Kelsey Gronberg
Anth 4623
Dr. Syring
Gasoline: The Life of a Consumer Product
19 December 2008
Introduction
Ben stops off at the local Mobil station on Thursday morning just like every week to fill up his 1998 Buick LeSabre. The vehicle keeps his commute to forty five minutes, just short enough to be able to make his three young girls French toast for breakfast and tuck them in at night after a story. It also allows him to travel 96.73 miles to visit his mother with Alzheimer’s and help his dad with splitting wood and making dinner on the weekends. Gasoline allows Ben to stay connected to those he loves.
The meaning of gasoline is different for each person. For Ben, it is an opportunity to spend precious time with family and for many workers involved in the gasoline industry, it is something that pulls them away from their family. It can be an agent of survival for workers who use their paychecks to pay for necessities, or it can be an agent of destruction for the environment and those same workers who suffer from health effects.
A gallon of gasoline requires many sacrifices from people. Many consumers and workers in the gasoline industry understand these sacrifices, but there are people who never asked to sacrifice anything for this important fuel. Gasoline is refined from crude oil which can be difficult to locate under the earth’s surface because many of the easy drilling sites have dried up. The equipment necessary to extract oil from the ground is expensive, hard on the environment, and difficult to operate. It requires many people and regulations in order to be safe. Despite many safety regulations there are still many possible problems that can occur. Petroleum must be distilled through various methods to separate out gasoline, to which many chemicals are added to allow the gasoline to burn cleaner andhelp motors to run optimally. Petroleum and gasoline must be transported over large distances to get the products to the United States. It is then sold in a convenience store where the gasoline is stored underground and then pumped into our cars. Gasoline is burned off and some components are released into the air leading to climate change and global warming. Massive consumption of gasoline by the United states and developing countries may have already or will in the near future result in peak oil, or the period when we have extracted the most oil and yields will continually decrease. Globalization and capitalism have affected all aspects of the life cycle of gasoline and will determine the future of this consumer product. As consumers and workers, all of the externalized social, health, and environmental costs of gasoline are deemed acceptable by the low price tag that is paid at the pump. If Americans paid what gasoline actually costs and truly understood its costs maybe the search would not be for the next drilling location, but instead a more sustainable way to fuel our lives. Our dependence on oil has made this a daunting task.
Exploration and Development
Oil exploration is a very time intensive and expensive process. Random drilling was once the only option for finding oil (Borasin, et. all 2002:8). According to ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company and publicly held corporation, new technologies such as satellite imaging, seismic surveys, and computer generated photography are reliable ways to look for energy (ExxonMobil 2008a). Furthermore, the size of drills for exploring oil are smaller and the equipment is “used to protect the environment” (ExxonMobil 2008a) According to a Harvard Medical School Publication,Oil: A Life Cycle Analysis of Its Health and Environmental Impacts, the failure rate of finding oil from less invasive drilling exploration such as seismic surveys or satellite imaging is forty percent (Borasin, et. all 2002:9). Despite the fact that ExxonMobil and other large oil companies boast of their improved technologies, there is still a large failure rate when they finally do a necessary test drill to locate oil.
Exploration and development are harmful to the environment and surrounding communities. Once an exploration site is located a crew enters the area that typically consists of 80 to 120 workers and anywhere from “10 to 30 wells are dug per platform”on off shore sites during development (Borasin, et. all2002:9). The development stage on both land and sea requires an increase in oil wells to begin extraction. Deforestation occurs during explorationbecause trees must be cut down to build wells and roads to haul equipment.Deforestation releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, when the wood from the cut down trees are burned. Furthermore, cutting down trees “releases stored carbon and releases the natural ‘carbon sink,’” further contributing to global warming by depleting the earth’s natural defense to potential greenhouse gases. Vast water resources are also depleted during this stage.According to a Harvard study, “overdrawn surface water sources can harm invertebrates and fish that feed migrating fowl, while depletion of underground aquifers can have long term implications for entire ecosystems, farming activities and human communities” (Borasin, et.all 2002:10). Furthermore, water used during this time often contains many of the toxins that are found in the production of gasoline and has the same far-reaching effects.It affects the environment on a global and local scale. The preparation for removal of crude oil can deplete or harm many other natural resources.
Extraction
Oil is extracted from the ground after good sites are found during exploration. Oil wells will give the most oil in the first year and then decline by about five percent yearly, increasing the costs to maintain an oil well over numerous years (Lowenstein 2008). Once a well eventually dries up it must be removed and the well is “plugged below ground, making it hard to tell that it was ever there,” according to the EIA (Energy Information Administration 2008b). Off-shore wells are sometimes cut down and plunged into the ocean as a part of the “rig-to-reef” program making a habitat for “barnacles, coral, sponges, clams, and other sea creatures” within a year(Energy Information Administration 2008b). A Harvard study states that “occupationally-related fatalities among workers in the oil and gas extraction process are higher than deaths for workers for all U.S. industries combined. (Borasin, et. All 2002:13).
