Tell Congress: No more secret payments!
A bill now in Congress would help protect poor people by making oil, gas, and mining companies open their books–but industry lobbyists are fighting it. Poor communities have a right to follow the money–and to call for a fair share for schools, health care, and jobs.

This is a short video from Oxfam about economic justice for people who are not profiting adequately from the sales of their natural resources that we in the U.S. (almost) take for granted.   There are a lot of people whose natural resources are being taken and sold, without their consultation, and they are not getting fair payment for them.  They don’t even know where the money is going.  Corporate energy profits are gouging average consumers and most people don’t know how that gallon of gas gets to their local gas station.   This video, “Follow the money,” is good at pointing this out, but it also implies that gasoline has such a high price because of all the profiteers and middle men along the way to the pump.  It’s not just that;  it’s  also about supply and demand.  Oil is finite and some day it will run out. As things run out, they become a lot more expensive, and there will be a rush to profit even more from the remaining oil.

This Oxfam video also suggests that gasoline and oil are plentiful and would be cheaper if the middle men were removed.   In fact, gasoline is becoming more rare every day as oil fields are depleted and no new large ones that are easily accessible are found to replace them. We have reached, or soon will reach, a peak oil situation.  After that has become a known reality, gasoline will go up and up in price.  It just can’t possibly stay at this low price of under $5 per gallon for a resource that is getting more rare every day.  Add to that the damage oil and gas do to the environment, and the wars fought to obtain it, and gasoline should be about $20 or more per gallon to reflect its true cost.  It will be getting more expensive very soon, so you might want to order that new 2010 hybrid or electric car soon. . . .

As Oxfam points out:

More and more, poor people are asserting their right to decide if or how they want oil, gas, and mining development to take place in their community—and their right to know about the impacts and benefits of these projects.

If they are consulted in advance, local people can decide whether they want companies to begin or expand operations on their land. And if they know how much companies are paying their government for their natural resources, they can call for a fair share of the profits to go to community needs like education, health care, and jobs.

Oxfam America has a long history of supporting these community rights in [...]