Oil Companies Forced to Renegotiate Oil Leases Again!, page 1

No... not by Venezuela's Chavez or Bolivia's Morales...... by Uncle Sam!

The New York Times May 19, 2006

...the House on Thursday approved a measure that would pressure companies to renegotiate more than 1,000 leases for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

...is intended to prevent companies from avoiding at least $7 billion in payments to the government over the next five years for oil and gas they produce in publicly owned waters.

"Oil companies want to play Uncle Sam for Uncle Sucker,"

"Today, we must put an end to these senseless giveaways."

"These leases were valid legal contracts signed between the government and these companies in good faith," said Representative ....

"The Congress and the government should keep their word when they sign a contract."

The amendment approved on Thursday would try to force oil companies to revise their contracts and agree to pay full royalties when energy prices climb above the "threshold levels."

To give the government bargaining power, the bill would also prohibit the Interior Department from awarding any new leases to companies that refuse to revisit their leases.

"Forcing renegotiations of contracts would be changing the rules in the middle of the game and would raise serious questions about contract law,"

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Selective quoting used to make my point.

I'd really like all of the Chavez and Morales bashers I've seen on this site to (calmly and rationally) explain the difference between the moves by Latin American countries to control and benefit from their "publicly owned" resources to their maximum potential and this US effort to do the same.

And why is it ok for the US to do this with no public outcry, but when any other country does, the invectives start flying?

So... ummmm... when do we start calling US leaders "pinko", "communist", "socialist", "Castro loving", "dictator wannabe's"?