Well Oil Prices Fell to their lowest level in nearly five and a half years. They settled at 63. 05 a barrel, barry worth the price of carrying this barrel along. And getting below 63 in the trading session, sometimes creating a good plan for people trying to get more gas at the pump. In less than six months the price of a barrel of oil has dropped about 41 . The main culprit for this is an oversupply of oil in the world, and decreasing demand. At the same time, americas fracing boom is adding to the oversupply. There might be as many as a million extra barrels of oil than the world demands. Saudi arabia the swing prices upward if he wants to. It says it is keeping his levels at the same level for the foreseeable future. Gasoline prices have come down to their cheapest level in four years. The National Average has falled to 2. 67 a gallon. Thats more than a gallon lower than it was in june. But that is bound to drop to 2. 50 a gallon after christmas. And oil prices could dip to as low as 35 or 40 a barrel by 2015. And u. S. Households could save as much as 750 a year by one estimate. The economies this the European Union and japan are expected to fair much better next year because of oil prices, but oilproducing countries are expected to do much worse. Its a bit of a mixed bag here in the United States. Falling oiling prices are sending shock waves throughout the oil industry. Conocophillips plans to cut employment by as much as 20 the cuts will come in unconventional plays like fracing. Oil extracted by fracing or hydraulic fracturing or deepsea drilling or the oil sands in canada, all of these ways of getting oil are much more expensive to produce and depend on trading at higher prices. New drilling will slow down or stop at least new unconventional drilling if prices keep falling, and as i said earlier, they are l fag because of Americas Energy boom. David has more on that. As the price of crude oil plummets at least one question is on the minds of Energy Producers. Could americas fracing boom become a victim of its own success. Fracing a controversial technique that breaks up oil and gas using a highpressure cocktail of water, sand, and chemicals has made the u. S. The worlds leading oil producer. America is turning out nearly 9 Million Barrels a day. In south Texas Oil Wells installed in 2014 are pumping almost 400 more barrels a day than those built in 2007, and yet that has always contributed to an overall drop in oil prices. The reason prices have dropped so quickly so fast, is he have had a slowdown of the global economic. And we just have a lot more oil out is there than we expected. The u. S. Is producing more and more and more oil month after month after month. Reporter with a 40 drop in prices since june, analysts say the price of oil is getting close to the point where its no longer profitable to drill. That means Energy Companies are now more likely to start pairing back. Cost cutting, headcount reductions, 5,000 companies in texas that produce oil and gas, thats just an enormous number. Some will do just fine. Its some of the mom and pops some backed by private equity that will run into trouble, and their response will be to sell off their assets. Lower oil prices could mean fewer jobs down the road. Small Energy Companies often rely on Big Companies to finance their operations. But as oil prices salo, they become more susceptible to mergers. They will be purchased for i hate to say pennies on the dollar, but certainly a lot less than the debt. We in a period of fairly low sustained oil prices. And that is going to help the economy. Reporter most americans should expect a few extra dollars at the end of the year. A recent ihs analysis concluded that the average American Household will save some 750 annually because of the drop in oil prices. But question now is whether those savings will help offset the oil jobs that could be lost as prices decline. Falling oil prices will force Energy Producers in places like canada to rethink their expansion plans, but thats not likely to stop the support for the keystone xl. Which is the controversial pipeline you see in blue. The project had been held up by the Obama Administration for years because of environmental americans. One man says cheap oil is not deterring canadian Oil Producers. The Oil Producers in canada are longdistance runners. Ever since the oil sands were first developed in the alpha stage, people who invested in the oil sands have been in for a longdistance race, and they have been very, very successful. Sometimes the prices go up. Sometimes the prices go down, but most of the people i listen to in canada are long are in it for the long hall. And obviously they prefer higher pric pri prices, and they have been through these swings before. What is the lesson we have learned out of keystone xl . You know, the postscript is looking like canada might have been a little hand fisted. What is the take away . People that oppose the pipeline and still oppose it today have asserted that if the pipeline was not built, the oil would stay in the ground, and that in turn would be good for the planet. Three or four years later, very few of these critics that made these comments a few years ago have been held to account. But the truth of it is, after the statements have been made, the reality is as the scientists in the state department have documented, the oil will go on rail. So we have had a tenfold increase on oil on rail, since the original delay in nebraska, and theres another projected threefold increase beyond 2015. Again, crude oil on rail. What do the Scientists Say . These arent canadian talking points. These are u. S. Scientists