Oil Wells

Morrison Run is a little stream on the northern edge of the Allegheny National Forest, tumbling over rocks and through shaded pools as it finds its way to the Allegheny River. Once a creek favored for fishing and picnicking, it's now muddy and silted, breeding not trout, but trouble. All along the creek, oil wells are sprouting. And the new wells, with their attendant roads and fords, debris and run-offs, are transforming the stream and its little valley. "Trout can't reproduce in mud," said John McKown this week, standing over a stretch of water where drillers' trucks had forded, churning up brown silt.

Three Kuwaiti oil installations were reported in flames yesterday, and U.S. military officials and oil company executives said Iraq had blown them up in order to slow an expected U.S. ground attack. The plumes of black smoke that billowed from the damaged oil wells and storage tanks marked an ominous new front in the desert war and sent the price of oil for future delivery up about 13 percent on world markets. As the fires burned, the U.S. Navy said it had sunk two Iraqi ships and had established "sea control" of the Persian Gulf.

Iraq blew up oil wells in occupied Kuwait and fired Scud missiles at the U.S. military's main Persian Gulf war base again today, drawing a swift response from Patriot anti-missile batteries. Allied bombers, hampered by fog and low cloud for nearly 48 hours, also hit back by battering Iraq's second largest city, the port of Basra near the head of the Gulf. In Iraq, two more men identified as captive American airmen were displayed on television. Air Force 1st Lt. Casey Mahon, a spokesman for the U.S. military command in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, said aerial photography showed oil wells and storage tanks had been blown up at the al-Wafra facility in southern Kuwait, just across the Saudi border.

With more oil than ever rolling unchecked across the Persian Gulf, the worst oil spill in history may be dwarfed by greater environmental problems yet to explode from the war in the Middle East. Environmental scientists say the war's worst attacks on waters, climates and food supplies may still lie ahead. As more blood will flow if the war continues, so will more oil, environmentalists say. As more cities are likely to burn, so too may more oil wells or refineries. And by one grim evaluation, even the United States could feel the atmospheric impact - cooler temperatures, a late spring and disruptions in farming - if hundreds of Middle East oil wells were to go up in flames.

Federal authorities yesterday charged Philadelphia businessman Sheldon S. Somerman with violating securities laws in connection with scores of oil- drilling ventures he operated in the Southwest and Midwest. In a civil suit filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Somerman with violating registration and anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He raised $170 million from investors who purchased limited partnerships in oil wells in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Indiana, according to the commission.

The rising cost of gasoline indicates that the American oil cartel is again socking it to the American motoring public. The cartel just could not accept selling gasoline at the reasonable price of 75 cents or less per gallon. By shutting down oil wells it has again created an artificial oil shortage in order to justify an increase in gasoline prices and profits. To make matters worse, our illustrious and wealthy federal legislators are either unable or unwilling to do anything about curbing the greed of the American oil industry.

A federal judge in Philadelphia has approved a $12.5 million settlement of a case in which Continental Bank and Shearson Lehman Bros. Inc. were accused of violating securities laws in connection with several oil-drilling ventures in Texas and Louisiana. U.S. District Judge Clarence C. Newcomer approved the settlement last week, ending two class-action suits filed by investors who bought limited partnerships in oil wells operated by Sheldon S. Somerman, who also owns Philadelphia's Yellow Cab Co. Somerman's five-company oil empire filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in April 1986, allegedly owing investors and creditors more than $60 million.

The rising Missouri River broke a 99-year-old record in western North Dakota as flooding that has shut oil wells and driven hundreds from their homes across seven states shows no sign of ending. The river reached 28.03 feet in Williston on Thursday, topping the mark set in 1912, and is projected to rise at least a foot higher by next week, according to the National Weather Service. "We're still not out of the woods," said Allen Schlag, a weather service hydrologist in Bismarck, North Dakota's capital.

There was no more vivid symbol of Iraq's brutalization of Kuwait than the towering flames of nearly 700 oil wells deliberately set ablaze. The sun disappeared at mid-day, and the skies turned black. Experts said it might take years to put out the fires, an obscene waste of a precious resource. But on Wednesday, roughly eight months after the shooting stopped, the last burning well was capped. This triumph was testimony to what unlimited money and unfettered international competition can achieve.

RE THE letter from Stephen Gring of Ocean City, N.J.: I am one of the "winners" who voted for President Bush, and I'm proud of it. What a relief to have a moral person in the White House instead of that womanizer who Bush replaced. I also have answers to your stupid questions. 1. Gasoline prices are very high because we DIDN'T take over the oil wells in Iraq like most liberals suggested. Remember? That was one of the reasons why Bush went in to Iraq - to get the oil wells.

