There is something rotten in our current state of US Energy Policy and the Bush Administration's continued inaction.
As the World is facing a meltdown due to the Hurricane Katrina in it's energy and oil markets, where is oilman Dick Cheney? Where is the good `o boy energy policy council now? Missing In Action (MIA), or just plain Away Without Leave (AWOL).
Across the globe governments are taking action, but more US immediate action is required, yet there is no evidence of decisive action on the energy front is apparent.
So, help us find Dick. He and his buddies have "hard work" to do, and Cheney is in charge of getting it done. Lord knows the Idiot Boy King can't handle this situation on his own.
Our Observations & Search continues below...
The Crisis
Across the Country motorists stand baffled by the pumps. But at least they understand something is serious wrong. Just a couple Midwest examples below.
In Ohio they understand there's a crisis.
Steve Lipinski of Bellefontaine blames big business for the entire mess:
"The rich just keep getting richer," Mr. Lipinski said as he filled his tank at Speedway, 329 S. Main St. "I mean, refineries are getting run down, the gas pumps are wearing out, you see improvements at gas stations all over the place and the people who have all the money - meaning the oil companies - are passing the costs on to us. All of these contaminated refineries hurt by the hurricane are causing you and I to pay for it. Three dollars a gallon is absolutely crazy, and it's almost cheaper to just buy beer and stay at home."
Ethel Horsley of Pickrelltown says it's too bad people rely on vehicles to get to work every day, but that's just the way it is. She did, however, offer somewhat of a solution.
"We need to get someone in the White House that's not tied to the oil industry," Mrs. Horsley said. "Dick Cheney, old George, young George (Bush) ... they're all tied into it together as far as I'm concerned. By doing nothing just makes them all a lot richer."
Betty Berry of Bellefontaine echoed the same feelings as she filled her tank:
"We're still very blessed (in America), but I think the government needs to step in and do something about this because it's gotten out of control," she chuckled. "Maybe we need to go back to riding bikes."
In Michigan, which is at the end of the pipeline, and where gas prices have recently topped $3.50 across the state, they are asking questions.
"Excuses, excuses," moaned Michael Yax, 48, of Harrison Township, who was waiting in line Thursday to fill up his car for $3.02 a gallon at Sam's Club in Roseville. "It's just a lot of B.S. The oil companies are gouging us. They make it sound like the shutdown of a refinery in the Gulf is the reason. But it's just more excuses."
"Somebody's ripping all of us people off," said Blackman, who was filling up her 2005 Hummer that gets 10 miles to the gallon. "The government should step in and do something. It's ridiculous. There's no reason we should be paying over $3 a gallon."
Analysts with the American Petroleum Institute (API) said there should be some relief at the gas pump when electricity is restored to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. The old "oh, there's nothing too much to worry about" pitch from smiling spokesmen and women:
"To ensure safety, the industry has moved employees from some facilities and shut down various offshore production platforms, refineries and pipeline operations in affected areas," said Jim Craig, a spokesman for API. "This will have an impact on petroleum product supplies. With only limited information available at this time we are unable to estimate the extent of the impact."
The World is Taking Crisis Measures
The Europeans knew immediately this situation created by Katrina was critical. From the Times Online out of the UK:
More subtle is the complaint that Bush (and his predecessors) have allowed too much of the US oil industry to be concentrated in the west of the Gulf of Mexico, making it vulnerable to a single storm. Katrina has cost the US a fifth of its production and more than a tenth of its refining capacity.
Even if these grumbles never build to hurricane force, they are a real problem for Bush to tackle. He will be well aware of the risk, having seen the flak directed at his father 13 years ago, when he was preoccupied sending jets to fly over Iraq, even as Florida was struggling to recover after a hurricane.
Bush, who spent yesterday appearing across national television, will today visit the disaster zone on the ground. Some will say that it is already too late. And yes, his decision to return to Washington from his Texas ranch holiday two days after the disaster does leave him vulnerable. Image counts. But it is hardly the most damaging charge against him.
Similarly, he should be able to brush off the complaint that more should have been done to reinforce the levees. This is a long-standing grumble. It is hard to make a charge of unusual neglect stick on Bush.
But other accusations have more power to damage him. The charge that he has sent so many troops to Iraq that he has left the US unable to cope with natural disasters strikes at a very vulnerable point -- the growing distaste of many Americans for the Iraq war.
The second is that he has mismanaged US energy interests. If there is one business that Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney are supposed to understand, it is oil.