in the state department. What do they say pipelines versus rail . They basically conclude with data that pipelines are safer, more affordable, and and have less greenhouse gases, 28 to 42 less than rail. So the ham handedness is not approving pipelines and having safety risks, cost down sides, and the whole issue of higher emissions utilizing rail to a disproportionate apt now. Is it true that if this pipeline doesnt get built that canada will build a pope line to the west coast and send the oil to asia . Well, theres two proposed to asia, theres two proposed to the east coast to the refineries on the west side of india, and theres two proposals to the south, keystone and the expansion of the embridge pipeline through the United States. I happen to believe that the consequence of not building this pipeline is what we have seen in the past. Its just been more and more oil, not just from canada, but from north dakota and montana going to the gulf coast refineries on rail. And that is what has happened. The state department actually predicted that three years ago, so if everyone talks about using science to make energy and environment decisions, we i think the scientists and the stated department have got it right. I want to talk about canadas efforts against isil in the middle east. What is canada doing, and of course you are in close cooperation with the United States on this. Yes, we are in very close cooperation with the United States, uae and part of the coalition. We are part of a coalition of some number of countries, 28, i believe, at the last count, and were committed to taking on isil, or isis, whatever you call the group. They are very barbaric. They have attempted to take over the governance by force in iraq, and creating havoc and barbaric behavior in syria. We have planed deployed. They are on missions as we spoke, and we will continue to be part of the Coalition Efforts to try to provide security in that region, and hopefully save lines over the long haul. Ambassador while i have got you, i want to talk about ukraine. Stephen harper told the russian president , quote, you need to get out of ukraine. Canada has taken a strong position on this. What else can canada and the United States, for that matter to be pressuring moscow to comply . And is there any chance of russia getting out of ukraine. Well, i im glad the Prime Minister was blunt. Having said that, we have been again part of the coalition on economic sanctions. We have been part of deployment to support ukraine, and we will continue to be part of both the contingency and the humanitarian and governance investments with the people, but it is clear that the president , president putin, got a very, very clear message over and over and over again at the g20 meeting he just attended. Its important that we be blunt in front of him. Not just make statements to the cameras when he is not around. And in eastern europe, watching him, canada contributed about 6 of natos overall budget, yet it comes in at about 1 of his gdp, nato recommends 2 for each country. That would argue that canada, like most other nato countries is not pulling its full weight. When we were involved in the afghanistan mission, the percentage was higher, and we have a number of decisions pending, our federal government, on military equipment, including aircraft and ships. So when you look at a oneyear budget you can get a certain number. We dont write a check for something we dont need to spending money on, thats why were going to balance our budget. Having said that the cash flow is different in different years, and we have made decisions to go to a more modern aircraft and ships, and that obviously will be reflected in future budgets and well change those numbers accordingly. That was canadas ambassador to the United States. Coming up, potentially billions of barrels of oil beneath the sea, right below where china just built an island. Coincidence . The South China Sea is fast becoming another area of the world to worry about. Chinas moves to reclaim territory has angered countries. The United States has called on china to stop it provocative actions there, but china has essentially told the u. S. , butt out. Its prime real estate for shipping lanes, and it may be home to billions of barrels of oil. And china is apparently going to incredible lengths to get a military advantage in the area. Reporter on most Satellite Photos like this, the reef showed up and just a submerged reef. But since 2013, china has dredged up millions of tons of rocks and sand from the sea floor to build a brand new island. The plan is to build an airway. It could allow china to subject power right down to the South China Sea. It could potentially even threaten the United States navy. Reporter and they have been creating other artificial islands, these before and after Satellite Photos show that dhie that has been engaged in a major Reclamation Project on gaven reef. And has been building a larger man made island on fiery cross reef. According to a report by the security group, the new island would be capable of supporting a runway and a harbor deep enough to dock warships, a clear challenge to the claims of other nations in the South China Sea. Covering over 160,000 square miles, they are an isolated group of remote islands, reefs and sand bars claimed by vietnam and others. The artificial islands that china is building appear purposebuilt to coerce other claimants into relinquishing their claims and possessions. Why all of the interest in these reefs . Well, whichever country plants their flags on these islands and reefs could control several resource. The south china see may