Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!

[katinmn]

Citgo is my neighborhood gas station. :-)

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0516-25.htm
Published on Monday, May 16, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!
by Jeff Cohen

Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.

-snip-
Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."

Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela -- not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. (Click here http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/StoreLocator.jsp to find one near you.) By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela's democratic government is using to provide health care, literacy and education, and subsidized food for the majority of Venezuelans.
-snip-
So get your gas at Citgo. And help fuel a democratic revolution in Venezuela.

[jpgray]

1. Awesome! My Citgo is competitively priced and convenient to boot (nt)

[katinmn]

3. I hope the company sees a huge surge in business.

I'm so glad the writer pointed this out. :kick:

[NorCalDem]

2. Same here,

I've been going exclusively to Citgo for about 3 or 4 months now. Makes me feel good, even though I'm still sorta falling into the trap.

[murray hill farm]

4. just recommended for the greatest page...

More folks should know this information...what a wonderful idea...and what a great way to make a statement.

[katinmn]

9. Thank you!

[jpgray]

10. Me too--this is pretty important

And by the same token, avoid BP and Shell if you can.

[Carolab]

5. Alright! Only 2 blocks from my house too! Thanks! n/t

[katinmn]

6. Support the Anti-Bush!

:kick:

[katinmn]

7. kick!

[katinmn]

8. kicking again

[glitch]

11. Already do!

I love citgo. I just wish they sold diesel to mix with my bio-diesel.

[ElectroPrincess]

12. Thanks, from now on our family will get our gas at Citgo :-)

:yourock:

[eridani]

13. 7-11 stores have Citgo gas, at least in WA state

This may be true in other states as well.

[BrightKnight]

31. 7-11 is blue and all use Citgo - n/t

[stopbush]

14. Sorry, debunked by snopes:

From snopes:

Boycotters say: Here are some large companies that do not import much Middle Eastern oil:

Citgo 0 barrels of oil
Sunoco 0
Conoco 0
Sinclair 0
Phillips 0
BP Amoco 62,231,000

Wrong again. The DoE tracks oil imports by company each month, and although the raw data are a little hard to follow (fortunately, the DoE also provides an explanation of their symbols), for February 2002 the totals were as follows:
CITGO is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the national oil company of Venezuela, so naturally most of its crude oil comes from there. However, in February 2002 CITGO also imported from Middle Eastern countries in the following quantities:

Iraq: 1,342,000 barrels
Kuwait: 437,000 barrels

The whole article is worth reading as it explains dynamics of the oil industry. Short story: if we all bought from Citgo, they would need to turn to the ME to meet the surge in demand at their stations.

Dem Don Qs fighting windmills...


http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/saudigas.asp

[Vincardog]

15. I am still going to spend my money there. Viva Chavez.

[Ian David]

16. Citgo? What about Hess? Hess is 98% Democrat!

Unless we support Democracy here in America first, then Democracy abroad has no chance.

Venezuela's best chance for SURVIVAL is to get the Rethuglicans OUT of office before they ATTACK Venezuela.

Sorry, I'm sticking with Hess.

See:

Amerada Hess Corporation

BuyBlue.org's Rating:
Rating: Dark Blue - 98 %

BuyBlue.org's Position:

Amerada Hess currently has a 98% BuyBlue rating due to political contributions for the 2003-2004 election cycle. Hess' Chairman and his spouse contributed heavily and almost exclusively to Democratic candidates in the past election. Hess does not have a political action committee.

Here at BuyBlue we never dreamed we'd find an oil & gas company that was neutral much less solid blue since that industry has been in bed with the Republicans for as long as many of us can remember. It is very encouraging to see that Hess is a small island of blue in a sea of red. Hopefully they will remain that way as we start fleshing out our other ratings. Those of you on the east coast are in luck, Hess may be in your area. Stop by and let them know what you think and please do send them email in our take action section. Those of us on the west coast need to send email too, but we need to ask them to expand.

More:
http://www.buyblue.org/phprint.php

See related threads:

Traveling Blue along the Democratic Underground Railroad
Topic started by IanDB1 on Apr-01-05 08:25 AM (13 replies)
Last modified by IanDB1 on Apr-01-05 03:30 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3400682

Traveling Blue through Red Territory (Boston to Miami)
Topic started by IanDB1 on Mar-11-05 09:34 AM (13 replies)
Last modified by UdoKier on Mar-11-05 04:10 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3256057

[Turn CO Blue]

19. Never heard of them, never seen one =- {

so I'm guessing Citgo is my best bet here.

[Ian David]

20. Here's Hess Gas Station Locater. Also, use GasBuddy.com to find cheap gas.

HESS STORE LOCATER

Hess locations are known for friendly customer service, high quality and cleanliness. We're building new and improved Hess locations for your convenience. So stop by and take a look at what everyone is talking about.

Please select the services you would like, select a state from the drop down list, then type in the name of a city or simply enter a ZIP code and press search. This will locate the closest HESS retail station to your search query.




http://www.hess.com/storelocator/storelocator.aspx


Also, Wilco Travel Plazas / Wilco Truck Stops all sell only Hess Gasoline.

