Ever since Exxon and Mobil merged back in 1999, ExxonMobil has become an oil juggernaut by raking in super-profits. As companies release their fourth-quarter earnings, ExxonMobil was trilled to announce their $10.7 billion earnings for the last quarter of 2005, ending year with $36.1 billion, making it the the largest annual reported net income in U.S. history.
ExxonMobil’s merger was a restoration John Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, which was ordered the breakup in 1911. As a result of the landmark 1911 trust-busting case, the U.S. Supreme Court broke up Standard Oil into 30 separate oil companies. Standard Oil of New Jersey, with almost half of the total net value of all Standard Oil, became Exxon and Standard Oil of New York, with 9 percent of the company’s net value, became Mobil, creating the largest companies of the Standard Oil breakup. And now, ExxonMobile is largest single corporation in the world, surpassing General Electric.
However, ExxonMobil is not the only former Standard Oil company to see higher profits this year. Chevron (mergers of former Standard Oil of California and Standard Oil of Kentucky), ConocoPhillips (Conoco an original Standard company, CONtinental Oil COmpany, in the Rocky Mountain states) and BP (mergers of former Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil of Indiana, Atlantic and Richfield) also reported higher earnings than the pervious quarter.
ConocoPhillips 4th qt $3.68bn (up 51%); annual $13.5bn
ChevronTexaco 4th qt $4.1bn (up 20%); annual 14.1bn
BP Expected to report their earnings on Feb. 7.
This all comes, while Americans are forced to pay a gas prices at an all time high through out fall and winter. The question still remains, how did the Oil industry make a profit despite temporary interruptions to refinery and delivery operations after the hurricanes, a surge in crude oil prices and higher prices at the pump?
How is possible for the Oil industry to make a profit when the cost of crude oil is over $60 a barrel?
So, once again, the politicians are calling for new inquiries into the industry. This time, the Big Oil industry is deciding not to go. According to Reuters, from the Big Oil industry have declined to testify at new Senate Committee hearings into the record profits.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding the hearing on Wednesday morning, said it asked representatives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Valero Energy and the U.S. units of BP and Royal Dutch Shell to tell their side of the story.
“All declined the invitation to testify,” the committee said in a statement on Monday, without providing details.
But one has to wonder if it would have made a difference. Back in early November, Senators had their chance to get to the bottom of this oil scandal by forcing the heads of top oil companies to testify. The hearing was held before members of both the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, – ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell – in order for the Big Oil industry to defend their profits. Despite all the ranting and ravings done by Rep Sens. Bill Frist and Judd Gregg in accusing oil companies of “gouging,” the truth is, it was a front. These Senators were never part of the hearings. The sad truth, this is just a dog and pony show put together by the GOP leadership in order to show they really feel their pain when the Republican base go to the pumps. Even sadder, many Republican Senators who serve on those committee were not about to bite the hand supplies them their slush fund. Not in a up coming election year.
The companies that were summoned to testify for the last Congresstional hearing were already giving PAC money to 18 Senators. A large majority of the did go to Repbulicans, but it is interesting that Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein from CA did receive a $10,000 contribution from Chevron.
US Senate Commerce Committee Repub Members & PAC Money
Ted Stevens (AK)
John McCain (AZ) EM = $100
Conrad Burns (MT) BP = $3,000; CV = $8,000; CP = $1,000; EM = $5,000
Trent Lott (MS) BP = $1,000 CV = $5,000; CP = $1,000; EM = $2,000
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) EM = $3,250; SH = $2,000
Olympia Snowe (ME) EM = $2,000
Gordon Smith (OR)
John Ensign (NV) BP = $1,000 CV = $4,000 EM = $3,000
George Allen (VA) BP = $1,000 CV = $3,000; CP = $1,000; EM = $5,000; SH = $2,000
John Sununu (NH)
Jim DeMint (SC) BP = $1,000; CP = $2,000
David Vitter (LA) EM = $2,500
US Senate Commerce Committee Dem members & PAC Money
Daniel K. Inouye – HI
John D. Rockefeller (WV)
John F. Kerry (MA)
Byron L. Dorgan (ND)
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Ben Nelson (NE) CV = $2,000; EM = $2,000
Mark Pryor (AR)
US Senate Energy committee Repub Members & PAC Money
Pete V. Domenici (NM) BP = $2,500
Larry E. Craig (ID)
Craig Thomas (WY) BP = $3,000; CV = $3,000; CP = $3,000; EM = $4,000; SH = $1,000
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Richard Burr (NC)
Mel Martinez (FL)
James Talent (MO) CV = $1,000 CP = $1,000
Conrad Burns (MT) BP = $3,000; CV = $8,000; CP = $1,000; EM = $5,000
George Allen (VA) BP = $1,000 CV = $3,000; CP = $1,000; EM = $5,000; SH = $2,000
Gordon Smith (OR)
Jim Bunning (KY)
US Senate Energy committee Dem Members & PAC Money
Jeff Bingaman (NM) CV = $2,000
Daniel K. Akaka (HI)
Byron L. Dorgan (ND)
Ron Wyden (OR)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mary Landrieu (LA) SH = $1,000
Dianne Feinstein (CA) CV = $10,000
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Jon S. Corzine (NJ)
Ken Salazar (CO)
CV = Chevron; CP = ConocoPhillips; EM = ExxonMobil; and SH = Shell; Data provided by Opencecrets.org
But one does have to wonder why Sen Ted Stevens, rejected calls to have the executives testify under oath. Maybe he knew something. A week after the hearings, the Washington Post reported on a White House document that links executives from Big Oil and the Vice President Cheney’s energy task force in 2001.
