Marti Oakley (c) copyright 2012

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While we struggle as a nation to stay on our feet despite the mismanagement of our national debt and the number of people sliding into poverty as a result of fascism, one of the greatest scams of all times has unfolded right before our very eyes.  This scam only slightly more disgusting than the global warming/climate change/man-made climate change, or whatever the current and ever changing buzzword is this week to describe “weather” patterns.  Now we have “dependence on foreign oil”….Yep! That’s the one!

One of the greatest all-time scams perpetrated by the oil cartels and our government is the idea that we do not produce enough gas and oil products to make us energy independent.  The fact is, we do and we always have.

According to various reports, the export of fuel in 2011 from U.S. refiners topped the markets at 117 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, up from 40 million gallons per day a decade earlier.  For the first time in our history gas and oil EXPORTS were the top of the export list although they have been in the top ten exports for years!

Wait a minute!  I thought we needed to drill more!  I thought we didn’t have enough gas and oil produced domestically for us to be independent from foreign oil imports!  But we got 117 million gallons of refined fuels to ship out to other countries every single day of the week?  365 days a year? 

Gasoline supplies are being exported to the highest bidder, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. “It’s a world market,” he says.

This just begs so many questions.  How could we possibly be dependent on foreign oil if we can ship 117 million gallons a day out of the country, never to return, of products the public thinks is in short supply right here at home?

If we are importing back into the country, 98 million gallons less per year, than we shipped out…..who is actually dependent on whom for these products?

And finally:  What is the point in shipping out products supposedly in short supply here at home and simultaneously shipping the same products back into the US but those products now produced in other countries which is now costing us more money?

Still think we need to frack, drill and contaminate groundwater supplies to produce energy?   Do you still think there will be no gas at the pump if we don’t allow BP back into the Gulf to do more damage?

Only a small portion of the gas and oil produced here in the US, stays in the US.  The bulk of crude is delivered to the global markets as per our agreement with OPEC. Whatever is produced here must be delivered to that market so that oil producers do not step on any OPEC toes and so that OPEC does not dump the failing US dollar. All OPEC production is done using the dollar. It is then bid on by other countries in that market including us.  Do not confuse crude production with refined oil and gas products.

In the first ten months of 2011, US refiners exported 848 million barrels (worth $73.4 billion) of refined fuels (not crude) and imported 750 million barrels of the same products from OPEC.  That means that we sent out 98 million barrels MORE than what we brought back in.

We are NOT dependent on foreign oil!  We are being played by the oil cartels and our own government.  As long as they can keep the public convinced that we don’t produce enough to meet our energy needs, we will continue to accept high fuel prices while we get gouged really good. The domestic supply is shorted so that the reserves we should have on hand for energy security and independence are diminished.  This translates into artificially inflated market prices based on a massive and ongoing deception. You pay for that.

Another part of this scam is the constant hand wringing regarding our “aging refineries” and the fact that we have built no new refineries for more than twenty years.  I’m guessing we don’t need any new refineries if we are refining so much oil right now that we can ship 117 million barrels of refined products out of the country each day while still contributing to US demands.  But here again:  If we can, with our aging refineries manage to ship out more refined products than the country needs, apparently the refineries we have are humming right along.

While we are hammered incessantly with TV ads and government reports stating that unless we allow oil cartels to frack us into oblivion by drilling far underground (even under your home, schools, hospitals, and into watersheds) we will continue to be dependent on foreign imports of natural gas.  Yet no one wants to talk about the Ruby pipeline that cuts across the Northern plains states that will end up being pumped into tankers headed for Asian markets (China).  Most folks think if we allow fracking to continue or expand, that somehow all that natural gas will end up in their furnace and the cost will go down when in fact, the more they frack the higher your bill is because exports will increase while imports of natural gas back into the country will also increase.

The increased release of massive amounts of methane gas driven out of the ground should not be a cause for concern as the EPA has a handle on that.  According to them, it isn’t fracking or drilling that causes the increase in methane…its cow farts.  Yes! That’s right folks!  The EPA is dead serious about the hazards of cow emissions.

How ‘bout that Keystone pipeline?  Why! It will create thousands of jobs…….and reduce our dependence on imported oil.  Well, sure it will.  The Keystone pipeline has not one thing to do with making us energy independent.  All, and I mean ALL that pipeline produces will be shipped out as quickly as they can get the pipeline flowing.  This pipeline isn’t going to help make us energy independent and it isn’t going to reduce consumer prices nor will it increase reserves.  But, we will be left with the massive damage to the environment, contaminated water supplies and air quality.

As for the damage?  Not to worry, EPA has that covered too.  Oil and gas companies are exempted totally from compliance with the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and from any environmental impact studies and cannot be prosecuted for the damage they do.

Now……don’t you feel better?

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http://www.chron.com/news/article/In-a-first-gas-and-other-fuels-are-top-US-export-2433211.php