Oil

George Clooney already delivered one dynamic political thriller this year in "Good Night and Good Luck." That film dealt with communist witch hunts of the past. "Syriana" dives deep into the politics of the present and future with a laser beam focus on the worldwide business of big oil. Multiple plot lines feature a cross section of people involved at every level of this huge money-making enterprise. Of course, there are Arab kings and princes with fabulous wealth. Politicians, CIA agents, bankers and corporate executives play cat and mouse with each other.

What drives those of us on the left nuts about Jim Righeimer (et al.) is how their ideology interferes with the ability to connect the dots. On Aug. 9 (“Need to conserve is still on”), he extols the long overdue marketplace response to higher gas prices and belittles government mandates when it comes to solving problems. But, he suggests we travel the globe where it is “easy to see democratically controlled countries with strong economies have cleaner air, cleaner water, and are more environmentally friendly ... ” I assume he is referring to places like Western Europe where, thanks to massive gasoline taxes and huge subsidies for mass transit or wind farms, these signers of the Kyoto treaty drive fuel-efficient small cars when not riding the rails and enjoy cleaner air and water as a result.

Karen Wight I look forward to the mail every day. Especially the catalogs. It's like going on a quick armchair shopping trip. And though most of my purchases are mainly mental, I love to peruse the catalogs that have gourmet delectables. Some of the items on my fantasy food list include exotic oils and vinegars. When I get a catalog from Williams-Sonoma, I always dogear the pages that have products I haven't seen before. I'm guilty of getting into a rut with my dinner menus, and this is a great source of new ideas.

I agree with Jim Righeimer (“$4 a gallon: We did it to ourselves,” May 10) that the recent high gas prices are our own creation. However, after recovering from all the spinning he did in his article, I realized it was not due to any lack of developing and draining our natural resources to the point that we are so dependent on foreign terrorist sponsored oil. We did it with the help of people like his good friend Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,...

Body Design, an athletic and wellness center in Newport Beach, will be hosting a FREE Aromatherapy Class on November 11 at 7:00 pm. Learn all about the healing art of Aromatherapy & have fun making your own bath salts and body oils to take home.   This informative and entertaining workshop will eliminate the mystery and inspire the magic!! Class is instructed by a certified Aromatherapist. Each attendee will receive a free aromatherapy synergie, custom bath salt and informative handouts with essential oil recipes.

I just bought my first $4-plus gallon of gas today. My wife’s car takes premium, and there it was; $4.05 per gallon at the Arco on Bristol Street. The price of oil hit $126 per barrel this week. That is a 650% increase over the $22 per barrel we paid just six years ago. But we have nothing to complain about as Americans and especially Californians — this is exactly what we asked for. Through our legislators we have decided that we do not want offshore oil drilling, nuclear power, oil refineries, power plants, power lines, pipelines, faster freeways or windmills that spoil our ocean views.

Paul Clinton A small sheen of diesel oil spilled into Newport Harbor Friday afternoon, Coast Guard officials reported. The spill, which was reported at about 9:40 a.m., spread out over an approximately 100-by-300-yard area near the Lido Village Marina. Less than one barrel -- or 42 gallons -- was spilled, Coast Guard spokesman Robert Eckenrode said. In the wake of the spill, the Coast Guard contracted with Ocean Blue to clean up the mess. The cost of the spill was unknown at press time.

The afternoon sun hung in the eucalyptus trees as the school's auto shop teacher delivered his words of wisdom to the Class of 2000. "Remember," he said, "change your oil and your oil filter every 3,000 miles." The school choir swelled into full voice on that note and the students -- wearing their caps and gowns and tennis shoes and platform heels and smiles -- strolled across the campus quad while I pondered the significance of changing your oil every 3,000 miles.

Ted Edmondson spent almost all of last week studying up on Judah of Maccabee on the Internet. He had to play the role at least somewhat convincingly for all the children at the Hanukkah Wonderland festival Sunday. Edmondson got a call Tuesday from his rabbi asking if he could do a favor. “I said yes before I asked what the favor was,” Edmondson said. “But it’s great for the kids. I’ve never really seen an activity like this for kids before.” Edmondson posed for pictures with kids and families dressed as the infamous Hebrew character known as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history.

