Archive | March, 2009
Blog Post
Chevron’s torture(d) lawyer
Posted by Judy Dugan
03-31-09 by dugan Corporate arrogance leads to corporate blindness: AIG execs who packaged impossible risk into AAA securities, bankers who lent trillions on a bet that the real estate bubble would never pop. In Chevron’s case, it’s a CEO who hired one of the Bush administration’s chief torture-enablers as the company’s top legal adviser and [...]
Blog Post
Conoco’s chicken-fat fade-out
Posted by Judy Dugan
26. March 2009
When a major oil company announces a green fuels project, the trumpet is loud. Press releases, media blitz, public officials on site. The death of the project is a slink-away-at-midnight affair. So it is with ConocoPhillips’ deal with Tyson Foods in Arkansas to make biodiesel from waste animal fat—tons of it. Conoco CEO Jim Mulva [...]
Blog Post
Look who’s talking
Posted by Judy Dugan
25. March 2009
03-25-09 by dugan There’s no doubt that the ethanol industry is in trouble. Credit crunch, ugly recession, and roller-coaster energy prices that spook investors. The Des Moines Register has a good rundown today on cellulosic ethanol startups that can’t get private investors to finance commercial-scale plants. One puzzling thing–a chief problem cited in the story [...]
Blog Post
Exxon anniversary surprise
Posted by Judy Dugan
24. March 2009
04-24-09 by dugan Here’s the best proof I’ve seen that every last thing Exxon does is about the bottom line. On the 20th anniversary of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill, Exxon is still running single-hulled tankers, including a sister ship of the Exxon Valdez, into the Alaskan port of Valdez. The tanker, SeaRiver Long [...]
Blog Post
Palin, Obama, Exxon & “T Rex”
Posted by Judy Dugan
18. March 2009
Does OilWatchdog troll gossip sites? Well, how else to stumble on the Conde Nast Portfolio cover of Sarah Palin, with leftover photos from her Vogue shoot and a bottom line that she’s not governing anything, including Alaska’s dreamed-of natural gas pipeline. But the real prize is another story in the same issue, by Peter Waldman, [...]
Press Release
Conflict Taints Hot Fuel Study Outcome
CONTACT: J. Dugan J. Court Judy Dugan 213-280-0175, or 310-392-0522 x305, or Jamie Court, x327
17. March 2009
Consumer Group Letters Charge Conflict of Interest in Oil-Friendly Outcome of California Fuel Temperature Study Gov. Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Bass Asked for Action to Protect Consumer Fairness Santa Monica, CA — Consumer Watchdog has filed a state complaint that a conflict of interest affected the outcome of the California Energy Commission’s study on the costs [...]
Blog Post
Speculators back at work
Posted by Judy Dugan
12. March 2009
The fuel dealers’ newsletter Oil Express sent around a bulletin today that shows who’s still gyrating the price of oil, gasoline and diesel. The headline: Gasoline, Diesel, Crude Ride Surge in Wild Thursday Trading. Prices spiked up to 10 cents a gallon for wholesale gasoline, and $5 a barrel for crude oil. The culprits? Futures [...]
News Clipping
CEC Says No To Hot Fuel Fix
12. March 2009
No Benefit To Motorists In A ‘Hot Fuel’ Fix, State Panel Says California Energy Commission says the costs of compensating for gasoline temperature would outweigh the gains in fuel volume. By Marc Lifsher, LOS ANGELES TIMES March 12, 2009 Sacramento, CA — Amid allegations of conflict of interest, the five members of the California Energy [...]
Press Release
Hot Fuel Study Fixed For Big Oil
CONTACT: J.Dugan D.Heller Judy Dugan 213-280-0175; or Doug Heller, 310-392-0522 x309
11. March 2009
Documents Show Political Appointees Interfered With Cal. Energy Commission Study Of Hot Fuel Ripoff To Protect Oil Companies Consumer Group Says Government Staff’s Consumer-Oriented Findings Were Altered by Commissioners With Ties to Oil Industry Santa Monica, CA — Public documents retrieved by Consumer Watchdog reveal that, after private meetings with oil industry representatives, some of [...]
Blog Post
Smart grid: Genius or greenwash
Posted by Judy Dugan
6. March 2009
03-08-09 by dugan "Move over, Big Oil. There’s a new VIP guest in the White House: Silicon Valley." Writers know you have to nab readers with the lead paragraph. That one above, by Erika Lovley of Politico for a story on the politics of the "smart grid" is a champ. Who wouldn’t want IBM and [...]
Blog Post
Word fight over hot fuel
Posted by Judy Dugan
4. March 2009
03-04-09 by dugan Are fairness and transparency in buying and selling just "public perceptions" that are "subjective" and "variable"? Of course not. That’s why regulators measure and inspect the scales at your supermarket. They even limit the amount of water injected into a frozen turkey, since it’s not something shoppers can see for themselves. So [...]
Blog Post
Clean fun with coal
Posted by Judy Dugan
3. March 2009
Opponents of coal got a big buzz the past week by releasing a YouTube video, "Clean Coal Air Freshener," produced by filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. It’s good as the sparkling family chokes, and the ranch house spews a gray cloud-but not as good as the Coens’ wood chipper scene in "Fargo." I think the [...]
News Clipping
Groups Dispute Hot Fuel Report
2. March 2009
California Consumer Groups Dispute ‘Hot Fuel’ Report By Joanna Franco, OCTANE WEEK March 2, 2009 Two consumer rights groups in California are claiming that the lead energy commissioner involved in a gasoline "hot fuel" study has a conflict of interest because his wife serves in an executive position with the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA). [...]
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31. March 2009