(Arnie, again) Chevron-Texaco's LNG-Gate

[realFedUp]

Chevron-Texaco's LNG-Gate
by Jamie Court and Doug Heller
 
Today's announcement of Chevron-Texaco's purchase of Unocal has a back story that could be the biggest scandal of the Schwarzenegger Administration yet. Back in July '04, some of Arnold's top brass were treated by Chevron-Texaco to an overseas trip -- it included luxury accommodations at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia -- to sell the gov's people on why Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) should be California's new source of electricity. Today's announced merger is mostly about Chevron-Texaco's desire to corner the market on LNG, of which Unocal controls significant supplies in the Far East. It's a $16 billion bet that California will open the door to coastal LNG terminals and make the long-term commitment to gas produced electricity.

What kind of insider information could that type of bet hinge on? Arnold's campaign committees have accepted $222,200 from Chevron-Texaco. Chevron-Texaco's former lobbyist, Patricia Clarey, is now Schwarzenegger's chief of staff. There's no energy company in the state that Arnold's Administration is closer to.

But if Chevron-Texaco corners the international market on LNG, it will be in the same position to withhold electricity supply and drive up electric prices that Enron and other energy firms like Reliant and Dynegy were in five years ago. (Don't forget Chevron owned about 27% of Dynegy when the market was manipulated last time.) And reporting by the Orange County Register last year showed that Chevron-Texaco shipped three tankers full of California gasoline out of state just as California drivers were paying record prices at the pump.

The state legislature and/or California Attorney General should immediately investigate all discussions between Arnold's Administration and Chevron-Texaco about LNG and the timing of those discussions. Bechtel Corporation, a top Republican donor, stands to benefit greatly from a new LNG market by building the coastal terminals needed for it, but the energy company that controls the LNG stands to profit the most. Chevron-Texaco's campaign cash, with the help of all-expense paid trips and a lobbyist in the gov's inner circle, should not be able to buy that company a new grip on California's electricity supply. If state officials drill a little they might just find "LNG-gate" not too far below the surface.

Read more at: http://ArnoldWatch.org

[leveymg]

1. This is why they Terminated Gov. Gray Davis.

He got in the way of the last little corner scheme.

Isn't there a law against such conspiracies in restraint of trade? Oh, that's right - nobody gets prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys for frauds over a billion dollars.

:bounce:

[Kerrytravelers]

2. And yet the people of California don't seem to care...

I live in CA and it makes me crazy!



This little animation illustrates the stupidity of a plethora of California voters.

[realFedUp]

3. Maybe someone needs to make a movie

made for television on what Arnie's done...
some people only get their news this way.

I'd cast the Rock as Arnie

[caligirl]

4. File a complaint, I just did at this link

http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/mailform.htm

Also posted this on the politics discussion page, no takers yet.

[hunter]

5. It will be interesting, in a bad cynical way, to see if we can afford LNG.

The mistake Arnold and his handlers make is that they assume the U.S. market will always be able to compete with the rest of the world for natural resources.

But just because the United States has for many years been the top dog of the world economy doesn't mean we will continue to be the top dog.

I think it's very likely this economy we've founded on cheap energy will not thrive when energy is expensive.

Building LNG facilities will not insure that the United States has the economic resources to attract LNG tankers to our ports.

[caligirl]

6. Wish I had seen this post earlier today. you make a good point.

Bush and his oilmen don't want to get cut out of the energy market, Can't imagine them going for solar or wind. cheap alternatives but no big bucks for Chevron Texaco. Better to go take another countries oil, wells are drying up here. That was a big reason for the purchase of Unocal by ChevronT.

[hunter]

7. The ChevronTexacoUnocal merger is more likely a coverup of some sort.

In another (much angrier!) DU post I expressed my suspicion that Unocal is in some sort of trouble. I compared this merger to a big bank taking over a smaller bank that has been run into the ground.

Condoleeza Rice has some very close relationships with both companies.

In the face of rising oil prices and uncertain reserves this merger offers greater protection to the stockholders and very high level managers of both companies, but at the expense of the consumer.

In the long run we are all going to suffer the end of cheap oil, but mergers such as this will put off, for a short time, the day of reckoning for the big oil companies.

I think the original plan of our "leaders" (arnold included!) was to capture Iraq for the United States, and to bully Canada, Mexico, Venezuala, etc., into feeding us. Things like LNG and Asian oil reserves (which have turned out to be mostly mythical) were to be added into that mix.

But this desperate plan isn't turning out very well. I believe the Bush Administration's Enron-style economic fabrications are coming apart at the seams.

Arnold is California governor for one reason, and that's to cover up the various frauds of the energy companies. By this summer he's going to have a very tough time explaining the stink to consumers.

You can see it in his face. The job is not as fun as he thought it would be...