Mr. Neufeld Meets Exxon

Houston,WeHaveAProblem
CorpMasterFlashVille


Richard Neufeld, British Columbia's Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, was forced to miss one of the season's best episodes of 'Dancing with the Stars' when he went down to Houston Texas in February to meet with former Enron president Richard Kinder and the good folks from Exxon.

But that does not mean that Mr. Neufeld, who may or may not have a thing for K.C. and the Sunshine Band, did not have a chance to hit the dance floor at say, 'Hush' with his posse of eight, count 'em eight, staffers in tow.

The Posse's report of the meetings, but not, unfortunately, their dance floor antics, has finally seen the light of day thanks to a freedom of interest request from Public Eye's Sean Holman.

The following is the lede from Mr. Holman's original story on the from Thursday Apr 05th:

Exxon Mobil Corp. - the largest and one of the most powerful companies in the world - appears to have offered to help the provincial government lift the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas development, Public Eye has exclusively learned. On February 2, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Rich Neufeld met with Exxon Mobil executives while attending a convention in Houston, Texas. During that meeting, the executives told the minister their company "has new (offshore) technologies that are environmentally friendly." And they asked how Exxon Mobil can "help move the moratorium and public opinion." This, according to a government report prepared by the ministry of energy, mines and petroleum resources and obtained via a freedom of information request.


Mr. Holman also published a summary of the report in 24 Hrs, and, as far as I can tell, that is the only account of the meeting that has appeared in our corpmaster flash-friendly local media.

As a result, Mr. Neufeld has not been forced to state what his answer was to Exxon's offer to help kickstart the propaganda whirlitzer.

Although.......

Mr. Neufeld did go on Michael Smyth's radio show last night to dance to the music.

And/or face it.

The music that is.

Except that Mr. Smyth wasn't there, and instead Disco Dick had to spend an entire 15 minutes receiving a faux grilling from the toothless Connie Thiessen who couldn't even get her facts straight (ie. she kept insisting that the Exxon propaganda story originated with the NDP).

Regardless, Mr. Neufeld did manage to show his stuff and flash three pretty good dance moves during the interview:

Move #1: Yes he did meet with Exxon, and yes they did offer to help, but only with their new 'technologies' (brilliant: technology comes in all forms, be it drilling for oil or drilling public opinion to the wall)

Move #2: We need it (that offshore oil and gas) and getting it is entirely in line with the government's new green plan (brilliant: and 2+2= 5 billion)

Move #3: The environmentalists have polls and so do we. And our poll says that 85% of respondents would love us to start drilling through their skulls if it could be done in a scientifically sound and environmentally safe manner (brilliant: promise people the moon, the sun, the stars, free drinks, and unlimited VIP privileges at the Disco of their choice, and they'll say yes to just about anything).


Now that last move was an interesting one, not because it was pretty, but because it looks like the good folks from Exxon like it as well.

Here's the proof, directly from the Posse's report that was resurrected by Mr. Holman:

E-M (William T. Drennan, VP, Americas - Exploration) felt the 2006 dialogue with First Nations and Communities were positive.


Hmmmmm.......

What the heckfire was corpmaster flash Mr. Drennan, talking about?

And what, exactly, is this 'dialogue' he referred to?

And who paid for it?

Stay tuned...........



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Problematic image from Joe-ks.com.


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