Oil resources gained from extraction have allowed many developing countries togain wealth quickly. In 2006, Chad was grappling with how their money was to be spent, according to journalists Lydia Polgren and Celia W. Dugger (2006). They say that “a World Bank supported program” was designed in Chad to allocate oil money to poor citizens in return for a loan to invest in the necessary equipment (Polgren and Dugger 2006). Chad’s government believed the money should be spent as they saw fit (Polgren and Dugger 2006). The Chad scenario highlights the problems with new wealth derived from oil and demonstrates that precautions put in place to prevent problems by the World Bank and other national organizations may not be successful. Countries with new oil must grapple with who will benefit from the money. In countries such as the United States, the oil companies are the ones who personally gain from new oil found because of the neoliberal capitalism that places emphasis on free enterprise. Although the government has control of the money in Chad, they too want to spend money in the best interests in the officials and not the working poor. Not everyone agrees with this model of distribution of wealth from a natural resource.
There are sometimes natives who protestthe process of oil extraction. Some of the Ogoni people of Nigeria formed a group called the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People in response to the Royal Dutch Shell’s disregard for the environment while drilling in Nigeria. Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine other demonstrators were murdered by General Abacha of the Nigerian government in 1996 while many others were tortured (EarthRights 2008 and Eskin 1997:309).Royal Dutch Shell is implicated in conspiring to kill Ken-Saro-Wiwa and the others so they could continue drilling. The trial has been pushed back to February 9, 2009 charging Shell for “complicity in human rights abuses against the Ogoni people in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment, arbitrary arrest, wrongful death, assault and battery, and the infliction of emotional distress” (Earth Rights 2008).It is difficult to determine who is responsiblefor the atrocities of this case. The culture of capitalism has created this issue because so many people have been involved that it is difficult to put blame on any one person or group. Professor Wolf-Dieter Eskin places blame on Shell, Western Governments, Greenpeace, Nelson Mandela, the Federal Republic of Germany, and others for failing to act at various stages of this case in his article “Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Global Irresponsibility for Human Life” (Eskin 1997:400). The fact that the case is still ongoing and that Shell is still attempting to postpone trial brings forth the discrepancies that capitalism has created. While Shell’s human rights violations are atrocious, what is perhaps worse is that consumers seem to accept this fate in order to gain continual access to gasoline and other petroleum products.
Countries and companies go to great lengths to protect oil. Trade goods have long been protected since the Europeans first began exploration through mercantilism. The United States government and mercenaries protect the interests of oil both here and abroad. A conservative estimate of the United States expenses allocated directly for oil protection was postulated to be between $26 and $65 billion dollars making up ten to twenty five percent of the total defense budget in 1998 (International Center for Technology Assessment 1998:15). Those numbers were generated during times of peace, so the number could have risen substantially in the wake of the war on terror. The total costs of military defense of oil is difficult to render because often times there are many reasons for military presence, oil included.In a country dependant on oil as a fuel and base of many consumer products, protection is a matter of foreign security. Companies involved in extraction of oil have largely avoided the costs of protecting oil during extraction and transportation. Consumers do not see this price when they pay for gas at the pump, but it is reflected in taxpayer dollars.
Refining
After crude oil is extracted, it must be distilled to create gasoline and other petroleum products. According to ExxonMobil, the refining process requires “using heat, pressure, and chemical reactions” to transform crude oil into gasoline (2008d). It is first put into a pipestill which heats the oil into vapor at different temperatures which separates out the oil into different components with different molecular weights (ExxonMobil 2008d). Gasoline is made from the smallest, or lightest, molecular components (ExxonMobil 2008d). ExxonMobil states that many other refinery techniques are used such as: “hydrocracking, reforming, thermal cracking, coking, delayed coking, flexicoking, alklation, hydrotreating, and alkali treating” (ExxonMobil 2008d.) Gasoline accounts for 19.15% of all petroleum products, making up the largest percentage of products, according to the EIA (Energy Information Administration 2008a)
During the refining process, most of the crude oil is converted into useful products. A Harvard Medical School study reports that only 0.3% of petroleum is left over and is released into the environment (Borasin, et. all 2002:27). However, they point out that this small percentage “results in over 11,000 gallons of oil released daily into the water, land, or air” (Borasin, et. all 2002:27). Furthermore, many of the hazardous chemicals used to separate and remove impurities are released into the air, along with particulate matter, in spite of high tech filters that are put in refineries to reduce the escape of toxins (Borasin, et. all 2002:27).
