Would someone like to say what’s wrong with this picture?
The Ventura County Economic Development Association is holding a “Fueling the Future: The Politics of Power” conference via major financial sponsorship of foreign-owned BHP Billiton. The Australian company insists on building a liquefied natural gas platform with pipes going through the City of Oxnard without giving the City of Oxnard — our Mayor Tom Holden, Mayor Pro Tem Andres Herrera and Councilmembers John Zaragoza or Tim Flynn — any say-so. As a matter of fact, Mayor Holden is not even listed as one of the main speakers.
To add insult to injury, the keynote address will be made by John Olsen, Australian counsel general, who will tell us “how to solve California’s energy woes” — with eyes on a projected $50 billion financial gain in Australian exports to Oxnard, according to a Sept. 10 news report by The Sydney Morning Herald.
Do conference organizers — the vast majority of whom do not live in Oxnard — think we in Oxnard are people who can or should be overlooked to serve the needs of California without consideration of the lives of Oxnard’s men, women and children, earthquake dangers, pipe accidents, our environment, fire and our close proximity to a protective military installation?
The buying-influence power of BHP does not seem to have limits.
— Lupe Anguiano, Oxnard
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