Oil Watchdog

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

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Right: Valero’s Amarillo refinery blast in February The chief funders of California’s anti-regulation Proposition 23 on the November ballot are a pair of Texas-based refiners, Valero and Tesoro. Each of them has two refineries in California and the last thing they want, from a profit standpoint, is regulation of greenhouse gases or any concerted attempt [...]

Coal’s Anonymous Dirt

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Big Coal is planning an anonymous campaign blitz against elected officials (in Kentucky in this case) who dare to favor any restrictions on coal. That's according to an internal coal company memo obtained by Kentucky's Lexington Herald newspaper. This is only a tiny piece of the fallout from the Supreme Court's decision to let corporations pour unlimited anonymous money into political campaigns. How many of these memos do we not know about?

Big Oil’s Boondoggle Machine

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Given the fury directed at BP in Congressional hearings on the Gulf oil spill, you’d think the time was ripe to cut the oil industry’s ridiculous subsidies–amounting to at least $40 billion per decade, according to a well-researched New York Times story over the July 4th weekend. But guess again. The oil industry has kept [...]

Big Oil’s New Ballot War

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

06-23-10 by dugan Californians are getting sick to death of corporate-sponsored ballot initiatives. And they’re catching on to who’s behind the slogans, voting down two deceptively marketed initiatives on the June ballot that were wholly owned by a power company and an auto insurance company. But here it comes again. A ballot initiative mostly [...]

Chevron’s Protection Racket

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

06-23-10 by dugan The latest round of state political contribution reports show that Chevron has given another $250,000 to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s huge political slush fund, the "California Dream Team." That makes a total of more than $1.25 million straight from Chevron to Schwarzenegger. The governor can’t run again, and there are no [...]

Supporting Oilworkers’ Families

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Consumer Watchdog Joins Group of Advocates in Letter to Rep. Conyers to Assist Families of Deceased Oil Rig Workers 06-23-10 by Khan Consumer Watchdog has joined groups promoting justice and consumer advocates in a letter to Rep. John Conyers (MI) expressing support for a bill introduced in the House that would help families recoup non-economic [...]

Mocking Barton Website Is Up

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Mocking Barton Website Is Up Liveblog by Khan Thanks to the NYT for this tip, a website mocking Joe Barton’s performance this morning: http://joebartonwouldliketoapologize.com/

Barton’s Non-Apology

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Rep. Barton says some may have "misconstrued" his accusation of a White House "shakedown" and "national tragedy." by Khan Rep. Barton (TX) just took a moment to clear up his "shakedown" comment. Saying he thought BP should be held fully responsible, and should be forced to "make good" on its liabilities, Barton hopes [...]

Congress Gets It Backward

Thursday, June 17, 2010

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How is it that renewable energy producers struggle to renew expiring, and already expired, tax breaks and other funding credits in Congress, while the Senate overwhelmingly refuses to cut Big Oil’s $35 billion in taxpayer subsidies? Something to ponder as BP’s CEO faces withering fire for BP’s catastrophic spill in a House Committee hearing [...]

Gibbs: Barton’s words ‘shameful’

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Gibbs: Barton’s comments "shameful" Liveblog by Khan As the committee reconvenes, a quick update on the immediate backlash against Rep. Barton’s "shakedown" description of the WH’s success in getting BP to commit to a $20 billion escrow account. TPM reports WH Press Secretary Gibbs’ statement: "What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have [...]

GOP has other concerns

Thursday, June 17, 2010

GOP has other concerns Liveblog by Khan Republican members on the committee have consistently drawn attention to other concerns in their opening statements. One would think that the investigative hearing, with BP CEO Tony Hayward as a chief witness, would focus on the events leading up to the completion of the Macondo well, as well [...]

Rep. Barton: I apologize for Obama’s “shakedown”

Thursday, June 17, 2010