continue as much as 190 trillion barrels of oil. And its also one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes with over 10 Million Barrels of oil moving through the South China Sea each day. If anything it does starts to threaten the United States perception of freedom of navigation, then it becomes a real issue between the two countries. And you get an overlap between the territorial dispute and the bigger global batter of who will be the world owes policemen. Reporter for now china seems to be turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the u. S. I spoke to bonnie glazer, the Senior Advisor for asia. She says that what china is doing in disputed waters is not illegal. Waters themselves and who they are owned by can only be determined by who knowns land, the convention on the law of the sea says land dominates the sea. So if there is a surmerged reef, a country is not allowed to claim any water space. If it is a rock that is above water, then a country gets 12 nautical miles, and if its an actual island, that has to sustain human habitation, then the country that owned the island would get 200 nautical miles, but that is going to have to be shared with another country that may be occupying something as close as 10 nautical miles away. So the International Law is unclear in this regard, but Land Reclamation of creating artificial islands out of reefs is not contrary to any International Law. If it were contested, where would it be contested . Who takes whom to court . Well, the philippines has filed a case at the u. N. Under the the International Law of the sea; that case essentially challenges chinas claim to the maritime spaces within what the chinese call its a ninedash line, which was inherited from the republic of china or taiwan, which created the line in 1947. But this case, which is called an arbitration case is now being considered. There could be a ruling that would come down in early 2016, that might find that this socalled ninedash line is illegal. The ruling would be legally binding, but there would be no enforcement mechanism. Is there any sense that china would adhere to such a ruling . The chinese has refused to participate in case itself, and said that they will reject any ruling that comes down. But if there are some costs in terms of ignoring the ruling, then perhaps china might have to reconsider. What do you think the likely reason for all of this is . Mary mentioned potential oil and gas reserves, shipping lanes, and when you are looking at runways that are 3 kilometers long, there arent too many yets that would need that much space. What is your sense of motivation here for china . Well, only a very small area of the South China Sea has been surveyed, so most of the estimates are really speculation, and i think the u. S. National Geographic Service does not believe the deposits of oil and gas are as large as what is quoted in your report. These deposits are also located very close to countries coastlines, and therefore, a country gets 200 miles from its coastline. So vietnam is already drilling, and malaysia is also drilling in many places. I think chinas drivers its motivations are different. Its not really about resources. It is about an historical claim, the fact that if china were to be seen as compromising on any of its sovereignty anywhere. I think the Chinese Party feels it would be weakened in terms of legitimacy at home. I think this is more about controls Chinese National schism, and asserting claims over the south and east china sea. All right. Protests have broken out again across the country. Controversies over the deadly interactions with police. What are the costs of that . Eric garners family has filed a case against the police department. It is a claim for 75 million. If no deal is reached a lawsuit could be the next step. Data collected shows that there were 9,500 claims filed against the new York Police Department in fiscal year 2013, and the city paid a whopping 137 million in settlements and judgments. Thats 35 higher than it was five years ago. Scott stringer is new york citys comptroller, and says the data can be a leading indicator of potential problems that Government Agencies need to address. Good to see you again. Good to be back. I know you cant talk about the garner case. But tell me how these work. People make these claims prelitigation. An individual can come file a claim. And then we make an attempt to settle that claim. We do this rarely. Its not something we do often, but the Controllers Office is in power to make these settlements. And who determines the merit of the argument . What are you trying to accomplish . Well, theres a whole hearing process. They are called 50h hearings. We have a robust law firm within the Controllers Office, and theres 80 attorneys that work to settle claims against the city. Sometimes they have claims of note righty, many sometimes they are just slip and fall cases. Claim stat is our way of making sure that people dont keep sues the city over and over and over again for the same thing. So we came out with something that basically does the analysis of where claims against the city are coming from. So for example, if we have 36 of our claims are against the nypd, we know where those claims are coming from, what precinct, and we work with the commissioner to try to figure out why that is. Happening. In this report is the chart and its the claims going back to 2003 by agency. And we see Remarkable Growth in claims having to do with the police department. This one is the one that is 35 higher. Well, claims have increased, and you can actually with claim stat this tool that we have