Have The Oil Companies Abandoned America?

Have The Oil Companies Abandoned America?

   With the deregulation of big business a few decades ago America saw the oil companies rush to merger Exxon/Mobil, BP/Amoco, Conoco/Phillips to name a few. It shouldn’t be surprising that when you eliminate competition monopolies can control the market by setting their own price no matter how it damages the economy around them.

  Sometimes this enormous power backfires. For instance Arco was forced to pay 187 million dollars for restoration of 120 miles in Montana (outside Butte) and the pollution of The Clark Fork River. In 2009 Chevron/Texaco was forced to pay 350 million to the nation of Ecuador after making 1,700 hectares of pristine Amazon rain forest completely uninhabitable and displacing 15 indigenous tribes. The company went so far as to create fake on-line news reports declaring the area not affected. The fine for the Exxon Valdez Alaskan disaster was 99 million dollars. That’s four days profit for Exxon/Mobil and decades later victims are still waiting for restitution.

  Am I blaming the oil companies? Certainly not, with big investments come big challenges and responsibilities. Sometimes enormous projects have enormously disastrous consequences. According to several environmental organizations Sunoco has the best green record.

  Why does gas always creep up towards $4.00 a gallon only to slip back down just below the $4.00 level? When gas reaches $4.00 independent producers in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Colorado can afford to re-start long dormant oil derricks and sell to independents like Sinclair. The large conglomerates don’t want that competition.

  I do however blame our celebrity obsessed media for wasting air time on useless fame whores and neglecting serious investigative reporting. Matt Lauer interviewed the CEO of Exxon/Mobil. I believe it was Rex Tillerson who repeated the mantra ‘It’s the law of supply and demand’ like an android in a Brooks Brothers three piece to every question Lauer asked concerning pricing. I don’t blame Tillerson. He’s a company man towing the company line, no matter how greasy and soiled it gets. I blame Lauer’s producer for forcing him to ask softball questions. I think what America wanted Lauer to ask was, ‘Look I understand you can demand a fair price, but do you have to charge so much that it’s hurting your own country?’ Exxon/Mobil being a HUGE sponsor precluded that type of question from ever being asked.

  What’s the point? The oil companies have a God awful reputation. A reputation any single company could turn around instantly and use the publicity stunt to make billions. If just one of the big three; BP, Chevron, Exxon were to step up and proclaim ‘In an attempt to stabilize the economy we’re going to see gas in America and only in America for the next two years at no more than $3.00 a gallon’. They’d be instant heroes, save the economy, and by undercutting the other companies make billions. Records show any one of the giant oil corporations could easily absorb this type of two year fire sale. People will say it’s not that simple, but truly it is. The oil companies are truly betraying their own country for economic gains. Are they any different than a gun runner in Africa? This is a golden opportunity for a company that sees the big picture.