The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.
…Chevron was one of several companies that “gave detailed energy policy recommendations” to the task force. In addition, Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP’s chief executive, according to a person familiar with the task force’s work; that meeting is not noted in the document.
It really shouldn’t be so surprising to know that Cheney stacked his “secret little task force” team with Big Oil to shape the nation’s energy policy, since this information was already reported in 2003. What is surprising is the continuation to be defiant by both the White House and Big Oil. So did Senator Stevens know they were going to lie? According to the same article reported by the Post:
The executives were not under oath when they testified, so they are not vulnerable to charges of perjury; committee Democrats had protested the decision by Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) not to swear in the executives. But a person can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years for making “any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation” to Congress.
One would have to wonder about President Bush’s energy policy he mentioned last night in the State of the Union:
“And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.”
It is easy to come to the conclusion, the President has finally got it. It is commendable to talk about conservation. But this too is another dog and pony show by BushCo. Yes, Bush does seem to be talking, but nothing comes out but just a bunch gibberish. If BushCo was serious about the nation’s “addiction to oil,” why is he refusing to regulate Big Oil. Without regulations, we can continue to expect the price of gas to increase. If BushCo Administration was serious, why not pass a windfall tax, to put an end to the industry’s gain from consumer’s pain due industry rip-offs and profiteering.
There is an explanation for BushCo’s dog and pony show of so-called conservation and their continuation for secrecy, it could be found in the recent energy legislation signed by Dudya back in August. The new energy bill, stems from the report submitted by Vice-President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force. As people try to figure out Bush’s so-called new energy idea, the new energy bill will be providing lucrative corporations billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies.
The energy bill calls for repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), a consumer and protection law that is to govern the power sector. PUHCA prohibited any utility company from becoming an affiliate of another utility unless first obtaining SEC approval. Or as one of the bill’s lobbyist, Greenberg Traurig, put it:
“…with the repeal of PUHCA, it appears that the world of public utilities is moving forward to the past, returning to a regulatory environment that should foster merger and consolidation activity that has been suppressed for nearly 70 years.
Could this explain why Big Oil continues to hide behind Bush’s “executive privilege.” Or putting in another way, how will Big Oil benefit from this new energy bill? According to Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen, Big Oil can now savor their victory on a bill they crafted that will not only give them billions in subsidies and providing them with exemptions from current environmental laws, but their wish to continue John Rockefeller’s dream of an oil industry monopoly. According to the consumer advocacy group, here are some major components of the energy legislation:
MORE MONEY FOR OIL & GAS
Section 1323
Allows owners of oil refineries to expense 50% of the costs of equipment used to increase the refinery’s capacity by at least 5%, costing taxpayers $842 million from 2006-11 (the estimate claims the provision will actually raise $436 million from 2012-15). This provision was added by the Senate. Record high prices for oil and gasoline, and record profits by refiners like ExxonMobil and Valero should provide all the incentive needed to expand refinery capacity without this huge tax break.
Title IX, Subtitle J
It would provide $1.5 billion in direct payments to oil and natural gas corporations to drill in deepwater wells. It would designate a private entity, Sugar Land-based Texas Energy Center, as the “program consortium” to dole out taxpayer money to corporations. The Texas Energy Center has strong ties to Tom DeLay, with six different executives – Herbert W. Appel, Jr.; Robert C. Brown, III; Philip E. Lewis, Thomas Moccia, Ronald E. Oligney, and Barry Ashlin Williamson.
CREATING LAWS PROTECTING OIL & GAS
Beware of what you drink
Section 322
It exempts Big Oil from the Safe Drinking Water Act regarding a ban on coalbed methane drilling technique called “hydraulic fracturing.” Western ranchers would no longer be able to sue on the grounds that drilling for methane gas pollutes groundwater by injecting contaminated fluids underground.
Section 323
Oil and gas companies are exempt from the Federal Water Pollution Control Act for their construction activities surrounding oil and gas drilling.
Puting Blinders on Watchdog Groups and States
Section 390
Excludes public involvement and impact analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act from monitoring oil and gas exploration and drilling activities.
Section 381
Limits the ability of states to protect their coastlines from oil and gas exploration.
The relentless drive by Big Oil to drill for more oil and get it to market is a foolish. Besides oil being an exhaustible resource, our oil addiction is seriously damaging the Earth and last years chaotic weather could not be any more clear as an example caused by BushCo and their friends in Big Oil.
Since the new bill happens to be over 1,000 pages, maybe Big Oil is hoping the public will never find out. But then again, how would the public find out, when elected officials refuse to demand an explanation for their profits; or when reporters continue throwing softball accountability questions at Congress and the BushCo White House.
The conservative pundits are correct to call the media a “liberal media.” Lately, the news media has been very liberal, generous, in flooding every media avenue with unnecessary or non-newsworthy information. It should be noted, it is a sad day when the news media regards James Frey lying to Oprah Winfrey as a top rated news item, while profiteers continue to make it hard for those continue to struggle surviving. And it is even sadder when Daily Show’s John Stewart points out the sad state of our current news media regarding the handling of this so-called scandal.
The fight for the public interest has become more urgent than ever.
