hummer owners get tax breaks? How obscene is that? |
And finally: Isn’t it time for the U.S. to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change as most other nations have. This treaty was negotiated nearly 10 years ago, long before most of our citizens even heard of Global Warming. Although imperfect, Kyoto is at least a start toward reducing carbon emissions. The world cannot wait another 10 years before its largest polluter joins the global community. Barry Zack 11-4-06 |