You can find them here:
Truck stop Locater, Zip zone directory, Zip code finder
http://www.transportationsoftware.com/Truckers-tools/map_results.cfm?state=NC

Also, I have a partial list of the ones between Boston and Miami:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3256057#3258471


GasBuddy.com

GasBuddy.com can help you find cheap gas prices in your city. It is comprised of 170 gas price information web sites that help consumers find low gasoline prices. All web sites are operated by GasBuddy. GasBuddy has the most comprehensive listings of gas prices anywhere by far.
More:
http://www.gasbuddy.com/


Here are some of the Hess stations I stopped at during my trip:








This is the one across from the Disney World exit:

[Turn CO Blue]

23. Like the stickers on that car! Yours, I presume!

The store locator didn't return any matches for any of the zipcodes I put in. =-(

[Ian David]

24. Yep, that's my car! Try using the Truck Stop list and looking for Wilco

Do you have an Sonic Restaurants near you?

[Turn CO Blue]

25. They just built a Sonic just 3 blocks from my house!

It's been open just a few weeks. If I'm not careful, I'm going to gain a lot of weight this summer.

(In the voice of Homer) "Lime..ade! hoohoo-ohhhhh!"

[Ian David]

17. Follow-up: OK, Citgo isn't too bad after all...

From BuyBlue.org:

<snip>

We at Buyblue.org know of only one oil company that has no PAC and donated 98% to Democrats during the 2003-2004 cycle. That is Amerada Hess. Here is the URL for Buyblue’s rating on this company. www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=81.

In addition, Citgo does not have a PAC and its top 3 executives made no contributions during the 2003-2004 election cycle to any candidate.

We would urge you all, if you can possibly manage it, don't do business with the guys who screwed you. Vote with your wallet. Buy blue at the gas pump.

<snip- out of sequence>

Here are the contributions of oil company PACs during the last election:

BP
BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$220,499
62% to Republicans

Chevron Texaco - CHEVRONTEXACO EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$351,300
88% to Republicans

Conoco Phillips
CONOCOPHILLIPS SPIRIT PAC
$242,000
88% to Republicans

Exxon/Mobil - EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (EXXONMOBIL PAC)
$728,545
95% to Republicans

Halliburton
HALLIBURTON COMPANY PAC
$207,000
91% to Republicans

Shell
SHELL OIL COMPANY EMPLOYEES' POLITICAL AWARENESS COMMITTEE
$85,000
84% to Republicans

Sunoco, Inc.
SUN PAC
$140,130
79% to Republicans

Valero
VALERO ENERGY PAC
$512,750
86% to Republicans

Source: Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org/pacs

More:
http://www.buyblue.org/archives/2005/03/hereas_how_they.html

[cyberpj]

18. Urban Legends site info on this idea (includes a poll) -

Urban legends site says ignore this story but it's reasons don't exactly support that.

And then, they've added a poll as to whether or not you will pay attention to it --which is an interesting touch. I mean, who wants to know?


2 page report:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-boycott-oil.htm

[katinmn]

21. Thanks. I'm going to follow up with the writer and commondreams

since I expect they've heard these arguments in response to the article. It bugs me that urban legend would try to de-bunk something without a good argument,

While knowing that nothing is black and white, I still see Citgo as the lesser of the evils.

The best solution, of course, is to cut back on gas consumption. But when we can't, we need to make good buying decisions, and that means buying blue.

[thegreatwildebeest]

26. I find this...

I find this whole concept appalling and utterly ridiculous. When I saw this mentioned on another website, I thought at first they were joking, and then realized to my horror they weren't. Encouraging people to buy gas elsewhere, as opposed to encouraging a decrease in consumption, regardless of where it comes from, is idiotic. Don't buy your gas from ANYWHERE, not just the handful of companies that have (predominantly) fields and reserves in the Middle East. Encouragement of fossil fuel use is something right wing republicans should be encouraging, with wasteful SUV use, not supposed liberals who somehow want to stick it in the eye of Bush by supporting a leftist leader in South America. It's ridiculous stuff like this that pushed me into more radical political pastures.

[buycottJoe]

27. How about this?

Buy less. When you do buy, buy blue.

http://www.buyblue.org/

Even if you buy no gasoline at all, you still have to buy some things. So why buy from right wing supporters?

[viva la resistance]

28. Cost co is 100% buyblue I get my gas and other shopping done there. n/t

[ehrnst]

29. Costco is buying seafood from Canadian sources...

Just an FYI if you're participating in the Harp Seal/ Canadian seafood boycott.

[Shallah Kali]

32. Please check the article. It says walk, bike etc. as much as possible

but if you have to buy it buy from Citgo. It does not say go out and buy a hummer and pump it full of gas.

[thegreatwildebeest]

33. No it doesn't...

No, it doesn't, but it feeds into a general idea of half-baked "Activism" that mostly revolves around signing petitions, buying things, and maybe standing somewhere with a sign.

[malmapus]

22. Noted and printed out all the local CITGO's in my area

Will start buying from them

[killbotfactory]

30. Already do

Started because they are the gas company that gives the least to Republicans.

If it helps the Venezualan poor and their "democratically elected dictator who hasn't censored the press like the previous democratic government" :eyes: all the better.