devised, you can actually look at which community. So its no surprise that central brooklyn and parts of the bronx have a huge amount of increase, and you can look at claims with other agencies, tree limbs, falling on people is higher than in some other communities. So this is an important tool, one, to save the city money. We budget 732 million a year, because were going to get sued, and yet we dont do anything to say, hey, can we change the policy . Thats what we should be doing. Now in the case of Police Complaints as we look at this issue nationally from ferguson to new york, throughout, this is a tool i believe that should be used in all jurisdictions, because when you look at claims, you get to know the nittygritty. What are some that are the most common . It runs gambit. A search or push and shove, or whole host of things where people think police are being do forceful. We have had issues related to search and frisk, and for us its a way of Trading Information with the police department, and trying to solve the problem. So if you know theres a precinct where theres a huge amount of complaints, fix the problem. If you see another community where there are few complaints, theres data you should explore and look at. Do you fight a lot of these claims . Or make them go to court . My job is to settle the claims, and thats what we try to do. If you cant settle a claim, it goes to our very adept law department, and for me this is a new way of looking at how to save the city money, and in light of the national tragedy, in light of the civil rights violations, and people taking to the streets obviously concerned we have a great police force in new york city, but we have some bad apples, and thats true with bad politicians and people who do notch is good things. And this is a way to figure out how to keep people out of harms way. When you look at what is going on yet another night of protests in new york city, what do you think look, clearly there are concerns about eric garner, and frustrations we saw coming out of ferguson, missouri, but is there a larger issue at play here . I think theres a larger issue in this country, the president of the United States has spoken about it. Look, when it was a young activist, i was arrested in civil disobesence because of a particular case in new york city. So i have been a marcher, a protester, and now i have a different role, but i understand what people are talking about, folks are afraid of the police, and yet there are so many good Police Officers. So somehow we have got to bring this country together. Somehow we have got to bring Law Enforcement and the community together. We have to get that right, because part of what we have to remember is that people make great sacrifices. Our Police Officers lose their lives in the line of duty, and we cant imagine being that person, and we have to make sure that ever black and brown child is not subject to stop and frisk because of the color of their skin, what they look like, what their religious belief is. And thats a large dialogue in the whole country. Scott always a pleasure to have you on the show. Coming up next, uber driving into more controversy all over the world. Now the car company is accused of driving without a license in portland, oregon. Ill take you there when real money returns. Can you believe that uber is in the news again . The car service continues to fascinate, anger, and drive people around their cities. This business is now valued at a whopping 41 billion. This is a car service. But its popularity stands in stark contrast to a spate of negative headlines. In india, uber was banned after one of the drivers was accused of raping passenger. In oregon the city sued uber after having a driver with no license. We are joined by the owner of the oldest and largest taxi company. Im guessing you and your drivers are not fans of uber. Um, no, we are not. Joseph, tell me what this story is about. What has happened . Why is the city of portland suing uber. Above all else uber is another Destructive Technology that is now hitting the taxi industry. And portland has some of the strictest taxi regulations in the country, and it is very clear that a rightchair service like uber is illegal, and when you said allegedly illegal, i think they would admit they are operating illegally here. It comes into a city in many u. S. Cities they come in and ask for forgiveness rather than permission. And they hope the market will allow them to continue to operate. Lets talk about this strict licensing regime in portland. This is what a lot of people complain about, that uber gets around oldfashioned Taxi Companies. Why shouldnt uber be a new technology embraced by people in portland. Well, when you talk about uber, you need to talk about uberx. And thats the service they provide, that they contract with individuals rather than companies to provide service. Another thing i noticed joseph was referring to them as a rideshare service. I have a problem with that in that if you look up ride share anywhere it usually deals with car pooling, and whenever monetary compensation comes into the picture, it is no longer a ride share. Ride share would indicate to me somebody sticking their thumb out on the freeway trying to hitch a ride, and when you pull up you would be providing a rideshare service. I think thats called hitchhiking. Same thing. [ laughter ] a lot of people like uber. Portland is pretty restrictive with its taxi licenses. People say why dont they allow as many permits as possible, and the Taxi Companies will say, then the companies cant make money. Portland, oregon, isnt like washington, d. C. , or new york. There is