Texas Sharon's Bluedaze

Fracking News

The Big Oil & Gas Mafia’s energy independence deceit

By

Relax.

Stare deep into the image.

Clear your mind off all thoughts. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing concerns you.

Breathe and feel yourself letting go.

Allow the Big Gas Mafia to take control…

This is not news to those of us who were paying attention. For the rest of you, please try to catch up before it’s too late.

How the Oil Industry has Deceived the US with the Promise of Energy Independence
By Kurt Cobb | Thu, 10 May 2012

Oil rich countries are now dominated by state owned producers that usually have exclusive rights to exploit hydrocarbons for the good of their own countries. These countries are locking out the international and smaller independent companies.

The logic behind the deceit:

If the industry tells the public and policymakers the truth, then the industry’s attempt to vastly expand its U.S. operations will almost certainly fail. The truth is that the industry is having a difficult time finding good prospects in the limited areas overseas that it can now explore. So, it wants to return its focus to the United States and drill protected public lands and currently closed offshore areas so it can fulfil its primary mission, namely, making money for its shareholders and managers.

Of course, we will never have energy independence until we kick the hydrocarbon addiction. The only reason we aren’t in emergency lifesaving addiction treatment right now is the chokehold the Big Oil & Gas Mafia has on our government.

…the industry has found that the best way to distract the public from the industry’s unsavoury motives is to insist that its new zest for drilling America’s wilderness and offshore areas is all about helping the country achieve energy independence.

But we all know Americans are not distracted only by the energy independence deceit. Many Americans are distracted from the obvious inability of the Big Oil & Gas Mafia to operate in anything even remotely resembling an environmentally responsible manner and they look away from the suffering inflicted upon their neighbors lusting after the big deceit of great wealth from royalties.

Some Americans only care about the promise of lower fuel prices to pump into their gas guzzling hummers and SUVs. But that too is a lie.

The key fact the oil industry does NOT want the public to understand is this: No matter what happens, Americans will continue to pay the world price for oil and oil products including gasoline. Oil is a worldwide market, and oil products go to the highest bidder.

When talking about energy independence, the Mafia doesn’t want you to think about these things:

  • renewable energy sources
  • energy efficiency
  • using less energy

They do not want to distract us from using our American ingenuity to achieve true energy independence.

Read the article and please help educate your neighbors. Currently polls show Americans are falling for the Big Oil & Gas  Mafia’s deceit.

About Sharon Wilson

Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.

Comments

  1. luc says

    38 years old after the first oil crisis….

    – There were only 13 super insulated houses in the US in 2010.
    – The Napa Valley Wine Train is the only train with a natural gas locomotive.
    – In 2007 there were only 2 integrated combined cycle coal plants.
    – In New York State, there are only 5 schools, what are using a biomass boiler.

    • TXsharon says

      Thanks for that @David Bell! See there! Here is how it works. Convert our vehicles to natural gas because it’s cheap and we produce it here in America. Then the demand increases, the price shoots up, the supply dwindles, the price shoots up even more and… We are back to the same place, addicted to dirty hydrocarbons that are running out and farther away from where we really need to be.

  3. David Bell says

    Waste Management Expands Natural Gas-Powered Fleet and Opens Conroe CNG Fueling Station

    “Since natural gas-powered collection trucks run cleaner and quieter, we’ve made the commitment to use more in our local operations and support them and our community by opening a public CNG station,” said Don Smith, area vice president for Waste Management’s Texas and Oklahoma region. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/waste-management-expands-natural-gas-powered-fleet-and-opens-conroe-cng-fueling-station-151129645.html

    • TXsharon says

      I hope we save some gas for those uses you listed @David Bell instead of sending it all to Asia. I don’t think industry will be interested in holding some for critical uses though because all their alliances belong to their stockholders.

  7. Anonymous says

    Excellent post. And I’m not falling for the Natural Gas alternative–when you consider everything including drilling, processing, transporting and eventual burning, it’s no better than oil–a bad alternative. Also, know that the Feds want to promote Oil production, both domestic & foreign to supply the Military Industrial complex, which continues and is alive and well!

