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Big Oil in Third World California
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Willie L. Pelote, Sr., AFSCME.
Shortly after writing "Arnold Schwarzenegger Threatens California like the IMF threatens Africa," published on the Op-Ed News, I came across like essays by Willie L. Pelote, Sr., Assistant Director and Political Action Coordinator for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees:
Governor's budget proposals mirror Third World structural readjustment,
California's for the rich, and
New budget takes California backwards.
On July 22nd, I found Mr. Pelote in the California Chronicle, speaking to the new oil and natural gas driling off the California Coast, near Santa Barbara, site of the disastrous 1969 oil spill which triggered the passionate coastal defense coalition which has stopped new offshore drilling up until now:
"This individual project off the Santa Barbara coast simply is not a California budget issue. If the Governor really wants to generate more revenues he should charge oil companies for extraction just like they do in Texas, Alaska, and other oil producing states."
Indeed. As I've reported here, Arnold Schwarzenegger champions extending oil and natural gas leases off the Santa Barbara coast with the promise of a possible $1.8 billion in increased state revenue, which would, at first, seem to go a long way towards easing California's pain, but, this $1.8 billion is really $1.8 over 13 years time, between now and the year 2022, when, supposedly, Houston-based Plains Exploration and Oil Production Company will stop drilling.
How much would the State of California get from the extension of oil and gas drilling leases, to solve its budget crisis this year? One hundred million dollars, which would not fill much of the $26 billion hole, unlike a 9.9% oil and gas severance tax, which, at current crude oil and natural gas prices, would raise $1 billion, this year.
Schwarzenegger's proposal resembles those of multinational corporations, backed by the IMF and World Bank, in Africa, where Big Oil and other multinational mining corporations generate a higher rate of return on investment than in any other part of the world---because they pay African people so very little for their immense natural wealth.
And, since no one seems to dispute that California will soon face another budget crisis like that coming to a head this week, we have to ask:
How much more of Californians' oil and natural gas, and, what else, does Arnold Schwarzenegger plan to give away, for spare change, in exchange for his signature on budgets to keep California running awhile longer, much as the World Bank or IMF's signature keeps Third World nations running, periodically and unsustainably, and, each time for a higher price?
In response to the pending budget compromise, AFSCME released "Heal California":
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