US politics | The Price of Oil

Posts in US politics

“Liability” Don Young Faces Ethics Probe
Andy Rowell
Dec07
Alaskans are beginning to ask the multi-million dollar question about their veteran politician, and oil-industry stooge, Don Young. At the end of last month, one journalist writing for the Alaskan Dispatch newspaper asked “Are Don Young’s political antics an Alaska asset or liability?” The trouble for Alaskans is that Young, whose slogan is the “Congressman…
Continue reading ‘“Liability” Don Young Faces Ethics Probe’.
Dave Camp: You Get What You Pay For
Lorne Stockman
Nov18
Written by Ross Hammond The fossil fuel industry is nothing if not clever. Rather than try to defend on the merits of their taking billions of dollars a year in government handouts, they’ve decided to change not only the conversation, but the language itself. So for example an attempt to repeal some of the oil…
Continue reading ‘Dave Camp: You Get What You Pay For’.
Pat Toomey: Drill-Baby-Drill, Even in Lake Erie
Lorne Stockman
Nov17
Written by Ross Hammond Residents of Cleveland and Buffalo (where I grew up) might be forgiven if they were not terribly excited about the prospect of having oil rigs off the shores of their fair cities. But according to Supercommittee member Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, drilling for oil in Lake Erie might just be…
Continue reading ‘Pat Toomey: Drill-Baby-Drill, Even in Lake Erie’.
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’.
Factual Statement: Big Oil Gets Billions Each Year in Government Handouts
Lorne Stockman
Nov17
Written by Ross Hammond When it comes to government handouts to the fossil fuel industry, one of the more intractable members of the Supercommittee appears to be Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, who voted in both 2010 and 2011 to continue to give our tax money to Big Oil. Senator Kyl made a name for…
Continue reading ‘Factual Statement: Big Oil Gets Billions Each Year in Government Handouts’.
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 $1.5 trillion. One of the big questions is whether the Supercommittee will recommend cutting billions of dollars in subsidies to the hugely profitable oil, gas and coal industries. According to a group of 36…
Continue reading ‘Will The Real Max Baucus Stand Up Please?’.
Talking Dirty in the President’s Ear
Andy Rowell
Oct25
The revolving door between the Obama Administration and TransCanada keeps on spinning, despite a decision on the hugely controversial pipeline just weeks away. Let’s not forget the first revolving door story, which revolves around Paul Elliott, who is TransCanada’s lobbyist promoting Keystone XL. Elliot worked for Hilary Clinton during her 2008 campaign. Recently released embarrassing…
Continue reading ‘Talking Dirty in the President’s Ear’.
Rick Perry’s predictable energy plan
Lorne Stockman
Oct14
I wasn’t bowled over with surprise to hear news of Rick Perry’s energy plan today. I could have written it myself. The plan is a fossil fuel industry wish list. Open everything up and dismantle any regulation that might get in the way of digging, drilling, fracking and burning. It’s not really news. It wasn’t…
Continue reading ‘Rick Perry’s predictable energy plan’.
Keystone XL Crime Scene Investigation
Steve Kretzmann
Oct11
Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth, the Other 98% and DeSmogBlog have mapped the tangled web of corruption around the Keystone XL pipeline. Check it out and then click the image to send your letter demanding that President Obama reject the lobbyists and say no to Keystone XL.
It’s Time for Reform: Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Rich Nations are Staggering
Traci Romine
Oct11
Finally a new report, released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED), begins to quantify how much rich nations—and taxpayers—are supporting fossil-fuel production and consumption. The numbers are staggering. During each of the last five years, between US$ 45 billion and US$ 75 billion in budgetary support and tax expenditures have been provided…
Continue reading ‘It’s Time for Reform: Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Rich Nations are Staggering’.