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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (2714)	10/17/2000 6:42:55 AM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

Clinton Administration in Hot Seat Over Oil, Senator Demands Answers Wes Vernon Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2000 Clinton administration officials have been summoned to testify on Capitol Hill Thursday in a growing scandal surrounding the proposed exchange of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In announcing the hearing Monday, Senate Energy Chairman Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, says he is alarmed over reports that the Energy Department failed to make even rudimentary checks on some of the successful bidders, including one that operates out of an apartment in New York City's Harlem, that were having trouble raising money to complete the deals. Failure to secure the needed financing could force the department to re-open some of the bids. That could prevent release of all 30 billion barrels of oil in time to meet the planned late November deadline. Murkowski intends to grill administration officials about the release of the oil, an action which the senator says is intended only to meet emergencies such as severe supply disruption, "not to lower prices when politics demand." In the land of Clinton/Gore, say Republican critics, anything that threatens Al Gore's election to the White House constitutes a "national emergency." President Clinton on September 22 announced he was ordering the release of the petroleum to ease tight heating oil supplies before winter. Acting Assistant Energy Secretary Robert Kripowicz has acknowledged that little was known about several of the companies when their bids were selected. These included three companies that were to receive a total of 10 million barrels worth more than $334 million. Kripowicz emphasizes the bid would not be final until the bidders came up with a letter of credit from a third party to guarantee the full value of the oil. The second largest award went to a firm called Lance Stroud Enterprises of New York City, which bid for 4 million barrels worth $133 million at current market price. This company operates out of a Manhattan apartment which the owner and company namesake shares with his mother. Another bidder, Burhaney Energy Enterprises of Tallahassee, Fla. had only been incorporated for two months, with minimal oil industry experience. A third bidder, Euell energy Resources of Denver, Colo., which has only a very few employees, nonetheless describes itself on its web page as "a full service energy corporation." The AP tried without success last week to reach the owners of the three small firms. To set the scene for Thursday's hearing, Senator Murkowski has demanded that the Energy Department (DOE) be prepared to give the following information: 1-A list of the bidders for Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Oil. 2---Details as to date of bid, amount, and type of SPR they were awarded. 3---Terms of the award for the bid winners. 4---Assurance that bid winners will be able to return oil to the SPR. 5---Reasons why there was no qualification for bidders prior to the bidding. 6---Reasons why losing bidders were not accepted. 7---A list of persons contacted by the department to inform them of the exchange, and how they were contacted. 8---Whether or not the contracts require heating oil to be refined from the SPR. 9----Provisions requiring heating oil refined from the SPR oil to be delivered to the Northeast market. 10---Why the contracts didn't prohibit the export of SPR oil or product refined from SPR oil. On the latter point, Senator Murkowski questioned DOE's business sense in not requiring that the oil be refined here in the U.S. and that it stay in this country. "We are releasing our energy for other countries when we need it the most," the senator declared. Supposedly the purpose of the swap was to get home heating oil to the Northeast in time for the winter. "Why wasn't there a contractual obligation to make sure it will get there?" asked the senator. Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has charged the White House with releasing the oil merely to help his Democratic rival Al Gore surmount the political problem of rising oil prices. Bush says that oil is only for true national emergencies. Gore has praised the administration's action. newsmax.com

To: American Spirit who wrote (2714)	10/17/2000 9:57:40 AM
From: Bruce A. Thompson	Respond to of 10042

Spirit, "The issue is child health insurance in Texas" Not really. The real issue is why would HMO's all over the country be pulling out of Medicare and leaving millions without coverage under the current administration. The issue is why are there fewer people covered by medical insurance now after 8 years of the current administration. The issue is why are we still rehashing the same politically correct garbage about lack of medical care after 8 years. The issue is weather you as an individual are having your politically correct buttons pushed by the same empty promises and rhetoric that the Dem's used 8 years ago. They haven't done anything in the last 8 years and are now ringing the same bells they did back then. I didn't believe them back then and I don't believe them now. Frankly, I would think that a businessman of your obvious intelligence would be able to see through the scams. BT