Oil Group Head Calls For Deregulation.

That was the caption of a Times Picayune story by staff writer Jennifer Larino dated 7/18/14.  Jack Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute  called on President Obama to abandon its "irrational" approach to energy policy.  As a mouth piece for the Oil industry he goes on to contradict his own statements

Gerard says that the U.S. became the worlds largest producer of natural gas in 2013 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  And that the U.S. this year became the worlds largest oil producer passing Sudi Arabia and Russia.  Then he said the nations energy policy had nothing to do with that.  Then he says policy really matters.

The President's policy has been clear.  Its made up of the present fossil fuels and renewable fuels.  Gerard wants a future only of the status quo and gives out more false information when he said the Obama administration refuses to open up more federal lands for exploration.  The Sierra Club pointed out that in the most recent federal offshore lease sale oil companies bid on only 326 of the 7511 tracts the government offered.  An article in the Times Picayune of 7/16/14 also informed its readers that in March the federal government offered acerage in the eastern Gulf and there were no bids by the oil industry.

Gerard said the country has moved from a position of perceived energy scarcity to abundance.  What he failed to note was that abundance happened on the watch of President Obama.  One should understand why it is the mouth pieces like Mr. Gerard and some politicians who are speaking up instead of the oil industry themselves.  The industry uses those surrogates becuse the industry knows the following facts.

(1)  The price of a barrel of oil and a gallon of gasoline is manipulated;  (2) Production of oil and gas can be shut in or produced according to their own selfish demands;  (3)  there are millions of acres of land the industry owns or leases where they have not drilled one hole, and that includes offshore.  (4)  the industry has had its best years under democratic administrations;  (5)  the industry is well aware of how their operations have destroyed the environment so they allow their surrogates to step out front and center;  (6)  They do not want to be regulated and Mr. Gerard trys to articulate that;  (7)  There has never been a lack of drilling and producing sites like the bill of goods the industry tried  to sell to the American people over the years.

I wrote a commentary dated 7/22/11 titled, "Drilling Offshore Louisiana In The Gulf Of Mexico:  Facts And Nothing But The Facts.  It tells the story of how the oil industry has misled the public concerning offshore drilling and how it has been democratic administrations that the oil industry has done so well under. 

Yes, my fellow Americans, despite the unnecessary billions of dollars in tax breaks the industry receives from Uncle Sam (American taxpayers) they and their representatives can not be truthful to the country or its people.  That is very sad for a industry enjoying all the benefits that America gives.  The greed at the top along with their failure to restore Louisiana's environment represents the worst in Corporate America.


This commentary written by John Lucia.