Gasoline

Mary,
Well, as I understand it, folks are primarily interested in what is available, and the best option for us right here, where most of us live. I hadn't thought of it from an ethanol/biodiesel perspective, actually. Interesting consideration. So far our questions have revolved around which companies involve the least oppression/most ethical choice available.
Conoco has been suggested, with Amoco/BP as a possible second. Exxon and Shell have been recommended against. Not much research has been offered yet, so that would be great to hear. We love our information, here.

Jill,

That helps. I will do more research when I'm at work tomorrow night and hopefully have a faster Internet connection. I will say that whenever gas prices skyrocket, I receive an email about boycotting all gas stations. I run all chain emails through www.snopes.com (love, love, love this website). I do have a point here. People wanted to boycott Middle East gas and companies and Snopes explains that it doesn't work that way. Gas suppliers get gas whereever they can. So you may be boycotting Exxon but you may go to a non-Exxon station and still be buying Exxon gas.

Here is a quote from www.snopes.com, "Moreover, the idea that oil companies sell gasoline only through their branded service stations, and therefore if you don't buy gasoline from Shell-branded gas stations you're not sending money to Shell (or, by extension, the Middle East), is wrong. Oil companies sell their output through a variety of outlets other than their branded stations; as well, by the time crude oil gets from the ground into our gasoline tanks, there's no telling exactly where it came from. (A good deal of the crude oil purchased from Russia, for example, is oil from Iraqi fields sold through Russian middlemen.)"

I will do more research but it may be a very complex problem. Also how much more gas are you going to use to drive to the "good choice" station?

Lots to think about.

Mary

If for no other reason than CITGO/the country of Venezuela has offered cheap oil to a number of US cities/towns this winter, everyone should think about buying CITGO gas. (The country of Venezuela owns/runs this company, in case that wasn't already clear.)

Granted, there are a lot of political issues involved here, but there are people in the projects of NYC that have been able to heat their home because of CITGO. That feels worthy of thanks in some way...

As an added benefit, the CITGO in Elizabethton tends to have the cheapest gas around, and the CITGOs elsewhere in the city are as low if not lower than the gas stations around them!

Let me know if anyone wants more info on CITGO--I can post some portions of articles online.
~Sarah

Sarah,
More information would be wonderful, at least for us information-craving types.

From CITGO's mouth: http://www.citgo.com/CommunityInvolvement/HeatingOil.jsp

From Global Exchange: http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/venezuela/3595.html

Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/24/1513213

WashPost (Connecticut deal): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR200602...

About the deal that Connecticut struck with CITGO/Venezuela:

Under the plan, which had not yet been finalized late Wednesday afternoon, the Venezuelan heating oil will be provided to local distributors at a rate of 40 percent less than the market rate, which is $2.45. Those distributors would, in turn, pass the savings on to their low-income customers who qualify for federal or state heating-assistance programs. In total, the program is expected to provide roughly 55 million gallons of heating oil to about 220,000 homes in the United States this winter, Mr. Garay said.

Craig Stevens, a spokesman for the federal Department of Energy, said that although his agency recognized Citgo's generosity, the administration had already spent millions on the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, the federal program that provides low-income residents assistance with energy bills. ''We've also spent, through the Department of Energy, thousands in Connecticut to alleviate the cost of heating for low-income residents,'' he added.

Eugene A. Guilford Jr., executive director of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association, which represents local heating oil distributors, said there were still thousands of families who did not use heating oil that were left out by the federal government. And, he added, the cost of heating oil has sharply risen but the federal assistance program has not covered the increase for low-income residents. One more source of assistance is always welcome, officials say.

"If people can save money on heating oil, they can use the money to pay for prescription drugs or food for their children,'' said Pierrette C . Silverman, Mr. DeStefano's deputy chief of staff. ''The savings can go somewhere else."

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About the deal in the Bronx:

About all that Belkis Bejaran had ever heard about the firebrand leader of faraway Venezuela was that he had often hurled verbal insults at President Bush. Then this week, with a sort of bemused gratitude, she heard that Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela, which sits on the Western Hemisphere's largest oil supply, would provide discounted heating fuel to her landlord. In turn, the landlord will pass on the savings, reducing her monthly rent this winter by more than $100.
''I find it weird, because he's always talking about the administration,'' said Ms. Bejaran, 38, referring to Mr. Chávez's attacks on the Bush administration. ''Then, all of a sudden I heard he was going to provide oil for the South Bronx. I was surprised.''

In a gesture combining generosity and high theater, officials from an American subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company announced yesterday from a chilly corner of the Mount Hope neighborhood that they would sell heating fuel at a 40 percent discount to 75 apartment buildings in the Bronx, benefiting 8,000 low-income residents.

Representative José E. Serrano, Democrat of the Bronx, and Mr. Chávez brokered a deal with Citgo, a subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, that will provide eight million gallons of fuel to properties owned by three Bronx nonprofit housing corporations, the Mount Hope Housing Company, the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation and VIP Community Services. As officials huddled to keep warm, 500 gallons of heating fuel were pumped from a green Citgo truck into a pipe on the sidewalk outside a 56-unit building at East 176th Street and Townsend Avenue operated by the Mount Hope group.

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