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Old 07-04-2008, 12:29 PM   #4 (permalink)
host
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I have to confess that I made a mistake in the description of Seaway Admin., Collister Johnson, in my last post, because I confused this experienced maritime industry and politcal hack Mr.Johnson, with his inexperienced political hack son!

Reading the descritpion if this Mr. Johnson's job responsibilities and experience, it becomes clear that, even though he is appointed to administer a federally owned corporation his duties are:
Quote:
http://www.dot.gov/bios/johnsonc.htm
Collister ("Terry") Johnson, Jr.
Administrator, Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

Collister ("Terry") Johnson, Jr.Collister (“Terry”) Johnson, Jr. was sworn in by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters on October 7, 2006 as the ninth Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC). He was nominated by President George W. Bush on August 29 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 29, 2006.

Mr. Johnson brings to the position three decades of experience in the transportation industry working diverse marine, rail, and air jobs that focused on capital investment, research and development, and strategic planning.

As Administrator, Mr. Johnson leads the federal government corporation responsible for maintaining and operating the two U.S. Seaway locks located in Massena, N.Y., and vessel traffic control in areas of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, in collaboration with its Canadian partner, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. The SLSDC is responsible for providing safe, efficient, reliable marine services on this critical binational waterway and marketing the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System.

Most recently a senior consultant at Mercer Management Consulting, Inc. in Washington, D.C., he helped craft innovative solutions to financial, planning and corporate structure challenges for railroad, port, airline and shipping projects throughout the last decade. During that period President Bush appointed him to serve on the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) where his economic development background proved useful in mobilizing private capital for investment in developing countries.

He served as chief executive officer of FastShip Atlantic, Inc., a company licensed to operate container ships designed to reduce cross-Atlantic delivery times. His maritime credentials also include service as chairman of the Virginia Port Authority, the Commonwealth’s largest economic development agency. During his eight-year tenure, the Port of Hampton Roads cargo tonnage more than tripled,....
....so, an oft politically appointed, industry executive is appointed to "market" the Seaway....to.... in effect, bring more toll revenue through the locks....more ships of all kinds, and NOT to protect the eco-system of the freshwater lakes...

Bear in mind that this is a corporation owned by our government, and it is led by a man and by policy counter to the best interests of most of us. So you see where I am going with this thread?

Oil companies that buy back $15 billion of their own stock, instead of investing in petroleum exploration and increasing refining capacity in the US, while farmers in North Dakota, in close proximity to new crude oil production, must hunt for diesel fuel for their farm equipment during fall harvest time.
Quote:

Chevron's $15B stock buyback pleases shareholders, riles critics

Sep 26, 2007 ... Article:Chevron's $15B stock buyback pleases shareholders, ... Chevron Corp. will spend up to $15 billion buying back its own stock — a ...
http://www.sfgate.com/.../n/a/2007/0...sn=001&sc=1000

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...,1761702.story
Million-dollar homes, billion-dollar oil patches make uneasy neighbors

By Michael Martinez | Tribune correspondent
6:47 PM CDT, May 4, 2008

...Long Beach drilled 70 new wells last year and is planning to drill about 60 more this year where it owns mineral rights. A shortage of engineers, geologists and drilling rigs keeps the city from additional drilling, said Curtis Henderson, manager of the city's oil operations.....
Quote:
http://www.10news.com/news/9844620/detail.html
Shell CEO Speaks On Controversial Refinery Closure

POSTED: 8:55 pm PDT September 13, 2006
UPDATED: 8:33 pm PDT September 14, 2006
Shell workers told 10News there was an alleged plan to drive up gas prices by closing a California refinery.

“They’ve lied and led people to believe there is an inadequate supply of crude oil to run that refinery,” said one Shell worker.

10News showed internal Shell documents talking about how “operations were running well” and Shell was “taking advantage of very high profit margins.”

The company said there was no future in Bakersfield, Calif., because the nearby oil fields were drying up.

After the 10News investigation, the state attorney general forced Shell to sell the refinery.

Now, the CEO of Shell Oil in the U.S. is speaking up on the issue.

“Bakersfield was too small. It was too small, too old,” said John Hofmeister.

Despite the profits detailed in Shell’s own internal documents, Hofmeister said the operation was not big enough and thus not profitable enough.

"We're, for example, looking at an expansion in Port Arthur, Texas, of 350,000 barrels a day in a 250,000 barrel-a-day refinery, creating the world's, or the nation's, largest refinery of more than 600,000 barrels,” added Hofmeister.

Hofmeister said that makes better financial sense than running an old, small refinery in California regardless of the profit margins.

Flying J Oil, which bought the Bakersfield plant, does see a future in it. Right now, the company is putting $500 million into updating the refinery.
Citizen protests and California's state government forced Shell Oil Corp, to sell iit's Bakersfield, CA refinery, instead of dismantling it, as Shell insisted it would do. Shell had to be forced to sell for $13o million, and, even then, the oil corp. tried to sabotage the sale by insisting on not including pipelines and storage tanks at and leading to the refinery. Flying J bought it anyway, agreeing to lease the tanks and pipelines from Shell.....

You're paying $4.05 per gallon today for fuel for your vehicle, but you don't think government should punish or take over the assets of corporations that are caught doing what Shell Oil was trying to do....close one of only ten California refineries to further tighten fuel supplies and raise prices....would you change your mind if you were paying $8.00 per gallon?

Things got this way because corporations spent the money on lobbying, campaign contributions, investing in media ownership and in PR and other advertising....it worked....it convinced many of the idea that "free" markets work best with least regualtion and government "interference". Many bought into the idea that what was good for corporations, was good for them, too.

It's looking like a lot of that "thinking" is pro[agandist bullshit. Think about what Shell and Exxon and Chevron have been doing, the next time you're paying for fuel at the pump.

An oil company that spends 19 years in court to avoid paying restitution for the damage caused to Alaska fisheries and ecology, after it allows a tanker captain it clearly knew was impaired, to command a single hulled super tanker that ran aground and spilled 10 million gallons of crude oil.

...and shipping companies and a publicly owned Seaway corp., making the decision to destroy the great lakes ecosystem because they do not have the notion of decreasing or ending their shockingly damaging shipping and port operations, in their culture.

All of the while that this has been happening, the corporate owned media, teamed with it's corporate allies and the government it so effectively lobbies, extols the "clear" advantages of "free markets" and of regulatory "reforms".

Who benefits, and who is exploited? Or is their constant, self promotional message that "eveyone wins", the accurate result?

Last edited by host; 07-04-2008 at 01:36 PM..
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