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| 'Tyranny of Oil' a Gripping, Enraging Read |
| Book reveals greed and dirty business of oil giants |
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Benjamin Terrall (bterrall)  |
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Published 2009-06-24 08:44 (KST) |
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In responding to an attack on her book in the Washington Post, Antonia Juhasz explained, “My goal in writing 'The Tyranny of Oil' was to offer an analysis that has been sorely missing in US literature since the 1975 publication of Anthony Sampson’s classic book, 'The Seven Sisters', an unapologetic and vitally necessary in-depth critique of the US oil industry that also raises the voices of those not regularly heard on nightly news programs, television commercials, and in books.”
Juhasz succeeded in that aim and then some.
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FROM THE SECTION |
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| The Tyranny of Oil is a tightly written overview of the rise of Big Oil, from its origins in the 19th century power grabs of John D. Rockefeller and his ilk, to the rise of the petroleum mega-corporations busily destroying what’s left of our biosphere via oil wars and Godzilla-sized carbon footprints.
Clearly the world of oil conglomerates has always been fairly brutal. An early chapter quotes Rockefeller saying, “The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets.” But Juhasaz shows that the Bush Regime, packed with oil industry vets, took the big oil-military industrial complex linkage to a new level. She quotes Kevin Phillips, who describes Bush’s “petrol-imperialism” facilitating “the US military’s transformation into a global oil protection force.”
The book begins with a section on pioneering investigative journalist Ida Tarbell and her early 20th century crusade against Standard Oil. Tarbell’s investigation fueled public anger at the Standard trust and helped pave the way for legislation which broke up Standard Oil in 1911. The separate components of the trust were later reconstituted. Nonetheless, Juhasz presents the successful grassroots campaign Tarbell helped spark as an instructive example for today's activists.
Though the oil giants, by far the most profitable corporations that have ever existed, spend huge amounts on PR green-washing, Juhasz’s research shows that most spend a pitiful one to four percent of total capital expenditures on green energy alternatives.
In addition to sifting through oil company data, Juhasz did her best to interview Big Oil operatives. Though repeatedly denied access to most officials, she did speak to John Felmy, chief economist for the leading oil industry trade association. Felmy conceded to Juhasz that among “emerging energy technologies” are investments in “frontier hydrocarbons” like tar sands and oil shale, which Juhasz describes as “methods of oil extraction that are even more environmentally harmful and risky than traditional methods.”
Further, Big Oil has greatly expanded ocean drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet. Such deep sea drilling releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is at least 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Hoping that these companies will help us wean ourselves off our oil addiction as they put up billboards of earnest looking types saying things like “I will consume less” is not exactly a brilliant strategy. Juhasz is also weary that the Democrats will lead the developed world away from petroleum-based economies, but she understands what is possible through citizen action. That's why she stresses the need to keep pressure on Congress and the Obama Administration.
While she doesn’t emphasize street protest as the only worthy activist tool, much of Juhasz’s focus remains on grassroots social justice and anti-war actions that take on Big Oil.
Since Juhasz resides in San Francisco, it makes sense that a major target of her research is the San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. The oil giant reaped US$ 18.7 billion in profit in 2007, and is a key player in Iraq’s oil supply. In 1998, former Chevron CEO Kenneth Derr said, "Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas -- reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to." Chevron was one of the first recipients of marketing contracts after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and is now marketing significant quantities of Iraqi oil.
Chevron would profit massively through passage of an Iraq Oil Law being pushed by the US government and the International Monetary Fund. The law, a draft of which was provided to international oil company executives and the IMF for review before it was seen by Iraqi parliamentarians, would privatize Iraq's oil industry, leaving at least two-thirds of Iraq's oil open to foreign-company control for 10 plus years contract terms. (For information on US Labor Against the War’s campaign to help Iraqi workers block this horrible legislation, click here.)
I asked Juhasz about her ongoing campaigning against Chevron. She emailed me the following response, “For the last several months, I've been working with an unprecedented group of communities, activists, and organizations concerned about Chevron from across the Bay Area, the nation, and around the world. While Chevron’s 2008 Annual Report to its shareholders is a glossy celebration heralding the company’s most profitable year in its history, it does not tell its shareholders the true cost paid for those financial returns: the lives lost, wars fought, communities destroyed, environments decimated, livelihoods ruined, and political voices silenced. Thus we prepared an Alternative Annual Report for Chevron entitled ‘The True Cost of Chevron’.”
Juahsz and others delivered the report to Chevron and its shareholders at the company's annual shareholder meeting in San Ramon on May 27, while outside, several hundred people staged a protest at the company’s corporate gates.
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©2009 OhmyNews
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