The big oil companies are shafting us folks. For all you good people that have not thought about it I will tell you how it is being done.
First, Prudhoe Bay to Valdez line. I feel real strongly that these oil people planned from the beginning that they intended to ship most of the oil to Japan and the Pacific Rim countries, which they are now doing. We deal with the oil spills. Did it make gas cheaper at the pumps? No.
Now we have a big pipeline in the works that will run from Alberta, Canada to Galveston, Texas. Why not just down into the States to our own refineries and if need be build some more refineries if we need them? Why build the line clear through to the Gulf? We have a big batch of wells near Galveston, they don’t need the oil. I would bet that a bunch of Gulf oil is already being shipped overseas. Now the big line that will carry thousands and maybe millions of barrels of oil every day to the Gulf to ship overseas, while we the people deal with future oil spills.
Will this line make cheaper gas here in the States? I doubt it very much. They claim it will put large amounts of people to work but it won’t. Why? Because contractors who build only pipelines all over the world will do the job. They have their own crews who are trained to work the digging machines and other equipment needed to bury the pipes. There won’t be a bunch of unskilled people hired to run misery sticks. It will all be union. The only ones who will make a dollar will be store keepers, motels, etc., and then only when the pipe layers are going past. After it’s built, if there are any people with shiny eyes with money signs in them, likely it will be tears instead. So again, the big boys get the gold and we get the shaft.
Floyd E. Wood
Corvallis