Chapter 3: Shut Down That Pipeline

I have already said that the first time I realized there was no true energy crisis was when Senator Hugh Chance visited me in Alaska. However, like many other Americans, I had heard the rumors and hearsay many times before that. In fact, I first became aware of the supposed “energy crisis” in 1972 when I was riding on roundup in Wheatland, Wyoming, on a 32,000-acre ranch. That day as we rode in the high country looking for cattle, I noticed a big pump—it was, in fact, a large pipeline that was running across the Rockies. I was curious (that is my nature). I said to the man with me, “Sir, what is that big pipeline running across your property?”

I should explain that because I am a Baptist preacher, I am often called “Brother Lindsey.” I suppose it's a courtesy title. My friend answered, “Well, Brother Lindsey, that's one of the major cross-country pipelines carrying crude oil from the West to the East.”

“Ah,” I answered, “That's rather interesting. I've heard there's a possibility of an energy crisis. I'm sure glad those pumps are running full speed ahead.”

That was in 1972. You will remember that 1973 was the first time we were told there was really an energy crisis. The East Coast was used as a test for that energy crisis, and there were long lines of people waiting, burning fuel while they waited in line for gas they couldn't get.

In 1974, I was again in Wyoming and went to that same ranch. I remember that Fall as we rodeo roundup over the Rockies, I saw something that startled me. I had just come from the East Coast where I had numerous speaking engagements, and, with the rest of America, I had been told we needed to conserve energy—for if we didn't, we were going to run out of fuel. Crude oil was in low supply and natural gas would soon become a scarce commodity. Imagine my surprise that Fall, as we rode back over that same high country, to find that the big pump was closed down. The pipeline didn't seem to be running.

As we rode the high country on horseback, I asked the gentleman who managed the ranch, “Sir, why isn't that big pump running? You don't mean to tell me that they have closed down a major cross-country pipeline? Back on the East Coast I have seen people standing in line waiting on fuel. What's the story?

“Well,” that old Westerner said, “Brother Lindsey, here a few months ago they came through and started to close down that pipeline, and you know, that thing went right across my property and I believe I had a right to know why they were closing it. After all, I received money from the oil that was flowing through that line across my property, and so I went up to the man and asked him why they were closing down the pipeline. I said to them, “Don't you know that on the East Coast where that oil is supposed to be going, they have an energy crisis? Don't you know that there are people waiting in line to get fuel and we've got an energy crisis? Man—why are you closing that line down?' ”

I listened intently, for I was vaguely wondering if this pointed to some sort of manipulation for a purpose that was unknown to me. The old Westerner went on. “Well, they didn't want to tell me. Brother Lindsey, you know how we Westerners can get sometimes, cowboys are known for being a little bit mean and ornery, and I decided to use some of that orneriness and persuade that man to tell me why he was closing that pipeline down. So I went up to the boss man and got a little bit rough with him. I told him I wanted to know why that pipeline was being closed down, because after all it was going across my property. I let him know that I was an honest American and that I had thought that back on the East Coast they were having an energy crisis, even though we had plenty of fuel out West. Well, the man finally recognized that I was getting a little bit indignant and he said, “well, mister, if you really want to know the truth, the truth is the Federal government has ordered us to close this pipeline down.” The old Westerner went on and told how he stood up to the boss man, “Why man, I can hardly believe that. After all, we've got an energy crisis.” The boss man answered him, “Sir, we're closing it down because we've been ordered to.”

The old Westerner turned in his saddle and he said to me, “That rather startled me. Actually, I had heard there was an energy crisis. It really shook me up. I sure couldn't understand it at all.” I confess that I too was shaken. The oil was no longer flowing, and there seemed to be no reason why it should not flow. We were being told that we must conserve energy. The point was being made very strongly even as we were allowed to wait in line for fuel.

It is relevant now to go back to the earlier conversations I had with Mr. X, who was responsible for developing the entire East side of the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska. He was there right through the entire project, even though others came in from time to time. He was an honest man with a fine reputation, and what was most important to me was that he was a Christian gentleman. He did not only say he was a Christian, but he lived what he said, and he and I set up quite a friendship. Mr. X was very definite that the only reason there was an energy crisis is because one had been artificially produced.

When I arrived back in Alaska at Prudhoe Bay in 1974, I said, “Mr. X, let me relate to you what I saw in Wheatland, Wyoming, just a few weeks ago. There was a pipeline going from West to East across the Rockies, on the property of a friend of mine. I was riding the range with him in the Fall of 1972 on roundup and the pipeline was flowing full speed ahead, with all pumps going. The following year of 1973, in the Fall, there was supposed to be an energy crisis, and I found that the pipeline going across the Rockies, one of the main West-East pipelines, had been closed down. In 1974, the pumps were not running, and at that time the man who managed that 32,000-acre ranch told me that the oil companies had told him that they had been ordered to close down that pipeline by the Federal government. Mr. X, if there is as much oil at Prudhoe Bay as in all Saudi Arabia, as you have stated, and if there really is an energy crisis, why was that cross-country pipeline through Wyoming closed down? You must know something about it.”

Mr. X. said to me, “Chaplain, I will try to be honest with you today, and I hope it doesn't get any of us in trouble. We are both Christian men, and we can only tell the truth. We, as oil companies, were ordered by the Federal government in 1973 to close down certain cross country pipelines and to reduce the output of our refineries in certain strategic points of America for the purpose of creating an energy crisis. That really began the first of the control of the American people.”

I was astonished at what I was being told. Mr. X showed me the wells and let me know details about the size of the oil pool and the amount of oil that was there. He made the statement that the Prudhoe Bay oil field is one of the richest oil fields on the face of the earth. He said that it could flow for over 20 years with natural artesian pressure, without even a pump being placed on it. He told me that this was one of the only fields in the world where this is true, and that oil would come out of the ground at 1,600 pounds pressure and at 135′-167 °F. He said quite clearly that this was one of the richest oil fields on the face of the earth. He also said that there was enough natural gas, as distinct from oil, to supply the entire United States of America for over 200 years, if that also could be produced.

As I have said, I was astonished. This was during the first year and a half of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, and the oil companies were supposed to build a natural gas pipeline down the same corridor to supply natural gas to the lower 48 states. The natural gas was to have flowed from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, been liquefied in Valdez, and transported by tanker to California, Washington, and Oregon, and from there it was to have been distributed across the United States by pipeline.

This was the plan that had been promised the oil companies when they first began the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, and now Mr. X was saying that there was plenty of natural gas here, as well—and as much oil as in all of Saudi Arabia! Yet the media and the Federal government were consistently and continually saying that there was an energy crisis.

I have already shown in Chapter 1 how my eyes were opened. My experience in Wyoming suddenly was seen as part of a widening scope of information. Those experiences in Wyoming—and now my involvement with Senator Chance and Mr. X-added to a clear picture of deception and scheming that was hard to understand.