Soaring petrol prices have led to petrol shortages across the southeast of the US. Bush's move in releasing some of the national reserves -- which are crude oil, not refined -- will have little effect on petrol prices and may seem only a gesture. Nor does the mammoth Energy Bill he signed into law last month directly address the vulnerabilities exposed by Katrina.
The Canadians understand the nature of the crisis too, and even get us a Cheney sighting of their own. He's going to Canada. Better fishing?
The Bank of Montreal released its latest commodity price report musing on how the oil and gas index "continued to rise at a fast pace, jumping 5.2% in the month, driven by concerns that tropical storms would disrupt production in the Gulf of Mexico and by generally tight markets." Boy, were they prophetic.
The degree and depth of the category 4 storm that ripped through the United States' prolific off-shore petroleum production platforms and slammed into much of the Americans' refining capacity isn't known. But when the Department of the Interior's mineral management service released its shut-in production report at noon yesterday 70 oil companies confirmed that 482 platforms remained evacuated and 79 rigs were in the same state.
"This shut-in oil production is equivalent to 91.45% of the daily production of the Gulf of Mexico," the MMS reported. Over 1.3 million barrels a day. The shut-in gas was 83.5% of what comes out of the Gulf. And that was before the United States Coast Guard "confirmed" reports that at least 20 rigs and platforms were either "missing, sunk or adrift."
The production squeeze is serious enough for U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman to issue a statement saying "we are mindful that the affected region contributes a significant amount of our oil, gas and refined product supply." He promised an "appropriate response." Already gasoline producers are reported tapping into the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to run their Katrina-starved refineries.
Meanwhile, U.S.Vice President Dick Cheney will fly to Fort McMurray next week to check out the oilsands.
Note: For more on the Gulf oil rig situation see this great piece by Jerome in Katrina - update on energy + gasoline situation
Boy, is our US government pathetic.
But, finally yesterday someone in our government, who we don't know, cried "uncle" and the International Energy Agency (IEA) was called to take action:
The world's major economies responded yesterday to a plea by the United States for an injection of oil and petrol to ease its growing energy crisis. All 26 members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) including the UK agreed to take collective action last night by releasing 2 million barrels of oil products a day over the next 30 days.
The move was a response to a formal request by the US that was an implicit acknowledgement that the impact on its refining capacity wrought by Hurricane Katrina was threatening to grow out of control.
European Union Takes Action
Venezuela Offers Help
Portugal Takes Action
Japan Considers Action
OPEC Considers Action
The Bush Administration Takes Minimal Measures
Bush's token gesture is covered by Bloomberg News, August 31:
The U.S. will tap its emergency oil reserve after Hurricane Katrina shut down rigs and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting gasoline supplies and leading to record crude-oil prices. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in an interview today in Washington the Strategic Petroleum Reserve can deliver 5 million barrels a day, more than three times the amount that has been closed in the Gulf. That much probably isn't needed now, he said. The area represents about 30 percent of U.S. production
The government's oil ``is not going to be of much help unless we get refineries running again,'' Adam Sieminski, global oil strategist at Deutsche Bank AG in New York, said before the announcement. ``Releasing oil from the SPR right now would be actually inappropriate because there would be no place to put it.''
Eight refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi closed during the weekend, halting at least 1.79 million barrels a day of capacity. Four pipelines carrying refined oil products between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, are also shut, Royal Dutch Shell Plc said. Colonial Pipeline Co., which runs the world's biggest network of petroleum-product pipelines, said it would restore shipments on two fuel lines this weekend. After Katrina swept through the Gulf of Mexico and into the South two days ago, the White House said oil from the reserve is available for companies that need it. About 95 percent of the oil normally pumped from the Gulf was cut off by the storm.
Bloomberg continues describing "Ivan's Lesson":
Last September, when Ivan halted most oil production in the Gulf region, Bush took 11 days to tap the reserve. Oil surged 11 percent between Ivan's arrival and the president's decision.
``Politically and economically they learned from Ivan,'' said Larry Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation in New York. ``They learned the market doesn't wait for anybody'' and the loss of supply ``makes the economy vulnerable,'' he said. Bodman didn't say which refinery will receive emergency oil or how much oil it requested. The department is reviewing requests for oil from other companies affected by the storm, he said.
