Search Results for: "Ken Lay"
Relevance | DateOil Export Regulation: 1970s History (Part II)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 30, 2015 2 Comments“The time has come to end the long debate over national energy policy in the United States and to put ourselves solidly on the road to energy independence. … This bill is only the beginning.”
– President Gerald Ford, December 22, 1975, upon signing the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 into law.
With oil shortages in the 1970s, exports of domestic oil became of acute political interest. Regulation was accomplished under two laws: the Export Administration Act of 1973 and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975. The rise of Alaskan North Slope Oil, in addition, inspired specific export regulation that not only reflected concerns about domestic supply but special privilege for United States shipping interests. [1]
Export Administration Act
With first sales of crude and product transactions in U.S. …
Continue ReadingExport-Import Bank Reauthorization: Remember Enron (Part II)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 25, 2015 No Comments“America deserves an international trade policy that is based on free-market mechanisms, not paying foreign companies to buy exports from large corporations with political connections. We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to oppose reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.”
– Christine Harbin Hanson (Americans for Prosperity), “Growing Coalition To Congress: End The Export-Import Bank,” April 21, 2015.
“Enron was a political colossus with a unique range of rent-seeking and subsidy-receiving operations. Ken Lay’s announced visions for the company—to become the world’s first natural-gas major, then the world’s leading energy company, and, finally, the world’s leading company—relied on more than free-market entrepreneurship. They were premised on employing political means to catch up with, and outdistance, far larger and more-established corporations.
… Continue Reading– Robert Bradley, “Enron: The Perils of Interventionism,” EconLib, September 3, 2012.
Export-Import Bank: A Brief Pre-Enron Energy History (Part I)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 24, 2015 No Comments“Export-Import loans have been particularly controversial because of prior expropriations of U.S. oil company property by beneficiary governments. Mexico’s nationalization of U.S. oil properties in 1938 was followed by a loan of $30 million for roads in 1941, a $10 million refinery loan in 1943, and a $150 million loan for general development in 1950. A 1946 loan of $5.5 million to Bolivia for production, refining, and pipeline expenditure followed nationalization a decade before.”
The Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) was created by Executive Order 658l (February 2, 1934) to “facilitate exports and imports and the exchange of commodities between the United States and other nations or the agencies or nationals thereof.” The bank could borrow, lend, guarantee debt, and “do a general banking business” with its $700 million budget. (See Appendix below for a description of the agency today.)…
Continue ReadingExxon Mobil Rejects Crony Energy (Tillerson channels Lee Raymond)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 18, 2015 4 Comments“We in the petroleum industry are not dismissing the global climate change issue. But I don’t believe anyone should have the moral authority to deny people the opportunity to improve their way in life by arbitrarily depriving them of the means…. I hope that the governments of this region will work with us to resist policies that could strangle economic growth.”
– Lee Raymond, CEO, ExxonMobil (2010)
ExxonMobil CEO mocks renewable energy in shareholder speech, the headline of Adam Lerner’s May 27th Politico article read. Lerner’s piece began:
How refreshing!…
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