  8. luc says

    The U.S. could save a lot of natural gas and use a part of this saved natural gas with trucks and buses.

    The U.S. uses 24 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (550 million tons of oil equivalent) per year or 11 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

    Using solar water heaters, using solar steam generators, using biomass boilers, using ice storage air-conditioning systems, using LED bulbs … the U.S could save around 6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and use this natural gas to save 2 or 3 million barrels of oil with trucks and buses.

    P.S.
    The U.S. could produce over one billion tons of biomass a year (300 milion tons of oil equivalent) by 2030, according to a report from the Department of Energy.

  9. Tim Ruggiero says

    luc: The ‘problem’ with solar and other rewables is that they are…renewable. There’s no return or more importantly, no recurring profit to be made following any installation or start up costs. Take solar panels, for example. If I spent $10k for solar panels on my home, it may very well take a few years, but the panels will pay for themselves at some point. Natural gas, on the other hand, is a ‘consumable’, just like gasoline. Once I run out, I have to buy more, and if I want to use it, or are more or less forced to use it because I have no other real alternative available to me, then I pay the market price.

    The other problem with renewable is that Industry does everything they can to make them difficult to obtain. Aside from lobbying efforts, there’s layers and layers of permits required, and there’s a long length of time in getting those permits. There’s also no subsidy or tax break involved, unlike the billions Industry gets, so almost every renewable is expensive and out of reach of most people.

    If you heat and/or cool your home with gas, you can’t just ‘switch’ it over to solar, and the expense of doing so makes the decision for most not to bother with it, even it it were readily available.

    So, the question is, how bad does it have to get-how much, exactly, does a gallon of gasoline have to cost before we, the consumer, decide that we’ll not tolerate this anymore? How many leaks, spills and emissions must there be? How foul does the air have to get? How many pipelines must break, leak, and rupture (or be ruptured)?

    When will enough be enough?

    • Randy Verret says

      Let me give you a “heads up.” Those layers & layers of permits for renewables are applied in the SAME FASHION to the oil & gas industry. On federal land and in environmental review, NEPA is NEPA. You won’t talk to any creditable oil & gas industry rep. or worthwhile energy expert that claims we will be “energy independent.” We are ENERGY INTER-DEPENDANT in a worldwide market. No one is trying to surpress renewables. Until the technology vastly improves, solar & wind cannot compete on the SCALE required to provide all the electricity that is needed. Those are INTERMITTENT sources that (still) require conventional power generation for back-up. Besides, what “alternative” do you have for gasoline? Again, the challenge is power density & SCALE. Algae has some promise on a more limited basis, most other biofuels make no sense (economically) at all. Compressed natural gas makes a lot more sense. We need to examine a strategy that will transition this economy out of fossil fuels over the coming decades to new technologies. Those could be cold fusion, hydrogen fuel cells, thorium & nuclear reprocessing. Other sources will develop, but it will be a long road on R & D. There is no “easy button” here folks, as long as you want to have any reasonable (modern) lifestyle, oil & gas (and coal) will continue to be an intregal part of the equation. You can deny the existence of GRAVITY if you’d like. That doesn’t mean you can defy it…

  12. Nick says

    What alternative energy source(s) can economically provide the power to run our world while producing & distributing everything to MOST everyone? There are none, economic or not. Why? because we don’t see the need apparently. Once the price gets high enough the need will be met. All depends on how soon you want the high price and how much damage will you put up with to obtain that fuel, I suppose?

    I see nothing wrong with continuing to improve the “energy manufacturing process”. Shouldn’t we also be spending big money on alternative research & development? Why aren’t we? Would it be because ALL businesses have to make a profit to stay in business & the government has no plan? Wonder if a real energy policy for the USA would help?

    • luc says

      Energy conservation works and will work forever.

      – A ice storage air-conditioning system uses 30%-50% less energy than a conventional air-conditioning system.

      – Wood gasification boilers use 50% less wood.

      – Ships fitted with sails could burn 30% less fuel.

      – Freight trains are using 3 times less fuel than trucks.
      Double stack freight trains are using 5 times less fuel than trucks.
      Freight barges are using 9 times less fuel than trucks.