This week, prices climbed 5.6 percent during the first two days and reached a record $70.85 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest U.S. oil-import terminal, has been shut since the storm headed toward Louisiana. The port, which handles about 1 million barrels of oil a day, or 11 percent of U.S. imports, said it may unload its first cargo since the storm later today.
Oil Shockwave, where the "United States" recently failed a DC simulation
Perhaps, Cheney already knows from his National Council on Energy Policy and the Securing America's Future Energy simulation "Oil Shockwave" that there is little he or anyone in the administration can do without going directly to oil companies and their interests.
(Washington, DC - 06/24/05) - The dependence of the U.S. on oil creates serious national security vulnerabilities that, if exploited, could result in widespread economic dislocation and increased global instability, according to former top government officials who gathered today to examine how the nation might manage an oil supply crisis.
The findings of these leading experts comes amid reports of terrorist threats against oil-rich Nigeria, a state-owned Chinese company's bid for a major U.S. oil firm, and as Congress considers energy legislation that does little to curb U.S. oil dependence.
In a scenario confronted by the bipartisan panel of intelligence, military, and energy experts, a series of events over several months - unrest in Nigeria, an attack on an Alaskan oil facility, and the emergency evacuation of foreign nationals from Saudi Arabia - drives the price of oil to over $150 per barrel. These events lower expected employment levels by more than 2 million jobs, embolden countries that are major oil producers and consumers to pressure the U.S. on key foreign policy concerns, and cause a variety of other significant economic and security challenges.
The scenario removed only 3.5 million barrels of oil from a global market of more than 83 million barrels, resulting in the following consequences:
·Gasoline prices of $5.74 per gallon;
·Global oil price of $161 per barrel;
·Heating oil prices of $5.14 per gallon;
·Fall of gross domestic product for two consecutive quarters;
·Drop in consumer confidence by 30 percent;
·Spike in the consumer price index to 12.6 percent;
·Ballooning of the current accounts deficit to $1.087 trillion;
·Decline of 28 percent in the S&P 500;
·Aggressive pressure on the U.S. from China to end arm sales to Taiwan, and;
·Demands from Saudi Arabia for changes to U.S. policy regarding the Mid-East peace process.
The findings are the product of Oil Shockwave, an oil supply crisis simulation co-sponsored by Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) and the National Commission on Energy Policy. The event was designed to simulate a decline in world oil production due to regional instability and terrorism and, then, present a mock cabinet-level meeting with the task of advising the president on a national response.
"This simulation serves as a clear warning that even relatively small reductions in oil supply will result in tremendous national security and economic problems for the country," said SAFE President Robbie Diamond. "This issue deserves immediate attention."
What is Oil Shockwave? See the Securing America's Future Energy site. Some of SAFE's write-up:
"Today's focus on oil is motivated by recent events. Over the last two years, oil markets have moved into uncharted territory. The world experienced one of the steepest increases in oil prices in more than a generation between the spring of 2003 and the fall of 2005, when prices doubled from $25/barrel to more than $50/barrel. Despite much higher prices, growth in world oil demand in 2004 was the highest seen since the 1970s. At the same time, OPEC production capacity has fallen in Iraq, Indonesia and Venezuela. The result today is a global shortage of spare production capacity, which in turn has led to a large risk premium in oil prices. Recent trends suggest that today's high oil prices will continue until the world's spare production capacity is seen to be increasing."
[empahsis added]
Outcome Grim at Oil War Game(WashPost)
The United States would be all but powerless to protect the American economy in the face of a catastrophic disruption of oil markets, high-level participants in a war game concluded yesterday.
"The American people are going to pay a terrible price for not having had an energy strategy," said former CIA director Robert M. Gates, who took on the role of national security adviser. Stepping out of character, he added that "the scenarios portrayed were absolutely not alarmist; they're realistic."
The Twilight Era of Petroleum(by Michael Klare)
Just how seriously American policymakers view these various energy-related developments is further revealed in another recent event: the first high-profile "war game" featuring an overseas oil crisis. Known as "Oil Shockwave," this extraordinary exercise was chaired by Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and featured the participation of such prominent figures as former CIA Director Robert M. Gates, former Marine Corps Commandant General P. X. Kelley, and former National Economic Adviser Gene B. Sperling. According to its sponsors, the game was conducted to determine what steps the United States could take to mitigate the impact of a significant disruption in overseas production and delivery, such as might be produced by a civil war in Nigeria and a terrorist upsurge in Saudi Arabia. The answer: practically nothing. "Once oil supply disruptions occur," the participants concluded, "there is little that can be done in the short term to protect the U.S. economy from its impacts, including gasoline above $5 per gallon and a sharp decline in economic growth potentially leading into a recession."
