The Political Voices of Women

Skyrocketing Gas Prices + Fear = Billions for Big Oil - by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at Care2 Election Blog)

The last eight years have been a classic example of the tail wagging the dog. And even when the Bush administration (aka, the tail) is gone, the lessons will live on forever. Not only will our government continue to run like a well oiled propaganda machine, but the most powerful industries that we are forced to rely on, will have mastered the art of deception, manipulation, and cover-up. So, you probably want to know what this has to do with gas prices? Let me tell you…

Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. Fear has blinded us to the manipulation.

Crisis, crisis, crisis, crisis, crisis. A continuing crisis, after crisis, after crisis, fosters a perpetual state of fear. The gas crisis, the health care crisis, the crisis that is our economy, and the biggest crisis of all…the war.

We are living in a paradigm of fear. Actually, to be more accurate…We have been (very cleverly) locked into a paradigm of fear. The oil and gas industry is using our fear of higher gas prices, to lull us into complacency and into trusting them. Here is an ad they are currently running that illustrates what I am talking about.

This is from The Wonk Room…

The American Petroleum Institute (API), the trade organization for the oil and natural gas industry, has just begun running a feel-good commercial that argues “America’s future” lies in drilling out domestic reserves of oil and natural gas off our coasts, in our western lands, and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The “facts” in Big Oil’s ad are based on a thirty-six page API document entitled, “The Truth About Oil and Gasoline.” This “primer” was published last week, with numerous figures and charts on oil company profits and gas prices, but nary a single mention of climate change or greenhouse gas emissions. Here are the facts Big Oil left out:

Future With 45% More Oil And Gas Demand Involves 60% More Global Warming Emissions. The projection of “45% more by 2030″ gas and oil demand is drawn from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2007 report. The API accurately describes the increase in global oil and gas demand in the IEA’s business-as-usual scenario, although United States demand is only projected to increase by less than 5%. However, API fails to mention the business-as-usual scenario also predicts energy-related carbon emissions would “increase by almost 60%” by 2030.

Business As Usual Spells Catastrophic Future. The IEA business-as-usual scenario would put the planet on a pathway to “temperature change at equilibrium of about 4.9 to 6.1 degrees C [8.9 to 11°F] compared to pre-industrial levels.” That’s five to seven times as much warming as we’ve already experienced, and would make catastrophic global change — including mass species extinction, crop devastation, and significant sea level rise — unavoidable.

Big Oil Ignores The ‘Secure’ Scenario. The IEA’s report includes a “450 Stabilisation Case,” in which greenhouse emissions are limited such that atmospheric concentrations stabilize at 450 parts per million of CO₂ equivalent — what the IPCC calculated is need to avoid catastrophic climate change. In this scenario, total global oil and gas demand only increases by 10 percent from current levels, not the 45 percent that API says the world will “require.”

The ad’s tag line, “Together, we can secure America’s future,” mimics the We Campaign climate activism spot that concludes: “Together, we can solve the climate crisis.” The path Big Oil envisions — even as warning signs increase — would instead destroy the future of America and the rest of the planet.

Also See:

What Is The Real Reason Gas Prices Are So High?

So, why is the oil and gas industry doing this? Because they can. And because our fear is putting billions and billions of $$$$ in their pockets.