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OFFSHORE DRILLING

Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling

The Wall Street Journal

Too bad it's not in U.S. waters.

You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil.

 

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

 

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

 

But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.

 

The Bush Administration's five-year plan (2007-2012) to open the outer continental shelf to oil exploration included new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2007 environmentalists went to court to block drilling in Alaska and in April a federal court ruled in their favor. In May, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department was unsure whether that ruling applied only to Alaska or all offshore drilling. So it asked an appeals court for clarification. Late last month the court said the earlier decision applied only to Alaska, opening the way for the sale of leases in the Gulf. Mr. Salazar now says the sales will go forward on August 19.

 

This is progress, however slow. But it still doesn't allow the U.S. to explore in Alaska or along the East and West Coasts, which could be our equivalent of the Tupi oil fields, which are set to make Brazil a leading oil exporter. Americans are right to wonder why Mr. Obama is underwriting in Brazil what he won't allow at home.

 

Additional comments:

 

"Today, even though President Obama is against off shore drilling for our country, he signed an executive order to loan 2 Billion of our taxpayers dollars to a Brazilian Oil Exploration Company (which is the 8th largest company in the entire world) to drill for oil off the coast of Brazil ! The oil that comes from this operation is for the sole purpose and use of  China  and NOT THE  USA  ! Now here's the real clincher...the Chinese government is under contract to purchase all the oil that this oil field will produce, which is hundreds of millions of barrels of oil".

We have absolutely no gain from this transaction whatsoever! 

Wait, it gets more interesting.

Guess who is the largest individual  stockholder of this Brazilian Oil Company and who would benefit most  from this? It is American BILLIONAIRE, George Soros, who  was one of President Obama's most generous financial supporter during his campaign.

If you are able to connect the dots and follow the money, you are probably as upset as I am. Not a word of this transaction was broadcast on any of the other news networks! 

Forward this factual e-mail to others who care about this country and  where it is going. Also, let all of your Government representatives know how you feel about this.

 

 

The link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203863204574346610120524166.html

 U.S. Loan to Brazilian Oil Company Riles Conservatives in Favor of Offshore Drilling
 

 

By James Rosen

 - FOXNews.com

 

Some see a contradiction in an executive-branch agency facilitating abroad the very kind of energy exploration President Obama opposes domestically.

 

President Obama has opposed any expanded oil drilling off American shores largely on environmental grounds, turning a deaf ear to conservative cries of "Drill, Baby, Drill."

 

But now Obama may start hearing cries of "foul" after the U.S. Export-Import Bank promised Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company, $2 billion in loan guarantees to help finance lucrative drilling off the shores of Rio De Janeiro.

 

Some see a contradiction in an executive branch agency, independent but with board members appointed by the president, facilitating abroad the very kind of energy exploration Obama opposes domestically.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday he wasn't prepared to address the issue.

 

"I have not seen the story," he said. "I'd have to take a look."

But former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a vocal proponent of offshore drilling, had plenty to say.

 

"So why is it that during these tough times, when we have great needs at home, the Obama White House is prepared to send more than $2 billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Brazil so that the nation's state-owned oil company, Petrobas, can drill off shore and create jobs developing its own resources?" she asked on her Facebook page.

In fact, the Export-Import bank receives no appropriations from Congress and thus does not rely on American taxpayer dollars and is also not "sending" $2 billion to the Brazilian company but offering lines of credit to U.S. firms so they can compete to land contracts as part of Petrobras' drilling operations.

 

The $2 billion "preliminary commitment" by the Export-Import Bank to Petrobras is expected to grow, as the U.S. competes on behalf of American exporters of goods and services against those from China. Beijing has extended a commitment of $10 billion -- but the Brazilians are said to prefer U.S. management and technology.

Then there is the George Soros angle.

 

The New York-based hedge fund firm controlled by the billionaire philanthropist and backer of Democratic causes and campaigns bought and sold millions of shares in Petrobras -- the largest of the firm's holdings -- prior to public disclosure of the Export-Import bank's offer of new credit guarantees to the Brazilian energy giant.

No one has accused Soros of wrongdoing, but some say the transactions do not pass the "smell test."