The Brotherhood of Oil: Energy Policy and the Public Interest PDF
Preview The Brotherhood of Oil: Energy Policy and the Public Interest
The Brotherhood of Oil The Brotherhood o f O il Energy Policy and the Public Interest Robert Engler The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London Robert Engler is the author of The Politics of Oil (1961). He is professor of political science at the City University of New York. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd.. London © 1977 by Robert Engler All rights reserved. Published 1977 Printed in the United States of America 81 80 79 78 77 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Engler, Robert. The brotherhood of oil. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Petroleum industry and trade—United States. 2. Energy policy—United States. I. Title. HD9566.E58 338.2’7’2820973 76-56189 ISBN 0-226-20948-2 For Leland Olds, Robert S. Lynd and Roderick Seidenberg Three who cared After the rising of the 17th June The Secretary of the Writers’ Association Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee In which you could read that the people Had lost the Government’s confidence And could only win it back By redoubled efforts. If so, would it not Be simpler for the Government To dissolve the people And elect another? Bertolt Brecht “The Solution” Contents Preface ix 1 Crude Awakenings 1 2 Traces of Oil 16 3 Political Explorations 57 4 The Rites of Government 84 5 Imperial Energies 98 6 Partners in Development 146 7 Bureaucratic Wastelands 177 8 Planning for New Beginnings 209 Notes 251 Index 323 Preface This is a study of the political economy of oil and of the challenge it poses for the American political system. The title has, in the mind of the author, two meanings. At one level, The Brotherhood of Oil refers to the network of organizations, primarily private but recently joined by public ones, which function wherever petroleum is sought, found, and used. Much of the study deals with power: the economic power over production, markets, and prices wielded by the merchants of oil, and the political power that flows from such control. The central focus here is upon the giant corporations and their relation to public government and to social forces, pri marily in the United States, which are also involved or seek in volvement in the shaping of basic energy policies. At the second level, the title is intended to convey the interde pendence of people everywhere whose lives have been caught up in the quest for oil. For many its presence is a condition of nature and petroleum thus far plays a minor role in meeting their own daily needs. Yet this presence links their fates with those for whose mechanized economies oil is the lifeblood. A cutoff from their con nection would be, in the words of one State Department official, “the most total challenge that could be launched . . ., something very close to nuclear warfare.” The underlying concern at this level is the replacement of policies now responsive to the “bottom line” of corporate statements and the might of favored nations with planning which acknowledges the fraternity of all mankind and encourages directions which are economically just, ecologically sane and politically accountable. IX X Preface The present book follows from The Politics of Oil (New York: Macmillan, 1961 ),* which had its origin in my interest in the prob lem of power. The fifteen years since the latter’s publication saw the nation move from celebration of what was to be “the American century” to intense examination of the social costs of development. There was angry opposition to armaments, the Vietnam war, dis crimination, poverty, urban decay, the shoddiness of goods and the degradation of the environment. The irresponsibility of authority in every institution became a target. A rebirth of populism brought questioning about the corporation and the business system and ultimately about technology and growth. The oil industry and its global operations became increasingly visible. It was the “energy crisis” of 1973-74 which catapulted the sep arate aspects of oil policy to the center of public attention. Using this national educational experience as a case study, the book looks backward to trace the efforts of the industry to tie up energy re sources at home and abroad. The oil dimensions of foreign policy, from involvement in Asia to the blockade against Cuba, are dis cussed, as is the permeation of every level of the body politic, from Watergate to the boundaries of policy options for the nation. Research for the earlier work involved unearthing relatively ob scure documents, interviewing corporate and public bureaucrats, seeking out isolated public servants across the country who were trying to preserve what they saw as the public interest. Today the scholar is inundated by materials on oil policy and politics. The challenge this time was one of winnowing and interpreting rather than searching out and organizing basic facts about oil. But I was eager to see who had learned what from the earlier experiences with oil and what were the outcomes of previous struggles over offshore oil, shale, and natural gas. I wanted to appraise such counterforces as the environmental movement and awakened nationalism. To what extent are they effective in chal lenging the “first world government” by introducing standards of responsibility other than those of this private government of oil? * Reissued in 1967 by the University of Chicago Press as a Phoenix paperback.
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