OIL VEY! A couple of greasy thieves have been charged with stealing 150 gallons of used cooking oil from an Old City restaurant Saturday morning, according to police. At 6:08 a.m., an employee of Waste Oil Recyclers Inc. reported that someone had stolen waste oil from one of the company's containers at the rear of Buddakan on Chestnut Street near 4th, police said. Authorities were able to obtain surveillance video of the theft that showed two men backing a white Ford van up to the waste-oil container.

BISMARCK, N.D. - The site of the Elkhorn Ranch in the badlands of North Dakota looks and feels much as it did when Theodore Roosevelt retreated there to raise cattle following the deaths of his wife and mother in 1884. The cattle are gone, as the ranch is now part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, but the sweeping views of wind-carved buttes, cacti and colorful rock formations remain pristine and are a major draw for the more than half-a-million visitors to the park each year. That could soon change, unless the government steps in to stop development on the adjacent plot of land, including a plan to mine gravel that would bring heavy machinery, roads, noise and dust to the site, said the former president's great-grandson, Tweed Roosevelt.

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Two days after facing questions about unauthorized auto parts and possible penalties, Denny Hamlin enjoyed a happier kind of scrutiny. Hamlin raced to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the year, holding off Matt Kenseth yesterday at Michigan International Speedway. The drivers appeared headed for a fuel-mileage finish, then a late caution enabled them to make pit stops before a frantic closing five-lap sprint. "Over these last 6 weeks, I can honestly say we've had a chance to win each and every race," Hamlin said.

The rising Missouri River broke a 99-year-old record in western North Dakota as flooding that has shut oil wells and driven hundreds from their homes across seven states shows no sign of ending. The river reached 28.03 feet in Williston on Thursday, topping the mark set in 1912, and is projected to rise at least a foot higher by next week, according to the National Weather Service. "We're still not out of the woods," said Allen Schlag, a weather service hydrologist in Bismarck, North Dakota's capital.

IT'S A HARD lesson, but I'm teaching it to my children. We gave up our summer vacation so we could contribute to the runaway windfall profits of Exxon Mobil and Sunoco so the execs and their kids can enjoy a trip abroad, or a summer at the beach. It's tough love, but in their hearts they'll know that other kids, especially the execs', had a great summer. Joseph Carlin, Philadelphia

Derrick Z. Jackson writes for the Boston Globe It took five years, the deaths of 4,100 U.S. soldiers, and the wounding of 30,000 more to make Iraq safe for Exxon. It is the inescapable open question since the reasons given by President Bush for the invasion and occupation did not exist - neither the weapons of mass destruction nor Saddam Hussein's ties to al-Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The New York Times reported that several Western oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, BP and Chevron, are about to sign no-bid contracts with the Iraqi government.

Insurgent attacks are costing Iraq about 500,000 barrels of oil a day, almost one-third of its daily output. At today's oil prices, that's costing the country at least $28 million in export earnings every day. The loss is significant because, in the run up to the Iraqi war, the Bush administration and Iraqi exiles said oil exports would provide badly needed petrodollars to help rebuild the country and offset the cost of the U.S.-led occupation....

RE THE letter from Stephen Gring of Ocean City, N.J.: I am one of the "winners" who voted for President Bush, and I'm proud of it. What a relief to have a moral person in the White House instead of that womanizer who Bush replaced. I also have answers to your stupid questions. 1. Gasoline prices are very high because we DIDN'T take over the oil wells in Iraq like most liberals suggested. Remember? That was one of the reasons why Bush went in to Iraq - to get the oil wells.

RICHARD NIXON had the right idea. During the 1973 oil embargo, the president pushed the country into a series of steps to reduce oil consumption. In short order, you could buy gas only every other day - and never on Sunday. The speed limit was lowered to the more efficient 55 mph, and daylight-saving time was extended into winter. Congress required car companies to increase fuel efficiency. Not only did these actions reduce consumption, they raised awareness that oil is a finite resource.

Americans have chomped their way through dozens of diets in recent years, conferring celebrity status on grapefruit, cabbages and other dietary flashes in the pan. There's not much left to surprise us, right? Never say never. Fat, our most vilified macro nutrient, is getting a reprieve. A slew of new premium and specialty oils, from olive to argan nut (more on that later), are showing up on restaurant tables, in foodie gift catalogs, and on supermarket shelves. After being relentlessly removed from just about anything food-related throughout the '90s, suddenly oil is a stylish ingredient, a flavor factor, a condiment.