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Fuel Hoax

By VVAW

Figures for the week ending Nov. 16, 1973, show that our reserves of heating oil, jet fuel, and diesel fuel were only 8% lower than in 1971. Hardly enough to produce a crisis! And production of these fuels has steadily increased during the past 3 years to where production is 11% higher than last year.

Currently, the U.S. imports 6% of its oil from the Middle East and 11% from other countries. But part of this 11% includes Arab oil routed through other countries. So, let's assume that all of our imported oil was cut off. That would be 17% less oil. (Oil supplies 45.5% of the total U.S. energy needs, with 70% of this energy being used by business and industry and 30% by consumers.) Based on these figures, the U.S. would have to cut back only 8% of its energy use if it were cut off from all outside oil; and if business and industry reduced their use of energy by 11%, the consumers would not have to cut back at all! That could be a relatively easy task, according to former Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall, who said recently, "At least one-third of the energy we use is wasted."

Neither is the U.S. short of unextracted oil and gas. In 1972, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there were 450 billion barrels and 2,100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under the surface of this country. At current consumption rates, this would last us more than 60 years. And in addition to this, the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming contains the world's largest known shale oil deposit, estimated at 1.8 trillion barrels of oil by the U.S. Geological Survey. (Shale is a mineral which can be converted to oil through a heating process.)

SO, WHO'S TO BLAME?

Many people feel that the Arabs are to blame, but actually the Middle East war and the oil boycott were just convenient events for the oil companies. During the past decades, U.S. oil companies have relied increasingly on foreign oil because it is cheaper. That is why only one major refinery has been built here in the last decade, despite the plentiful deposits. But faced with increased nationalization of their foreign holdings, U.S. oil companies are now attempting to increase their profits in other phases of the oil industry, as well as in other parts of the world, in addition to raising crude oil prices.

The government, too, must share the responsibility for the current situation, considering that: The United States is the only major country in the world that does not have a national fuel policy; the government does not have an agency to independently investigate fuel production and reserves in this country; nor has it given itself the power to examine the records of the fuel companies; and it has ignored its own research which predicted a shortage as far back as 1971, according to the now-defunct Office of Emergency Planning.

Let's look at some of the people who are responsible for getting us out of this "crisis":

Richard Milhous Nixon, President - Millionaire who received $2 million in 1972 campaign funds from oil executives.

Rogers Morton, Secretary of the Interior - who said on December 7th that the answer to the energy shortage is to give private industry a strong profit motive by allowing large price increases.

Emergency Petroleum Supply Committee, Interior Department - Thirty four members, 32 of which represent 20 major U.S. oil companies.

William Simon, Chairman, Federal Energy Administration - formerly with Salomon Brothers investment-banking firm; estimated personal income: As high as 3 million dollars.

Claude Brinegar, Secretary of Transportation - past director of Union Oil Company and former director of the American Petroleum Institute.

William Clements, Jr., Deputy Secretary of Defense - helped direct oil policy in the Pentagon; holds 90 million dollars worth of stock in SEDCO, Inc., a Dallas oil drilling company.

As the oil companies begin facing nationalization of their low-cost Middle East oil, they devised a plan to maintain their current profit rate, and if possible to increase it. By withholding oil, refusing to drill for more oil in the U.S., withholding data and, with the help of government, creating a "crisis," the oil companies hope to accomplish the following:

1) Increased prices.
2) Squeeze out independent oil companies and increase monopoly.
3) Build the Alaska pipeline.
4) Win the rights to drill for shale oil, 72% of which is on public land.
5) Renew offshore drilling.
6) End environmental restrictions
7) Increase oil depletion allowances, which already deprive the public of over $1 billion in revenue.
8) Receive billions of dollars in research money so they can develop new energy sources and then sell it back to the people who financed its development in the first place - the people.

THIRD QUARTER PROFITS (In millions of dollars)
Atlantic Richfield: 50.6 (1971), 51.6 (1972), 59.8 (1973)
Exxon: 357.0 (1971), 353.0 (1972), 638.0 (1973)
Gulf Oil: 141.0 (1971), 110.0 (1972), 210.0 (1973)
Mobil Oil: 134.1 (1971), 140.9 (1972), 231.2 (1973)
Phillips Petroleum: 32.4 (1971), 37.6 (1972), 53.9 (1973)
Standard Oil of California: 135.0 (1971), 150.0 (1972), 226.0 (1973)
Standard Oil of Indiana: 93.3 (1971), 107.3 (1972), 147.3 (1973)
Texaco: 218.2 (1971), 207.4 (1972), 307.4 (1973)

Source: Newsweek Magazine

In the meantime, oil companies have been increasing control over "downstream operations" such as storage, refining, shipping, marketing and direct sales, as well as buying into other fuel sources like coal, uranium, and natural gas.

So now we have the same people who are responsible for this "crisis," the oil companies and the government, in charge of remedying the situation. And when it's all over, the American people will come out on the short end of the stick again. The people must KICK NIXON AND HIS BAND OF THEIVES OUT OF WASHINGTON AND TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR OWN RESOURCES! Then we can begin to ensure that our needs are met on our terms and not the terms of the big corporations.

The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor.
    Helen Keller, 1911