Eureka! 9/11 and Katrina strike Oil
Ever notice how every road to black gold is paved with dead people?
Coincidence? I don't think so.
Welcome to St. Bernard Parish - what used to be a thriving little community in the southern-most tip of Louisiana, before Big Oil - I mean, Katrina - got to it.
Just like 9/11 became the justification for a massive oil grab in Iraq, the failures in the levees were the golden opportunity for oil companies to drill for oil in New Orleans, where previously residents were too independent and numerous to succumb to the exploitation of their neighborhoods.
But, now that 'nature' has taken its course - with a little help from corrupt officials, criminal negligence, and monopolist exploitation - the residents of St. Bernard Parish are now ready and eager to sell their souls for a (very thin) slice of black gold.
[Gex,] a lifelong resident of the subdivision, is so encouraged that he recently bought his mother's nearby house and has tried to buy the property of two neighbors who demolished their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
"Everyone is pleased," said Gex, 32, an operations manager of a stevedoring company. "They can't wait for them to drill."
Gex said his neighbors wouldn't sell to him; they want to wait and see if prospectors find oil under the neighborhood.
The St. Bernard Parish Council recently cleared the way for the oil exploration by agreeing to rezone 2.2 acres off West Judge Perez Drive from general commercial to heavy industrial conditional use.
Martin-Marks Operating Co. and Clovelly Oil Co. will search for the oil and gas on land owned by J & A Meraux Inc., a company owned by the Meraux Foundation.
The council included safeguards in its approval. Fencing and landscaping will be required. And if no oil or natural gas is found, the land will revert to its original zoning, parish officials said.
A similar proposal in 1992 drew a chorus of criticism from angry homeowners, and the council quickly nixed the plan.
But things were different when developers asked again.
"Most of the people in that area have lost their homes," said Councilman Mark Madary, who represents the area. "Most see this as an opportunity to get more money if the well is successful."
Also, Madary said, limiting the amount of land to be rezoned helped put people at ease.
* * *"When they started talking about drilling an oil well again, people remembered the panic in the early '90s," he said. "But this time, it's going to be good. If you find oil, it actually will bring stability to the area."
David Larsen, 46, agreed. Larsen just bought a two-story house in Buccaneer Villa South after his one-story house flooded in the Chalmette neighborhood during Katrina.
"It doesn't bother me if they drill for oil," he said. "I have several friends who live around here in this subdivision. It's not that much of a big deal. They couldn't care less either. Besides, the parish needs whatever help it can get to boost its revenues."
St. Bernard Parish was one of the worst hit by Katrina, as you can see from these images.
According to Wikipedia, since 2000, its population decreased by more than half - from 67,229 to 25,489 in June-October 2006, leaving relatively few residents, desperate to 'negotiate' the terms of their new oil contracts.
As of late November 2005, it was estimated that the Parish had some 7,000 full-time residents, with some 20,000 commuting to spend the day working, cleaning up, or salvaging in the parish and spending their nights elsewhere. By mid-December some businesses had returned to the Parish, most notably the ExxonMobil plant in Chalmette and the Domino Sugar plant in Arabi, together with a handful of small local stores and businesses.
But, surely this is simply a coincidence.
Katrina was a freak act of nature.
Oil companies are merely benevolent corporations stepping in to lend a hand after unforeseen circumstances ravage unsuspecting communities.
After all, they're not even sure that they'll find oil. Right?
Harold T. Anderson, [a] petroleum land man representing the Meraux Foundation, the nonprofit foundation founded by the widow of land baron Joseph Meraux, said parish government will earn royalties for all land it owns that has minerals flowing beneath it, whether it's government buildings or streets.
Anderson is in the process of approaching landowners to get mineral leases signed before drilling begins [to secure the best terms for monopolists]. He said he is trying to sign leases with property owners in parts of Carolyn Park, Buccaneer Villa South, Buccaneer Villa North and as far northeast as the site of the former Taco Bell and Stage department store.
Anderson said developers have been EYEING the TRACT since an unsuccessful 1930s well showed some promise of oil.
Can you imagine that?
They've been eyeing this community for over 70 years [!!!] - just itching to get their grubby little hands on that oil.
And we're supposed to believe that the criminal dereliction that left those levees in disrepair for decades, leading to the massive - and preventable - death and destruction we witnessed during Katrina was not something Big oil interests had anticipated (read: hoped for or even planned)???
Get real.
How many dead bodies (sitting over oil reserves) will it take for Americans to realize that something VERY sinister is going on?
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Thanks, BrashcheckTV
Yep, those precious stones and metals, sought after with zeal by those named after them, always have a cemetary nearby. A gas, how slick these black hearted robbers are, I think they should take the names of 'Crude', 'Black-gold', 'Vaseline', 'Grim Reaper', 'Extractor', 'Thief' or something like that.