NuStar's True Color

An Investment in Statia's Future? (photo from Nustar website)

If you read the text on NuStar’s website and the contributions of its representative in Statia News, you would almost think that all opponents of the expansion are out of their mind. NuStar just wants to make Statia a better place, give people jobs, provide for all foundations and bring prosperity and glory to the island. If you’re one of those people, please take a moment to grasp the following.

NuStar’s true goal: profit and growth

Let’s look at some facts: NuStar is the second largest oil terminal operator in the US, and the fourth largest in the world; NuStar is a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange and recently entered the Fortune 500 list (annual ranking of America’s largest corporations); the figures that got them there: revenues 4,403.1 million, profits 239 million over the year 2010. Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/full_list/.

The ultimate goal of NuStar, as every business, is to make money. To continue to make money, businesses need to grow and expand. So does NuStar. So it can’t come as a surprise, to read on NuStar’s website that part of its mission is: “aggressively pursuing growth opportunities, both domestically and internationally”. Source: http://www.nustarenergy.com/company/Pages/OurMission.aspx.

Following more facts: NuStar holds 65 terminal and storage facilities around the world. Measured by storage capacity, Statia terminal is by far the largest of all (13 million barrels). Statia’s storage capacity alone is just as big as 25% of all 55 NuStar’s terminals in the United States (50.6 barrels). Source: NuStar Annual Report 2010. So at this point in time, it’s fair to say that Statia is NuStar’s crown jewel, a major source of income.

But there’s more. In the transcripts of a NuStar Investors Conference, we read that international storage business has been a very big growth area for NuStar. Within that storage business, Statia has been a focal point for NuStar’s growth and will continue to be: “We bought that terminal, it was 11 million barrels; it's up to 13 million barrels. We're building another million now to get it to 14 million. And we think the potential is much, much larger than that in terms of the customer interest. So you will continue to see growth CapEx and growth in St. Eustatius.” Source:  NuStarGP Holdings LLC at NAPTP MLP Investor Conference, May 26, 2011. So it’s fair to say that NuStar expansion plans are not going to stop with the one in the Farm area.  Statia is NuStar’s guarantee for growth.

NuStar’s true interest in Statia: low taxes and ultimate transshipment point

Why NuStar loves Statia? Statia was a bargain to start with: we can only guess how and for how much money NuStar predecessor has bought land on Statia. Where else does a company enjoy special tax agreements, no anchorage fees, find cheap labor, and an almost absence of unions, environmental groups, and environmental law control bodies? But most significant, where else in the world would NuStar find a place that is located at the crossroads of major shipping routes and that takes the biggest ships in the world? Statia is one of the major transshipment points in the world, and that makes it one of NuStar’s most profitable assets. Exactly like in the 18^th century for the West-Indische Compagnie. And Statia’s government is giving it to Nustar for a mere pittance; afraid it may pack and leave.

NuStar’s tactics: dollars and deception

Now let’s go a little bit deeper into NuStar’s rhetoric. We already saw how valuable Statia is to NuStar. To keep all these huge interests safe, it is important for NuStar to get (and keep) local government and community on its side. How does NuStar do that? By using techniques of deception: camouflage, lots of euphemisms, overemphasizing its truthfulness, hedging their statements, and marginalizing or just ignoring the negative issues. 

1. Deception by camouflage

NuStar is camouflaging itself as a good corporate citizen by throwing a few thousand dollars around (crumbs compared to the millions they make each year), and call that “heavily investing in the island” and “serving the Statia community”. They make it sound like the whole $ 477 million is an investment in the island instead of in the company itself. NuStar also wants us to believe that it ‘beautifies our island’ by supporting Stenapa. Painfully quiet Stenapa.

2. Deception by overemphasizing truthfulness

NuStar is emphasizing over and over how it is committed to an open and honest dialogue, and what a good corporate citizen it is. Notice for example how Mr. Smith copies and pastes large amounts of propagandistic text from NuStar’s expansion website with every chance he gets. 

NuStar is also overemphasizing how safety is its top priority. Fact is that most accidents are caused by human failure, and that no safety regulation will protect us in case of earthquakes or major hurricanes. Remember Japan, Fukushima? And what safety regulation is able to evacuate all Statia’s inhabitants in case something happens? Which surrounding fire department will come to assist in case of major fire? How is Statia’s hospital going to handle casualties on a large scale? We will be trapped on a small little island with only the ocean to flee into. We find that a very disturbing thought. 

3. Deception by using euphemisms and hedging statements

When NuStar talks about risks, impact and dangers, it uses the following phrases a lot: “as much as possible”, “we are going to great length”, “low impact”, “minimize risks”. E.g. “minimizing the tanks’ impact on the island’s scenic views”, “the risk of emissions and vapors are extremely low”. It all sounds very nice, but in fact is meaningless because the risks, danger, impact etc. are still there. NuStar even thinks we’re stupid enough to believe that by painting the tanks and planting a few trees, we won’t see them anymore. According to NuStar, they will be “integrated into the landscape”. Are they serious? 

4. Deception by marginalizing and ignoring

In all NuStar’s communication, you will see that they marginalize or just ignore issues like pollution, risks of oil spill accidents, close distance to schools, damage to eco-systems, destruction of cultural heritage, impact on tourism growth, no access to the beach and dive sites at Smoke Alley. 

NuStar’s True Color

So is NuStar the devil? No. NuStar is a multibillion dollar multinational that simply needs to keep its stockholders a lot happier than the community of Statia. But luckily for NuStar, it only takes some deceptive rhetoric and a few thousand dollars to keep Statia’s government, organizations and community happy.

Main point of discussion: economical development

A lot of people already voiced their opinion on NuStar’s expansion plans. We think that nobody, not even NuStar, is able to deny that there will be an increase in danger, damage, and destruction in several areas. NuStar is desperately trying to pull the wool over our eyes, but luckily a lot of people have sense enough to see through this.

But there is another fact we cannot deny. And that is that NuStar is the largest private employer on the island, and the expansion will definitely bring more economical activity. That is on the short term. The question is how –in the long run – this will benefit the island. We already made clear that NuStar needs to expand and that it is using deceptive tactics to reach that goal. How far are we willing to let NuStar expand? How much more power are we willing to voluntarily give them? How will Statia benefit if our hotels, shops, rental houses, apartments, and cars for the most part depend on one sole purchaser?

Would it really be such a good idea, as Mr. Sneek proposes, to let Nustar help our government fix our roads, relocate the harbor, and be involved in electricity production? Our fear should not be whether NuStar one day will pack and leave, but how much more NuStar is going to expand. The more they grow, the more people, businesses and government will depend on them. Eventually, NuStar is going to make all decisions, and we can’t bite because there’s no other hand that feeds us. St. NuStar, the Crude Oil Rock.

Determine our own future

We as a people fought almost 200 years for our freedom. We suffered tremendous pain and made great sacrifices to finally gain the right to determine our own future and our own destiny. It is more than sad to witness what we are doing with these rights. With a shortsighted, lazy attitude and dollar signs in our eyes, a lot of us, including our government, are willing to put Statia’s future solely into the hands of a foreign multinational.

Why can’t we work just a little bit longer and a little bit harder, polish our unique selling points (nature, identity, cultural heritage) and shine? It may not come just as easy or fast, but at least we can look into our children’s eyes and tell them, for better or for worse, we kept control over our own destiny.