Even though I've read your book, this post clarified "the control of supply" issue for me.
I'm getting better at making it clear. I hope now you understand better my cynicism during the power crisis (and why I wanted to strangle lewislynn (of course, lewislynn deserves strangling on his own merits)). :-)
My first inkling of this camr from writing the two sections in Part II, Chapter 3, "More is Less" and "Less is More." You might end up wondering (as I do) if the seemingly deliberate accrual of fuels around Los Angeles is "The Squeeze" in action. I honestly believe that the monsters with whom we are dealing at a high level are that callous.
I guess I should have added that at the time the MTBE thing went down, the British Royal Family was the principle investor in ARCO (the ARCO Chemical Company that produced MTBE is now part of Lyondell).
I came across a what might work out to be a little gem this morning (WARNING: the next link is a long pdf document. A shorter excerpt is here. I tested the short one, the longer is beyong my bandwidth): A top ARCO executive admitted under oath, “The EPA did not initiate reformulated gasoline....” He clarified that “the oil industry... brought this [MTBE] forward as an alternative to what the EPA had initially proposed,” (which was ethanol being pushed forward by ADM (corporate welfare has become a feeding frenzy)).
Apparently the oil companies knew of the threat from leaking tanks as early as 1981, from a spill in Rockaway, NJ. A Shell hydrogeologist testified in the South Lake Tahoe case that he first dealt with an MTBE spill in 1980 in Rockaway, N.J., where seven MTBE plumes were leaking from underground storage tanks. [Excerpt] [Full document].
I've got more on this if anybody wants it.
ME TOO!!! You've caused me to "BOOKMARK" this thread. No wonder you were asking me what that San Fran Fed EPA Lady admitted to a room full of CA County Supervisors about the NRDC and MTBE!!! (those are two dirty four letter words, you know)
SNOPERCOD is exactly correct in his appraisal of your magnificently researched reply. It confirms the scope of this whole energy/oxygenate manipulation through orchestration and who's really behind it. Most people lack the concentration powers to comprehend the scope, but you have begun to help them connect the crucial "dots!"
I will never forget the hearings/meetings/conferences on MTBE in Sacramento and the Lobbyists on their cellphones with excruciatingly worried looks on their faces. Also the subtle, almost mysteriously subtle phone calls I recieved as I composed the resolution to submit for my board to approve in 1997 to make my county that includes the jewel of the Pacific Rim, (Lake Tahoe) "MTBE FREE!
Me too. Very informative and plausible, especially regarding the "constitutional loophole." More evidence that Milton Friedman was right when he said that regulatory boards are usually overtaken by the corporations that they are purported to regulate, usually with an eye to keeping out competition.