not really a taxi culture here where you go out on to the street and hail a ride. Taxis are not something that is used a lot. There is a certain section of the population that uses them, but they are not main stream. What uber threatens to do here in portland is create a new customer base, people who wouldnt traditionally use a cab service, would call an uber, because it is hip, it is based on technology, millennials are more prone to be car free, and they see this as an alternative to a taxi service. Sometimes it takes a while to get a cab when you call it on your phone. You cant hail a cab here on broadway very often. It changes the citys culture, transportation culture, where you didnt really have a taxi culture before, and you have one suddenly, but its by a different name. You have been around since 1946. Can you compete . Whether its uber, or lift, or other Companies Like that. What can you do to compete . Can you modernize . Can you emulate some of what uber offers to what joseph was just saying . This well, i believe we already do. You know, the city of portland spells out the rules by which we operate. And were supposed to provide fairly Responsive Service to anybody that summons a cab. Whether thats by way of phone, by way of many of our call boxes that we have in establishments, or by our apps. We have a couple of apps ourselves. So we arent supposed to discriminate based on how they try to get a cab, were just supposed to provide service. And uber is really only going after one segment of all of the ridership. Thats where we we kind of draw the line. Steve, and joseph thank you so much for joining us. Joseph, commuting and transportation writer, and steve is the manager of radio cab in portland, oregon. Coming up, hundreds of drenthzs at a Mobile Home Park might have to move to make way for luxury apartmenpartments. Income inequality has created all sorts of problems in america. One of the more obvious is the shortage of affordable housing. This is especially evident in silicon valley. Four of the nations top five most expensive housing markets are in silicon valley. And in palo alto, hundreds of residents who live in a Mobile Home Park may have to move to make way for luxury apartments. Reporter the heart of silicon valley, where tech millionaires live, and soem to stamford university. In the middle of its all sits this Mobile Home Park, one of the last places left providing ahordable housing. Now a developer has offered the lots owner millions to build luxury apartments here for the valleys growing work force. It would displace its current residents. If this place were to close, i dont know where i would go. Reporter they work in tech, but not as engineers or venture capitalists, they are gardners, housekeepers, cooks, and nannies. While they have benefited from the same economic growth. They have also become its earliest casualties. For years they have survived by paying under a thousand dollars a month in rent. The Mobile Home Park has about 400 lowincome residents, many hispanic, and they want to stay here, because p pall low alto hs one of the best School Districts in the state. My parents came from mexico, and we i mean we grow up here mostly. And i was the first one to graduate from college in my family. Reporter the value of diversity has not been lost on more affluent neighbors, some of whom have joined the fight to keep the mobile park here. We lose some of the diversity and the range of families. Reporter the residents have turned this into a legal fight, and have offered to buy the property as a collective. I think everybody loses if the park is closed. Reporter the Property Owners would not speak to al jazeera, though their attorney has pointed out that private landowners have the right to sell their own real estate. Something the residents acknowledge to some extent. Advocates of the Mobile Home Park are appealing a ruling by an Administrative Law judge. He ruled the Property Owners had put together an adequate Relocation Assistance package. The appeal of that ruling is now in the hands of palo altos city council. Last week nasa has major coup when it launched a spaceship that is some day hoped to reach mars. Companies competing to mine the moon next on real money. Were taking you inside the business of space. We continue today with duelling moon companies. They say a trip to the moon isnt anymore complicated than planning on extended mission to antarcti antarctica. Now the government is handing the reins to private companies to explore and exploit the moon. Several companies are racing to develop landers and rovers to do just that. S and astro bottics is one of the company in the race. Reporter moon express, and astrobottic are come m met competers in a small market. We believe a hunk of the moon that you could hold in your hands could be worth a billion dollars. Reporter both companies are building unmanned spacecraft that could take cargo to the moon like a fedex or freight service. Payloads canning mount above the deck. They can also mount below the deck. Things like rovers, science instruments, education programs. One beland on the surface we become a power station. Were like the local utility. Reporter moon expresss spacecraft is smaller. The design of our vehicle here it is right here. Notice its like a little flying saucer is. The energy of our space deck is like a hot rod in space. Reporter the ambition of both companies to build infrastructure on the moon. Commercial space stations mines for precious metal, launch facilities to send spacecrafts even deeper into space. The moon is a steppingstone to bigger and better things, namely mars. We need to start