Posts tagged Big Oil
Holding Politicians Accountable
Senators Boycott EPA Vote While Raising Money From Energy Lobbyists
Priorities, priorities.
From Oil Change International, on a House Committee vote Wednesday on the Keystone pipeline:
“Turns out, those voting for H.R. 3 (and thus, in favor of forcing approval of Keystone XL) today have received on average $141,501 in campaign contributions from Big Oil interests in their political careers.
….
“The amount received by those against? $12,663 on average. $141,501 vs. $12,663. Different scales by a full order of magnitude.”
Politico’s Morning Energy reports today that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) received big donations in the first quarter of 2013 from the same interests that have business before his committee:
Who’s giving to Fred Upton? Energy contributors to the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman in the first quarter gave a total of at least $64,500. Upton got $5,000 contributions from ExxonMobil PAC, DTE Energy PAC, Halliburton PAC, Nuclear Energy Institute PAC and WPX Energy PAC. He also got $2,500 checks from PACs association with the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Marathon Oil, National Ocean Industries Association, NextEra Energy, Petroleum Marketers Association of America, PG&E, Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America and Tesoro, plus a total of $3,500 from Williams Companies PAC.
Sorry, lobbyists only.
Oil and gas industry lobbyists are maneuvering to block Coloradans who live near drill sites from talking about their experiences during a rule-making hearing next week.
Colorado Oil and Gas Association and Colorado Petroleum Association legal motions argue that state laws and procedural rules bar state commissioners from hearing written or oral testimony from the residents because it would be improper, “abusive and harassing” or irrelevant.
How Chevron is using $19 billion in profits so far this year to elect a GOP House
ExxonMobil and Shell aren’t sitting on their hands either to block anti-pollution measures
First reported last night on the Public Campaign Action Fund blog:
Oil giant Chevron donated $2,500,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC whose sole purpose is to elect House Republicans, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The donation appears to be the largest from a publicly-traded corporation in the post-Citizens United era. The corporate donation is double what the company’s PAC and employees have already donated to federal candidates and committees this cycle, according to analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
A new website from the Sierra Club, Big Polluters Bad Politics, “gives Americans the chance to fight back against the corrosive influence of the dirty energy industry this election cycle.”
Check it out - and make your own graphic!
NYT: Fossil Fuel Industry Ads Dominate TV Campaign
“This year’s campaign on behalf of fossil fuels includes a surge in political contributions to Mitt Romney, attack ads questioning Mr. Obama’s clean-energy agenda, and television spots that are not overtly partisan but criticize administration actions like new air pollution rules and the delay of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.”
And, this:
“With nearly two months before Election Day on Nov. 6, estimated spending on television ads promoting coal and more oil and gas drilling or criticizing clean energy has exceeded $153 million this year, according to an analysis by The New York Times of 138 ads on energy issues broadcast this year by the presidential campaigns, political parties, energy companies, trade associations and third-party spenders.”
An individual close to the Romney campaign said that Mr. Romney’s staff drafted the proposal in consultation with industry executives, including Harold Hamm, an Oklahoma billionaire who is the chairman of the campaign’s energy advisory committee and chief executive of Continental Resources, an oil and gas driller.
