Group to open country's first 'terror free' gas station (Terror free oil)

Group to open country's first 'terror free' gas station

http://www.beatricedailysun.com/articles/2007/01/23/ap-state-ne/d8mqisjg0.txt

By TIMBERLY ROSS
Monday, January 22, 2007 7:38 PM CST

OMAHA, Neb. - Claiming U.S. dollars used to purchase gas made from Middle East oil funds terrorism, a group called the Terror-Free Oil Initiative plans to open the nation's first "terror free" gas station in Nebraska.

The Coral Springs, Fla.-based group urges Americans to only buy gas and other oil products that originate from countries that do not support terrorism. Its new station in west Omaha will sell only gas from oil companies that don't do business in the Middle East.

"We believe that we are financing our own demise by purchasing crude oil from the Middle East," spokesman Joe Kaufman said. "We'd like to avert another 9/11 if possible."

The future site of the Terror-Free Oil station was already emblazoned with signs Monday calling for the use of non-Middle Eastern oil.

Kaufman said the station will open Feb. 1, with a grand opening scheduled for Feb. 12.


The gas sold there will be supplied by Sinclair Oil Corp., he said.

Dalton Kehlbeck, a regional manager for Salt Lake City-based Sinclair, said most of the company's oil comes from the U.S. or Canada, but some is bought on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"It's a basket of crude oil," he said of the exchange oil. "We cannot be sure where the conglomeration of the product comes from."

The same is true of most oil products sold in the United States.

According to the Energy Information Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, oil refineries often mix oil from different sources and companies during refinement and shipping.

The United States imported an average of 2.3 million barrels of oil a day from the Persian Gulf region in 2005, according to the administration. That accounted for about 9 percent of U.S. consumption.

The U.S. Department of Treasury, whose office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence oversees the government's concerns about terrorism funding, said it would not comment on the prospect of oil money funding terrorists.

Kaufman said the Terror-Free Oil Initiative plans to open more gas stations across the country.

On the Net:

Terror-Free Oil Initiative: http://www.terrorfreeoil.org/


A service of the Associated Press(AP)