with the moon. Its in our backyard. Reporter nasa announced that both companies will be part of its lunar catalyst program. They will help the Companies Develop their spacecraft with the idea of one day contracting them to take cargo to the moon. Nasa is of course moving on to the frontier challenges like going to mars. But we also think and recognize that it is very important to continue our economic expansion of the lunar surface as well. Reporter the ultimate goal is to promote a competitive market, but theres another layer to the competition here, the 40 million google lunar exprize, 40 million who can get to the moon and send back hd images in real time. Many of the Companies Plan to launch to the moon in 2016. Astrobottic has proposed splitting the 70 million launch cost with other teams. You are going to be able to have real time feedback, see video streaming back live. Reporter this is our entrant to the race. Reporter they are selling advertising space on their rover and on their lander. It will be full of different logos and different opportunities for companies to have their messaging and branding, and social experiences happen on the surface of the moon. Reporter its competition for the sport and for business. Both companies will also be carrying paying customer payloads to the moon. There will be a telescope, and astrobottic will bring among other things a japanese sports drink. It will be the first drink to land on the moon and actually to serving as a time cap yule for the kids of japan to put their dreams in. Reporter until now this is what moon exploration looked like to americans. Now its sports drinks and nascar races. But commercializing space means just that. Here is jim and i when we were testing the lunar module. When you start seeing a really creative innovative lander on the moon and you have a closeup on it, and theres you know, budweiser, or you know, or nascar or some other advertising symbol, and it it theres a little bit of you know, put some ambiguity into the game. Reporter but he says sponsors are money, and private money is the key to developing space. Innovation is the secret to the future. Its what will enable my grandkids to look up on the moon and these these things. Jake, its mind boggling when you see all of the money and competition. I know exprize well, but the concept of completing for something, for which no market exists. How does this work . Thats right. Were talking about a stabilizing force. Both of these companies would tell you they are actually very grateful for the other for existing. Theres two crazy people in the room, not just one crazy people in the room. But competition is what allows efficiency to happen. Its what allows it to become affordable and enforces a certain kind of safety. When we think its just the frontier of public exploration, your standards are a little different than when we talk about sending private enterprises up there. So competition at this point, i think is more of a normalizing influence than a true race to bring anything back. Lets talk about the safeties, dangers, and the idea of a lack of regulation. These companies are so far ahead of any regulators, do we have to think of exploitation or those sorts of things . Absolutely. If we just take the moon as an example, as we said here, its right in our backyard. That is governed right now under a international treaty. The space treaty that governs it says that no nation can claim sovereignty over it. There has been thought about what one can do up there, but no one has touched mining. One interesting example is antarctica, and it is governed by a multinational treaty that bans mining. We would have to get around that, and come up with some sort of environmental system, assessment for mining on the moon. But if you look at the way people treat the moon, the footage you see of astronauts leaving, they are blowing debris all over the place. We need some sort of governing system for saying we can all go there, we may be able to take some stuff back, but nobody gets to exploit the moon. Thanks jake. Thanks, ally. These two companies arent the only ones with their sites on the moon. China has their sights on the moon as well. Thats tomorrow. Were now seeing protests nightly in cities across america, protests like this one behind me. The anger that Many Americans feel over the deaths of two unarmed black men is real, but the protests may signal something bigger. Americas economy is finally starting to hum again. Last month, 321,000 new jobs were added, but it remains a very, very uneven recovery. Economic growth used to float all boats, but that contributed to the general sense that the future would get righter for everyone. But as tom perez told me last week, this improving economy only seems to float the yachts. That many africanamericans have felt that way for decades is unfortunately not new. That many feel that white dominated Police Forces are more hostile to them is also not new. What is new is how these death of these two men have triggered age across race, and religion. Its as if everyone is addressing the flaws that exist in society. That is why these protests may be different and even a transformtive moment in history. Thats our show for tonight. Im ali velshi. Thank you for joining us. Hi, everyone, im John Siegenthaler in new york. The torture debate. Why the u. S. Military is putting thousands of troops on alert now. Police profiling, expanded guidelines from the Justice Department as protests continue over police killings. Rescue attempt, two hostages killed in yemen. What the white house is now saying about the failed mission. Sinking oil, prices hit a