Hi. I have been kind of busy and I went to Palm Springs California to play golf for a week. A friend of mine from North Carolina and I went to Palm Springs together. Boy I love global warming. It's cooling everything off. The weather in Palm Springs was the best I have ever seen in about ten years that I have been going to Palm Springs. The temperature did get to about 104 degrees a couple of days. But most days the temperature was only about 97 degrees. While 97 is still hot, it's ordinarily 115 to 120 degrees in Palm Springs when I go to play golf, usually in June.

The days were only very hot from about 1:00 PM to about 5:00 PM. And once the sun dipped below the mountains, the temperatures droppped very nicely. With the low humidity the temperatures were incredibly nice. A couple of times when we went out to eat in the evening, we ate outside and it was great.

I have been watching the silliness that has been occurring on dukecityfix with regard to the high gas prices. I was astonished that the "moderator" had to step in and tone down what was being said on the site.

What have I missed over the last few weeks?

Our tax money was not used to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Follow along with me....

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a terrible accident. But look at the situation this way. Exxon is not a "mean nasty oil company" that is raping the environment. There is no "single entity" named Exxon that benefits from an oil spill. I'm sure that Exxon employees want to be good stewards of the environment like most of us do. Exxon is owned by hundreds of thousands of stockholders that also do not want the environment damaged. Exxon is a company that is primarily run by engineers and geologists. They were the original environmentalists back before it became fashionable to call yourself an environmentalist. Geologists especially, are the type of people that love the outdoors and wildlife. They enjoy hiking, camping and they are very committed to protecting the environment. They always have been.

Exxon is also a company that is very concerned about its image in the community as are most large companies. The pilot of the Exxon Valdez was an alcoholic that was supposedly recovered or going through recovery. Exxon apparently allowed him to continue to work as the pilot so that the company wouldn't be accused of discriminating against someone that was ostensibly trying to get their life back on track. Exxon was trying to help him get through a very difficult time in his life. Think of what happens to companies that are accused of discrimination. They are reviled in the press like Exxon has been. That won't happen again. I'm sure that today, any company that has an alcoholic on its staff will ensure that that person has no opportunity to cause the company any harm so that they do not suffer a similar fate like Exxon.

So, the accident occurred. Exxon spent more than three years and $2,100,000,000 (that's more than $2 billion dollars) cleaning up the oil spill.

In 1991, in settlement of civil charges, Exxon agreed to pay the State of Alaska and the United States $900 million over a 10-year period. This money is over and above the $2.1 billion spent cleaning up the spill. The money would be used for restoration and would be administered by six government Trustees; three federal, three state.

In addition, in settlement of criminal charges, Exxon would pay a fine of $250 million. Two "restitution funds" of $50 million each were established, one under state control and one under federal authority. Against strong opposition from many Alaskans, $125 million of the balance was forgiven due to Exxon's cooperation during the cleanup, and upgraded safety procedures to prevent a reoccurrence. The remaining $50 million was divided between the Victims of Crime Act account ($13 million) and the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund ($12 million).

So Exxon spent $2.1 Billion to clean up the spill. they paid fines totaling approximately $1.0 Billion, and set up two restitution funds totaling another $100 million. Yes Exxon was forgiven a portion of a $250 million fine totaling $125 million. Exxon was forgiven those fines because of the companies cooperation during the cleanup. This was an acknowledgement of the efforts of the company to clean up the spill. The government and the state and presumably the landowners forgave $125 million of the $250 million.

Exxon spent more $3.2 Billion dollars in clean-up costs and fines not counting their court costs. Of the money that Exxon paid, who benefitted the most? The government. They got the largest payout, $900 million. That money might have been better spent had the government turned it all over to the state to ensure that the money was used to restore the environment where the accident occurred. And it was an accident.

Yes Exxon has enormous profits but that is because it is a huge company that explores for and produces oil all around the world. Their costs for drilling are also enormous. You apparently think that Exxon is a company that intentionally goes around destroying the environment and "stealing" their profits. If you have an IRA or a 401K account you probably own Exxon stock. It is an incredibly well run company that provides a good return on investment. It's not the best return but it is a fine company.

Recently, the United States Supreme Court overturned $4.5 Billion of an additional 1994 judgement against Exxon. The justices decided Exxon's punitive damages shouldn't exceed the $500 million Exxon must pay to compensate plaintiffs for their financial losses. So now Exxon's damages amount to about $3,700,000,000 for the Exxon Valdez spill. That's $3.7 Billion. Remember, in our judicial system the ultimate arbiter is the United States Supreme Court. It was not illegal or unfair for Exxon to appeal to the Supreme Court. Exxon apparently was not obligated to pay fines until their case has wound through the various appeals processes.

The cost to explore for and produce oil and gas in ever more challenging environments is incredible. Here in Texas it costs about $50 to $70 million to drill a single exploration well in ultra deep waters (waters from 10,000 to 20,000 or even 30,000 feet). And of those wells, 90% are usually dry holes. That means not enough oil or gas was found to produce the well. Think of that, for every 10 wells that are drilled nine are not commercial producers. And that doesn't begin to factor in the cost of platforms, pipelines or ships to get the oil to a refinery.

Maybe you get the idea. All oil companies have the same job. They explore for and hope to make enough discoveries so that they can produce enough oil and or gas so they can pay for those dry holes that they drill and still provide a reasonable return on investment to the owners (the stockholders are the owners of the oil companies). You may actually be an owner of an oil company. There are many more incredibly massive investments that oil companioes make to produce gas and oil. It's too comprehensive to present them in this forum. Remeber that whenever the government villifies a company and punishes that company with punitive taxes, that the money may actually be coming out of your own pocket.

I know that a fanatic will ignore all arguments that don't support their side of an issue, regardless of the truth. Fanatics aren't interested in the truth. They are only interested in shouting down all opposition and using the power of the federal government to achieve their goals. Generally, that's a function of which political party you support. And we all like it when our side is in power and absolutely hate it when the shoes gets put on the other foot. Whenever one party controls both houses of Congress and the Presidency, their ability to wage mischief is enormous. If in addition they have a sufficient majority in both houses, their power is indeed limitless. They can literally impose ANY law that they choose. That's why the intent of the constitution is to protect us from government. The founding fathers knew exactly where the threat to the country lay.

I'd love to. I will have to get back to you on the reunion. I seem to have lost all my files about the reunion. I'll have to email Loretta Jaramillo again.

Gilbert