When the Deepwater Horizon exploded in 2010, sending millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, most scientists were concerned about the damage to sea life. Not many gave a whiff of thought to air quality. The Rowland-Blake Group at UC Irvine was an exception. Student researchers from this group deployed to the gulf, rented a Forrest Gump-like boat and started analyzing air samples. By measuring certain gases, they found that the air was dirtier than in Los Angeles or Mexico City.

When Danish duo Christian Toxboe and Laura Nielsen brought their gelato recipe to the U.S., they wanted to make it different. They wanted to make it nice. Using fresh, organic ingredients, they launched N'ice Cream: Nielsen's Homemade Gelato and Sorbet, a Venice Beach-based dessert and espresso shop. Each morning, 16 flavors are whipped up in-store using a formula that is lower in fat and sugar than traditional ice cream. "We opened on the notion that it is possible to bring a group of kids somewhere that moms don't have to be worried about artificial flavors and sweeteners," Toxboe said.

NEWPORT BEACH — As the city faces rising sea levels, aging sea walls and shallow waters that need dredging, Newport Beach officials want to squeeze money out of an unlikely source: its oil-rich land. The city owns 16 aging wells — some are 60 years old — in West Newport that pumped about 30,000 barrels of Texas crude and netted about $1 million last fiscal year. On Tuesday Mayor Mike Henn said he would like to find a way to boost their production. Municipalities, however, don't typically take the same risks as oil exploration companies when it comes to drilling new wells and re-drilling existing ones.

NEWPORT BEACH — From the street it looks like a gallery of European fine art, but for the last few months it has been the unlikely home to a piece of surfing history. In this Cannery Village art conservation and restoration studio, Ardenia Capannelli has restored a painting on a board owned by Duke Kahanamoku, considered the father of modern surfing. Wedged between a painting of French lovers from the 1800s and a Raphael-style 1600s portrait of a noble woman, the 11-foot, 6-inch redwood and balsa wood board has been revived by a woman far removed from the board's Hawaiian roots.

NEWPORT COAST — The Resort at Pelican Hill celebrated the first harvest of its olive trees Friday by pressing some organic virgin olive oil that it hopes to use in the resort kitchen and as bottled gifts for guests. The Newport Beach resort is dotted with 750 olive trees of Manzanillo and Sevillano varieties, the latter of which were raised in Northern California. The majority are around 40 years old, but the Sevillanos, of which Pelican Hill has 25, date back 100 years. Mike Ahmer, the resort's landscape manager, noticed fallen olives on the resort grounds and wondered what to do with them.

NEWPORT BEACH — Bringing the city into modern times and to the forefront of environmentalism, the Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday night approved a list of proposed city charter reforms. Council members proposed prohibiting offshore oil drilling, restricting the city's ability to tax residents, among other changes. Residents will vote on the changes to the charter in the November election. It is the first overhaul of the charter since the city's framework was adopted in 1958; many of the proposals would bring it in compliance with current municipal law and today's social norms.

As Gulf Coast residents suffer from their loss of beaches and bays, residents of Newport can enjoy their water and sand for exactly the same reason – oil. For 30 years the city of Newport Beach has been operating its own oil wells on Banning Ranch. All of the revenue from crude and natural gas goes straight to the city's coffers, into a fund for beach and bay maintenance. And it's not a small amount – in 2009 the city sold $1.8 million worth of black gold. That's a serious chunk at a time when the city was facing a $12 million budget deficit.

A Newport Beach man who pleaded not guilty to stealing money from his oil and gas business' clients is scheduled to go to trial next month. Thomas Labry, who had his Costa Mesa-based Cherokee Gas Systems Inc. shut down earlier this year by the Securities and Exchange Commission, pleaded not guilty May 3 to stealing more than $1.4 million of his clients' money between 2008 and 2009. Labry is accused of using automated equipment to make cold calls to Oklahoma residents offering them pieces of land to develop oil and natural gas wells for $25,000 a piece.

With seven active oil platforms off its coast, Orange County has the potential for a devastating leak similar to the one caused by an explosion last month in the Gulf of Mexico. Located off the coasts of Huntington Beach and Seal Beach, the platforms are operated by three oil exploration companies: Pacific Energy Resources, a Long Beach company that recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; Aera Energy, a Bakersfield corporation; and DCOR, a Ventura-based company. If one of the platforms were to leak, the U.S. Coast Guard would be the lead agency to respond, according to Lt. Anastacia Thorsson.