from behind the plow

(A column of opinion by Gary Reid, Publisher Emeritus)

Area oil drilling pickup observed

Keb Lehenbauer, sales representative for Railroad Yard of Stillwater, mentioned to me at last week’s county commissioner meeting that he saw five new drilling pads going in recently on a swing through western Kingfisher and eastern Blaine counties.

Possibly the oil companies are listening to President Trump’s “Drill Baby Drill” exortation.

It will, no doubt, be advantageous to Kingfisher and Blaine counties and Oklahoma.

The simplicity of the leftist liberals who are opposed to oil companies is dumbfounding.

I am personally thankful for the oil industry each time I put gas in my pickup or drop a plastic bottle (a product made possible by oil) and it doesn’t shatter spilling contents on the floor or parking lot.

There are thousands of products we use daily made from oil and natural gas, including everything from everyday household products – deodorants and packaging, even lipstick – life-saving medical devices (MRI machines to pacemakers) machine parts and even producing electricity to heat homes, businesses and offices.

The U.S. Department of Energy reminds that in the industrial sector the petrochemical industry uses petroleum as a raw material (a feedstock) to make products such as plastics, polyurethane, solvents, and hundreds of other intermediate and end-user goods.

Oil energizes the world and poor Joe Biden tried everything in his power to kill it.

Trump wisely killed America’s membership in the Paris Agreement as one of his official acts.

Trump goes to Work on Other Problems

The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris, France.

He also immediately started work to end America’s participation in the World Health Organization (WHO), a part of the left-wing United Nations, largely controlled by Communist China, which managed the appointment of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

WHO has attempted to take control of the health of the entire world with member states allowing it alone to determine worldwide health crises and efforts to control them, another step toward a one-world government, it appears to me.

CNN reported this about Trump’s WHO withdrawal: Trump has blasted WHO as “corrupt” and accused it of ripping America off, and millions of Americans who voted for him are increasingly skeptical of the value of such international structures.

California Fire Victims Encouraged to Sue Oil Companies I saw an article reporting California’s legislature has presented a bill allowing (probably encouraging) insurers and homeowners impacted by Los Angeles fires to sue oil companies for their losses.

You can guess the reasoning – yep, oil companies are to blame for global warming, the leftists proclaim. It would be interesting to know how ignorant a person has to be to believe such claptrap.

It’s almost as ignorant to believe solar and wind energy can replace oil, which generates the entire world economy.

With much improvement, those sources might possibly become a substantial backup for oil. Nuclear energy could become a dependable supplier at some point, at least some scientists have indicated.

James Breslo, a civil rights attorney, writes in a column for The Daily Signal: “You knew this was coming. California’s Democrat legislators presented a bill Monday to allow insurers and homeowners impacted by the Los Angeles fires to sue oil companies for their losses. Senate Bill 222 aims to blame the fires on climate change caused by fossil fuels and make the oil companies bankroll the state’s underfunded insurance plan.

“The move is a predictable response by the one-party state’s leaders seeking to deflect from their own gross mismanagement of the city and state, which is the real cause of the disaster. They destroyed the home insurance market by driving out insurance companies through onerous price controls. As a result, the state is on the hook for billions in damages covered by its “FAIR Plan” insurance, established as coverage of last resort for homeowners. The bill proposes that the oil companies serve as the backstop for the FAIR Plan.”

He continues: “Leaders bowing to environmentalists also created the conditions for huge wildfires by failing to properly manage the forests through basic brush clearance and controlled fires that are standard in other states.

“Additionally, through shear gross negligence, firefi ghters ran out of water because city officials allowed the Pacific Palisades’ 117-million-gallon reservoir, built to fight fires, to sit empty for almost a year awaiting a minor, $130,000 repair.

“And they cut the LA Fire Department budget, leav- ing the city with the same number of firefighters and fire stations it had in 1960. Quite incredible, since it is these same leaders who are constantly warning us that alleged “climate change” will cause a lot more fires.

The assertion that oil companies are responsible for the damage caused by the fires and thus should pay for the damage is absurd, but it is in line with similar efforts by state Democrats. For example, before the LA fires, California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently issued the oil companies for huge damages based on the alleged effects of climate change in general. The money is to go into an “abatement fund” to be used to advance the goals of climate activists.

The new proposed SB 222 would allow insurance companies and their customers to sue under the same theory, although the merits of such cases are wildly dubious.

California has been losing population and business by leaps and bounds due to ridiculous regulations and high taxes to finance the Left’s Green New Deal agenda.

Breslo’s column continues, pointing out the numerous mistakes made by California’s left-wing Democrat majority, based primarily in the large cities. Rural area residents I have met are as sensible as Oklahomans.

Common sense policies from the California government would be the ideal solution for citizens.