Crude politics : the California oil market, 1900-1940 / Paul Sabin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sabin, Paul, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Petroleum industry and trade--Political aspects--California--History--20th century.

Petroleum industry and trade.

Petroleum industry and trade--Government policy--California--History--20th century.

Energy policy--United States--History--20th century.

Energy policy.

History.

Petroleum industry and trade--Government policy.

Petroleum industry and trade--Political aspects.

United States.

California.

Physical Description:

xx, 307 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, [2005]

Summary:

Energy shortages, climate change, and the debate over national security have thrust oil policy to the forefront of American politics. How did Americans grow so dependent on petroleum, and what can we learn from our history that will help us craft successful policies for the future? In this timely and absorbing book, Paul Sabin challenges us to see politics and law as crucial forces behind the dramatic growth of the U.S. oil market during the twentieth century. Using pre-World War II California as a case study of oil production and consumption, Sabin demonstrates how struggles in the legislature and courts over property rights, regulatory law, and public investment determined the shape of the state's petroleum landscape.

Sabin provides a powerful corrective to the enduring myth of "free markets" by demonstrating how political decisions affected the institutions that form the basis of California's oil economy and how the oil market and price structure depend significantly on the ways in which policy questions were answered before World War II. His concise and probing analysis casts new light on the historical relationship between business and government and on the origins of contemporary problems such as climate change and urban sprawl. Incisive, engaging, and meticulously researched, Crude Politics illuminates an important chapter in U.S. environmental, legal, business, and political history and the history of the American West.

Contents:

The end of the old property regime

The politics of the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act

Beaches versus oil in Southern California

"The same unsavory smell of Teapot Dome"

The struggle to control California oil production

Federalism and the unruly California oil market

"Transportation by taxation"

Defending the user-financing system.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-295) and index.

ISBN:

0520241983

OCLC:

54960604