In Search of Dick Cheney
Nothing on his web page except the this picture of the man and his big heart photo-op. Our veterans gave their lives for this lack of commitment on the part of their VP? No luck there.
The first public sighting of what Dick Cheney was doing during this whole Katrina catastrophe was reported by CNN on Tuesday, August 30:
Lott, a former Senate majority leader, discussed the devastation Tuesday with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. According to a press release, Lott urged Bush to come to Mississippi.
Guess neither Bush or Cheney was willing to interrupt their vacations that soon. Problem is, has Dick ever left vacation at all, as of Saturday, September 3, he is still Missing In Action.
The AP says Cheney called in for the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, August 31 and the New York Times mentions Cheney was on a video conference earlier that morning. But that was not about the energy situation, that was on the lack of relief happening.
Mr. Bush held a video conference this morning on the disaster relief, Mr. McClellan said. Vice President Dick Cheney, who is in Wyoming, took part, as did Mr. Chertoff and Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, Mr. McClellan said.
Some speculated on his participation in Bush's Wednesday, to little to late cabinet meeting. From US Press News in New Orleans' "Have-mores" Struggling on Arizona's Golf Courses:
The President then shifted gears and took questions, not from the press, but from his own cabinet who all seemed confused about the best way to help. [Break]
Bush went back to the speaker phone for a question from the also vacationing Vice President Dick Cheney but all that could be heard were crickets.
"Dick must have passed out again. Or perhaps he's just signing the Halliburton contracts."
Maureen Dowd had a "Dick Sighting" in the NY Times this morning, in "United States of Shame":
It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.
Democracy Now doesn't know where he went in "Bush Officials Criticized For Staying On Vacation"
Criticism is also mounting over the Bush administration's handling of the crisis. President Bush didn't return from his vacation until Wednesday and several other top officials remain on summer breaks. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been vacationing in New York City but returned to Washington on Thursday. Meanwhile Vice President Dick Cheney has been in Wyoming and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has been in Maine.
Where's this administration's Al Haig when we need him? Certainly, someone was in the White House, right?
Maybe he is counting his oil profits from his "blind trust" like the New York Post guesses?
September 2, 2005 -- President Bush claims that the high gas prices are because of Katrina, yet they have been ongoing ever since he was on his ranch with a Saudi prince ("Katrina Whips Up Energy Prices," Aug. 31). Bush has always been about oil, it's all he cares about. He, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice are all making significant profits at our expense.
Counting his shares in the Canadian tar sands? A sighting by the Toronto Star:
One sign the U.S. is increasingly looking to Canada to meet its oil needs is U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's planned tour of the Alberta oil sands in September.
Or maybe he is improving US-Saudi relations with a hand holding session at his ranch:
On that same day (August 5, the day Cindy Sheehan announced her vigil at Bush's Crawford ranch), Vice President Dick Cheney was nearly 8,000 miles away in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was leading an American delegation to meet the newly installed King Abdullah and to pay condolences on the death of his half brother, King Fahd. [break]
Cheney's meeting with Abdullah came just months after the Saudi leader visited Bush at his ranch in Crawford. That visit made international headlines when Bush held hands with Abdullah as they walked by the bluebonnets on his estate.
Or maybe his motivations are more of a menacing, Machiavellian nature, like hiding from Bush's low polls. Maybe Dick is just staying in the wings ready to pick up the shattered shards of King George Bush II's sword like Joseph Farah writes when looking at a Bush impeachment:
Apparently, many people missed the point of my column calling for the impeachment of President Bush for his dereliction of duty on the border and his non-enforcement of immigration laws. Some readers explained to me the impracticality of a successful impeachment. Others tried to tell me Vice President Dick Cheney would carry on the same misguided policies.
Who knows what motivates Dick?
Perhaps some of the those hyper-political, quasi-Christian web sites can help the world pray for Richard's safe return from his quiet, reclusive crusade.
And Jesus said unto them, "Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." (Matthew 1:17)
So while our American heroes, like those of the New Orleans Coast Guard, work 24/7 to fish people and ultimately, hundreds of corpses out of the Gulf Coast flood waters, just what does Dick have on his hook?
Help our search and rescue of these trouble-leadership waters to fish the fat man out.
Post Your "Missing Dick" Sighting HERE...