BY THE 1850s, IT HAD BECOME INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT FOR SMALL-SCALE MINERS to find and profitably extract gold from California’s gold country. That’s when big-time operators moved in with hydraulic technology. Sediment, washed away by their high-pressure hoses, dammed or clogged riverbeds and lakes. Rivers’ courses changed. Agriculture was threatened in the Central Valley. Conflicts over water arose between mining and farming interests. Forests were savagely logged to provide fuel for boilers to power the large pressure hoses and build extensive canal systems. Finally, with the Sawyer Decision of 1884, hydraulic mining essentially stopped.

Today the devastating results of that technology can be seen less than a half-day trip from Benicia. In Nevada County, huge mounds of stone and industrial detritus still dot the landscape. Effects of indiscriminate logging remain. The big operators didn’t leave a tidy workplace. In their greedy search for gold, for easy profit, they fouled the environment in ways that are still highly visible — and toxic.

A similar situation exists today in America. Demand for fossil fuel continues to increase, and Big Oil finds it more difficult to extract the easy way. Like hydraulic gold miners, oil companies have turned to new technology for easy profit. Previously unprofitable sources are now exploited and new oil processing technologies are fouling the environment in ways that may not be as easily seen, but are even more devastating for the entire planet than hydraulic mining.

Not all Big Oil operators beat their wives. They’re churchgoers, members of Rotary, and play a round of golf now and then. But they share a common trait with the hydraulic miners of the Gold Rush days — greed, an overwhelming desire to make money, and devil take the hindmost.
My personal B.S. detector starts ringing when I hear Big Oil operators assure us about their policies and objectives regarding safety and their concern for the environment. I consider them smoke screens devised by corporate hacks to obscure the real underlying corporate objective, profitability. Just as in the good old hydraulic Gold Rush days, greed for profit fuels the Big Oil corporate engine.

Don’t believe me? Check the Los Angeles Times article (“Valero Pumped Up for the Future,” June 24, 2001) which noted that “Valero spent heavily to upgrade many of (its) refineries to process lesser and cheaper grades of crude oil. That reduces Valero’s operating costs and widens its profit margins.” Valero Chief Executive William Greehey candidly added, “We figured we would have the advantage of using cheaper feedstock with which to make gasoline, diesel fuel and other refined products.” The article also quotes Jay Wilson, oil analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co.: “Valero has been a very shrewd buyer” of other property, “and created a lot of value for its shareholders.”

Elsewhere, the article discusses Valero’s refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, one of the few in the country capable of producing the special, low-emissions blend of gasoline required in California. This is how Valero can take advantage of the relatively high profit margins that California fuel sales afford.

Nothing’s really wrong with making a profit, as long as it doesn’t cause harm. I find it particularly ironic that on its way to profitability, Valero’s Corpus Christi refinery was responsible for 142,000 gallons of oil spilling in 2006, closing the harbor for about a week. In that case, Valero agreed to pay a $1.65 million civil penalty for that incident, as well as $300,000 to build a boat ramp to aid emergency response efforts in the area of the spill.

Other Big Oil spills are well documented. A review of the document “Notable Oil Spills in U.S Waters for Calendar Years 1989-2011,” prepared by the U.S Coast Guard, finds 108 major spills that should be enough to make the greediest stout corporate heart quail, or at least skip a beat or two.

It’s no surprise that the U.S. is the world’s top consumer of oil, but it may startle some to learn that the petroleum products industry itself is the biggest user of electricity in the country. Guess where that electrical energy comes from? It looks to me like a case of “we need to produce more so that we can produce more.”

I don’t count myself as a tree-hugging, arch-environmentalist, but I sure hope the world’s continents and oceans survive mankind’s cupidity so there will still be some trees, just in case I might want to hug one.

I suggest, meanwhile, that innocent bystanders and Big Oil stooges stop genuflecting to obvious myths about phony corporate goals and begin doing their homework on the real issues here.

Let me add that I greatly appreciated that Mr. Keith Washington, safety manager of the Valero refinery in Benicia, took time to comment on the matter of Valero’s objectives (“Valero puts safety first for the community, employees,” April 13). He was refreshingly “adult” and the information he provided was both informative and helpful. His comments seemed sincere, and I applaud him for his loyalty to his employer.

Joel Fallon is a Benicia resident.

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