Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Citgo Gas BUYcot

If any of you are annoyed that Exxon had record profits in 2005 with "the largest annual reported net income in U.S. history" with about 10.71 billion of those profits in the forth quarter. (Yeah. Because we paid $3-$5 per gallon for gas, and the U.S. petroleum consumption hit record highs for 2005.)
Then perhaps you should look into Citgo gas. Citgo Store Locator

There is a lot of speculation about the politics between Presidents George Bush and Hugo Chavez, but when twelve U. S. Senators were proactive enough about a problem to send letters to nine oil companies asking them to donate a fraction of their profits (that they made from price gouging the American consumer) to low-income families who were suffering from the price gouging, and only one company responded... well, I think that you can know a company just like you can know a person, by their works.

You can check out some discussion about the issue here: Time, "Venezuela's Oil Giveaway"

When you're a U.S. Congressman and 25,000 constituent families can'’t find affordable heating oil this winter, you tend not to care where help comes from. That's at least how U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah of Philadelphia felt last week when Citgo, the U.S.-based company owned by the government of Venezuela's left-wing President Hugo Chavez delivered 5 million gallons of heating oil at a 40% discount to low-income Philadelphia residents. Fattah says he doesn'’t understand the objections of many congressional conservatives who feel U.S. cities should not be helping improve the image of Chavez, one of President Bush's most strident critics. "The U.S. buys 1.5 million barrels of oil from Venezuela each day at full price," says Fattah, "so why would anyone complain about getting some at almost half price?"...
Or, here: People's Weekly World, "Taxing the oil companies'’ hot air"
Last October 12 U.S. Senators sent a letter to nine major oil companies, asking them to donate part of their record profits to help poor Americans faced with large increases in their heating oil costs this winter.

Only Citgo donates oil.

Only one oil company, Citgo, which is owned by the government of Venezuela, responded. Citgo has now established programs to supply heating oil to low-income communities in Boston, New York City, Maine, and Rhode Island at discounts of up to 40 percent...
Here are my two cents on the matter:

1) Bush and Chavez hate each other
2) President Chavez, perhaps motivated by many reasons, but regardless, offers significant aid to low-income Americans during an American crisis
3) The U.S. government does similar aid world-wide, but Republicans do not like to do it domestically, because then it is called "welfare"
3) Bush believes the U.S. should not accept charity from someone he doesn't like
4) I am glad that there are other politicians and public officials believe in doing what is necessary, and who are not politically prideful, and who can look at numbers and see people instead of statistics
5) If it were Exxon doing this, you can bet it would be all over the news, and their PR campaign would cost three times as much as their donation.
6) Have I seen a single Citgo commercial about this? No. Apparently, they don't shout from roof tops.
7) I am now getting my gas at Citgo stations, even though heretofore I have been a Chevron girl.

2 comments:

Kirk L. Shaw said...

As far as I know, I have never been to a Citgo gas station (I'm more of a Chevron or Flying J person, steering clear of Sinclair, 7-11, and such). I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Plus, after accidentally driving off with the nozzle in my car at a Chevron and nearly blowing the place sky-high when gas starts gushing all over, maybe it's time to switch.

Erin aka- absent-minded secretary said...

Sorry Iguana, all the Citgo stations from Springville to West Valley are 7-11s.

Are you from Oregon? Your Chevron incident sounds like something I would do. (For non-Oregonians, we are not allowed to pump our own gas up in the land of green, and I had to have my roommate Melissa teach me how to pump gas when I was 19 years old.)