June 16, 2008

Drilling for Ideology

It seems that the environmentalist movement is more concerned with who is drilling for oil on this side of the world than the actual drilling. In this informative editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady illustrates the “free ride” given by the green movement to oil exploration and mining operations run by leftist governments while they simultaneously work diligently to quash any attempts by private enterprise to attempt the same.

Exhibit A is Petrobras. Not only did [Petrobras CEO] Mr. Gabrielli say there is no appetite for stopping offshore projects in his country. He went further. "Brazil has one of the freest and most investor-oriented regulation in the world. Even freer than the United States of America," he said, referring to the climate for oil exploration.

That may be so, but it would be interesting to know why, given Brazil's prominent embrace of socialism. It could be that the country is changing. After all there is now private-sector competition in the oil industry. Yet it is also worth noting that the Brazilian government has a 58% controlling stake in Petrobras's voting shares and 32% of its total shares. This means that some of Petrobras profits go straight to the government's bottom line, giving the politicians more money to spend on bribing their constituents.

In the U.S., Congress doesn't have nearly such a vested interest in a successful oil industry. What good are corporate profits if they go to shareholders, pensioners and employees? Congress has even been denied the windfall profits tax. For American politicians there is a much greater incentive to respond to the concentrated power of the special interest group known as the "greens."

This, of course, comes as no surprise to those of us familiar with the left way of doing things. Everyone must pay a price for equality. And to those willing to share and espouse the same ideology and make their payments in full, and in time to the powers that be, well, they get a little more equality.

Read the WSJ editorial HERE.

Posted by Alberto de la Cruz at June 16, 2008 07:45 AM



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Comments

Brazil's energy independence is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the energy debate. Brazil has a HUGE oil and natural gas industry of its own. They subsidized the sugar can ethanol for DECADES when oil was cheaper. So they don't import foreign oil but they have substantial reserves of their own. We do too, except congress doesn't let us drill for oil.

I heard another item on the WSJ radio report this morning. The dems are countering the argument that federal lands are off limits to drilling by saying that most of the land that oil companies have already leased rights to is not being used. They are saying drill if you want, where you already have permission. The problem is that the oil companies don't drill in those lands because they've done studies and have determined that there is not oil there in viable amounts.

Posted by: Henry Louis Gomez [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 16, 2008 09:01 AM

Let's Call Spades the Shovels that they Are -

In the US as in the EU, Canada, Australia - The "Greens" are actually Watermelons. Green on the Outside - RED - in the Middle. In short, an ugly "Anti-Capitalist" mujer in a new dress. 'Nuff said. -S-

Posted by: Dr.Shalit [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 16, 2008 11:42 PM

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