Separate Oil and State | The Price of Oil

Posts in Separate Oil and State

Keystone XL and Dirty Energy Money
Steve Kretzmann
Jan11
This morning the Guardian carried a story from Maplight about the influence of oil money over the July vote in the House of Representatives on the Keystone XL pipeline. It’s a classic story about the influence of campaign money over policy that will surprise few but bears repeating often. We ran a similar story about…
Continue reading ‘Keystone XL and Dirty Energy Money’.
Big Oil Threatens President Obama
Steve Kretzmann
Jan04
By Brendan Demelle, DeSmogBlog American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard today announced the oil and gas industry’s latest election-year scare campaign to threaten the demise of the U.S. economy unless Big Oil gets its every wish in Washington. This year the wish list includes approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, expanded offshore drilling on both…
Continue reading ‘Big Oil Threatens President Obama’.
“Gas & Oil Party” passes Keystone XL poison pill
Steve Kretzmann
Dec14
Yesterday, Republicans and a few Democrats defied a veto threat from President Obama and passed a bill extending a cut in Social Security payroll taxes which also would fast track a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline and give polluters a variety of other gifts. Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the Republicans…
Continue reading ‘“Gas & Oil Party” passes Keystone XL poison pill’.
Fred Upton: Dirty Energy’s BFF on the Supercommittee
Lorne Stockman
Nov17
Written by Ross Hammond There may be no better example of the corrupting influence of Dirty Energy Money in the current Congress than Supercommittee member Representative Fred Upton of Michigan. In July Upton warned of the dangers of private lobbying organizations and special interests “operating in an increasingly competitive lobbying realm in Washington—a world where…
Continue reading ‘Fred Upton: Dirty Energy’s BFF on the Supercommittee’.
Will The Real Max Baucus Stand Up Please?
Lorne Stockman
Nov14
In less than two weeks the Congressional Supercommittee must submit a plan to Congress to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. One of the big questions is whether the Supercommittee will recommend cutting billions of dollars in subsidies to the hugely profitable oil, gas and coal industries. According to a group of 36…
Continue reading ‘Will The Real Max Baucus Stand Up Please?’.
Payback Time? The Supercommittee & Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Elizabeth Bast
Nov09
The 12 members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “supercommittee,” have received at least $4.2 million in campaign contributions from dirty energy interests lobbying to keep their wasteful taxpayer subsidies, according to a new report from Oil Change International (OCI) and Public Campaign Action Fund (PCAF). The report analyzes the millions of…
Continue reading ‘Payback Time? The Supercommittee & Fossil Fuel Subsidies’.
How to buy a pipeline? Buy Congress.
Lorne Stockman
Nov05
As thousands gather around the White House tomorrow to urge President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, let’s take a minute to look at some of the ways the project has garnered political support so far. Because in the end this is a political decision. A yes indicates support for Big Oil and the…
Continue reading ‘How to buy a pipeline? Buy Congress.’.
A Koch Keystone XL Connection?
Steve Kretzmann
Nov04
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) recently renewed his request that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce investigate the role of Koch Industries in the Keystone XL pipeline. Waxman, the ranking minority member of the committee, made his request in a letter to committee chairmen Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.). Waxman first asked for…
Continue reading ‘A Koch Keystone XL Connection?’.
Big Oil Buys Democratic Support for Keystone XL
Steve Kretzmann
Oct19
Earlier today, twenty-two House Democrats sent a letter to President Obama expressing their support for the Keystone XL pipeline project. The letter was announced in a press release from TransCanada. Both the letter and the press release predictably recycle discredited arguments for Keystone XL on energy security and jobs. What TransCanada didn’t mention is that…
Continue reading ‘Big Oil Buys Democratic Support for Keystone XL’.
Coalition Calls for End to $122 billion in Handouts to Fossil Fuels
Steve Kretzmann
Oct04
(Washington, DC – October 5, 2011) Today leaders of 52 national and state organizations sent a letter to the members of the Super Congress (formally known as the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction) demanding that the elimination of government handouts to the oil, coal and gas industries be a central part of the…
Continue reading ‘Coalition Calls for End to $122 billion in Handouts to Fossil Fuels’.