Shivering Alaskans to Hugo Chavez: Keep your oil

[Canuck_Buck]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- In Alaska's native villages, the punishing winter cold is already penetrating the walls of the lightly insulated plywood homes, many of the villagers are desperately poor, and heating-oil prices are among the highest in the nation.
And yet a few of the small communities want to refuse free heating oil from Venezuela, on the patriotic principle that no foreigner has the right to call their president "the devil."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/09/alaska.oil.chavez.ap/index.html

The heating oil is being offered by the petroleum company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, President Bush's nemesis. While scores of Alaska's Eskimo and Indian villages say they have no choice but to accept, others would rather suffer.

[kevin1]

The eskimos survived without heating oil for ten thousand years before the petroleum industry ever existed , what did they heat with back then ? Lightly insulated plywood houses ? In Alaska ?

[Canuck_Buck]

I think they used blubber from seals and whales, the lightly insulated plywood houses must be on the poor side town ? some of these houses are like ice fishing huts, must be portable to move around the ice...igloo's were better I think...

[tangozulu]

Time to buy some insulation, maybe caribou hides will do.
When I worked with inuet people in the arctic during the winter, we lived in tents.They would strip naked, lie on top of their sleeping bags, turn the oil stove up all the way....................then open the door.
I'm sure this habit was developed over the decades that all the heating oil was in fact paid for by the Canadian Government.

[Knightia]

Muskoxen wool undies?

Last yr it got to 35 degreeIN my house/bathroon etc(the smoke alarm went off.... It was a warm yr- but i know how they feel to . I wish my whole house was underground- we will see how long there new fangled sattlite dishs stand up to the winds.

[BenGarrett]

ORIGINAL: Canuck_Buck


And yet a few of the small communities want to refuse free heating oil from Venezuela, on the patriotic principle that no foreigner has the right to call their president "the devil."

I think in this day of a very wide political divide down the middle of our society, there are a lot of us who could learn from these folks.

[ipscshooter]

I was listening to the radio the other day, and one of the talk show hosts was railing against those who are boycotting Citgo on the basis that it is the Chavez/Venezuelan national oil company. His position was that we're not hurting Chavez. We're only hurting the local businessmen who run the stores. I found that rather ludicrous, as the dollars being earned by those stores go back to Chavez. They're selling his oil. If the local businessmen get hurt, tough. Find another oil company to sell gas for. If all of Chavez' Citgo stations in the US are closed due to lack of business, and the stores are taken over by Exxon/Mobil, or Shell, or Valero, or whatever, Chavez will feel it.

[kevin1]

US Citgo stations are operated by a wholly American owned subsidiary company , they could just as easily buy their oil on the open market and often do when demand is high . The Venezuelan national petroleum company doesn't own them , they just supply them just as any other oil producer does . BTW , Citgo has more gas stations in the US than any other company , 13,000 at last count . Shutting them down out of ignorance would be a serious sting for our fuel infrastructure and drive prices way up , be careful what you wish for .

[ipscshooter]

From Citgo's webpage:

The story of CITGO Petroleum Corporation as an enduring American success story began back in 1910 when pioneer oilman, Henry L. Dougherty, created the Cities Service Company.

When Cities Service determined that it needed to change its marketing brand, it introduced the name CITGO in 1965, retaining the first syllable of its long-standing name and ending with "GO" to imply power, energy and progressiveness. The now familiar and enduring CITGO "trimark" logo was born.

Occidental Petroleum bought Cities Service in 1982, and CITGO was incorporated as a wholly owned refining, marketing and transportation subsidiary in the spring of the following year. Then, in August, 1983, CITGO was sold to The Southland Corporation to provide an assured supply of gasoline to Southland's 7-Eleven convenience store chain.
In September, 1986, Southland sold a 50 percent interest in CITGO to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. PDVSA acquired the remaining half of CITGO in January, 1990. With a secure and ample supply of crude oil, CITGO quickly became a major force in the energy arena.

Looks to me like PDVSA owns 100%.

[Canuck_Buck]

I agree with taking a stand against Chavezbut after enduring sub zero temperatures for a while the body tends to want heat...shivering for the whole winter just wouldn't cut it...unless of course there was a female eskimo close by to help me out...