Refining ismore hazardous to humans than any other stage of gasoline production. A study conducted on the cancer incidence of workers in the Swedish petroleum industry concluded that leukemia incidences increased, despite increasing safety regulations, among refinery workers (Jarvholm, et. all 1997:688). Workers are not the only ones affected by the hazardous chemicals used at this stage of development. Another study conducted in the United Kingdom determined that there is a strong correlation between the incidences of leukemia in children and the location of “oil refineries, major oil storage installations, and rail-side oil distribution terminals” (Borasin 2002:28-29). Other hazards that refinery workers are exposed to include, “heat, polluted air, noise and hazardous materials, including asphalt, asbestos, aromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, hexavalent chromium, nickel, carbon monoxide, coke dust, hydrogen sulfide, lead alkyls, natural gases, petroleum, phenol, and silica,” all of which are hazardous (Borasin 2002).
The United States has put into effect many safety measures in order to protect workers. These safety measures have placed high costs on operating refineries on U.S. soil; many companies have moved overseas in order to get around stringent safety regulations in the United States (Borasin 2002:29). The labor provided at overseas refineries is also considerably less expensive. It is possible that many of the human rights violations that are in effect in the exploration, development, and extraction phases will be found in refineries as well. The same globalization that has allowed the United States to gain access to foreign oil is keeping costs down as refineries are relocating to foreign countries as well.
Transportation
Gasoline and oil are transported in a variety of ways. This stage requires workers who are willing to spend time away from their families for long periods of time in order to transport gasoline to consumers. Oil and gasoline are transported by barge at sea, by tank trucks on land, and by train, while pipelines carry gasoline across both land and sea (Exxon Mobil 2008c). Because such large quantities of fuel are carried in these vessels, an accident can be catastrophic. One example known to most Americans is the Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska, but this spill is quite small compared to others. Exxon spent $1.28 billion dollars to help with the cleanup of twenty percent of the oil spilled (International Center for Technology Assessment 1998: 24). Many of the environmental effects on organisms that had made a habitat where the oil was spilled cannot be measured monetarily. Transportation is highly regulated because of the possible ways in which disasters can occur. Gasoline and crude oil are transported long distances to multiple locations in various stages of refinement before it gets to the consumer because of globalization. According to the EIA, it is during transportation that many of the additives that separate one grade or brand of gasoline from another are added (Energy Information Administration 2008a) Trucks have several components that separate out different fuel grades while pipelines have schedules where different gasoline or crude oil batches are shipped (Energy Information Administration2008a).
Trucks and barges face dangers of accidents in different ways. Barges are very slow and can have difficulty avoiding obstacles (Margonelli 2007). Trucks, while they have the capacity to avoid objects, are at the mercy of other drivers as they carry gasoline from a storage facility to a convenience store. Spills have generated a lot of media attention in recent years leading to an increase in regulation and pressure on companies to safely transport gasoline (Margonelli 2007). According to journalist Lisa Margonelli, “Many ships and barges must be double hulled, and if a spill does occur, often not only the ship’s owners but also its crew members can be criminally prosecuted (2007). Insurance costs have risen accordingly,” typically costing a billion dollars in coverage”(Margonelli 2007). Truckers and barge operators often spend long hours away from home in order to transport our oil and gasoline, barge operators typically work two weeks on the barge continually rotating between six hours of work and six hours off (Margonelli 2007). The family sacrifices made by truckers and barge operators allow many other families to spend time with each other by reducing travel time with gasoline.
The extra costs involved from increasing risks have caused pipelines to be a viable solution in many areas. Building and maintaining them can pose potential problems. According to the American Petroleum Institute and the Association of Oil Pipe Lines educational website, Pipeline101, “the construction phase (of a pipeline) can only begin after route selection, easement negotiations, environmental permitting, and many other pre-construction actions have been accomplished” (2007b). This process can take anywhere from four to fifteen years to complete (American Petroleum Institute and Association of Oil Pipelines 2007b). Pipelines are operated all day every day (American Petroleum Institute and Association of Oil Pipelines 2007c). According to the Energy Information Administration, different types of oil and different companies pass oil through the pipelines on a tight schedule (Energy Information Administration2008a). The regulation, scheduling, development, and operation employs many people during this stage of gasoline’s life cycle.There are two types of pipelines; underground and above ground. The United States has mostly underground pipelines while many developing countries utilize above ground pipelines. The potential risks for pipeline leaks are significantly higher for above ground lines (Borasin, et. all 2002: 21). However, both kinds of pipelines are prone to frequent small-scale spills, which along with small spills from other stages of production account for the majority of manmade oil spills and pollution (Borasin, et. all 2002:21).