Can you imagine the Leftist environmental wack-a-doos hanging a golden frame embossed picture of John D. Rockefeller on the wall behind their Greenpeace CEO?

Right.

Rockefeller is their arch enemy.  He’s the God Father of the American Oil Company.  And there could be nothing more evil.

However, as The Coyote points out in his recent article in Forbes:

Between 1870 and 1900, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil company came to dominate the oil refining business, at one point controlling 90% of US capacity.  Long before the proliferation of the automobile created a market for gasoline, the main use for petroleum in the 19th century was to make kerosene, which was an illuminant for lamps.   Due in large part to Standard Oil, over these decades the price of kerosene dropped from 30 cents to 6 cents a gallon, while production increased astronomically and the quality of the product steadily improved.

Through Rockefeller’s work, kerosene became both cheaper and safer to use than whale oil, and quickly began to replace it in the marketplace.  By 1890 the American whaling fleet had already dropped from a peak of 735 ships to just 200, and was still falling, in large part due to low cost kerosene produced by Rockefeller’s Standard Oil.

In the last half of the 19th century, whales were facing extinction.  They were hunted in large part because their oil was the best, most affordable illuminant available to growing western nations.

Through Rockefeller’s work, kerosene became both cheaper and safer to use than whale oil, and quickly began to replace it in the marketplace.  By 1890 the American whaling fleet had already dropped from a peak of 735 ships to just 200, and was still falling, in large part due to low cost kerosene produced by Rockefeller’s Standard Oil.

How ironic is it that only because of, not inspite of, big oil can these Leftists heartily shout:

Save the whales!

Asses.