US Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has released an updated list of his top donors. It reveals that nearly a fifth of those who have brought in the largest amounts for him, more than $500,000 each, are lobbyists or work for firms that engage in lobbying. One of those listed is a top oil lobbyist … Read More
Separate Oil and State
EIA: Offshore drilling won’t impact prices until…2030…if then.
I had just started to draft a blog about this when I caught Joe Romm’s excellent post on the same topic. Over to you, Joe: Or, jump directly to the Energy Information Administration’s report.
Once an oil man, always an oil man
For a man whose ties to the oil industry are legendary, it came as a surprise that Bush once said that America had to break its oil addiction. Like an ailing addict who has tried but failed to beat his cravings, Bush has gone cold turkey for oil. As the world faces record oil prices, … Read More
Slick Senate Votes
Its not only the recent climate vote that suggests the influence of Big Oil in the Senate. Yesterday the Senate took two more votes where the influence of Big Oil was arguably a Big Factor. Yesterday the Senate voted down a bill, S3044 that would have given some consumers relief from high gas prices, established … Read More
An Oily Climate in the Senate
As you know if you’ve looked over the key findings of our Follow the Oil Money database, Senators who vote against clean energy take on average 3 times more oil money than those who vote for clean energy. Last week’s vote on the Lieberman – Warner bill was true to form. We ran the vote … Read More
Exxon extends influence in Washington
Exxon is a heavy hitter in Washington, and I’m not just talking about campaign contributions and lobbying. The world’s largest corporate carbon emitter has bought itself top billing at Washington’s new – supposedly green – baseball park. Its hard to name the many ways in which this is offensive. Besides the obvious greenwash of Exxon’s … Read More
“Where is your corporate conscience?”
As oil climbed to a humungous record of $135 a barrel, yesterday US senators once again lined up Big Oil’s biggest executives and pummeled them with questions. “Where is the corporate conscience?” Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat from Illinois, asked the top executives of the five largest U.S. oil companies, who have earned a whopping $36 … Read More
Oil-Backed Senators Push Coastal Drilling
You scratch my back and … The latest moves to ease restrictions on offshore drilling off the US coast is being pushed by 17 Republican senators who have received $3 million total in campaign contributions from individuals and political action committees affiliated with the oil and gas industry since January 1, 2007. The Republican energy … Read More
Obama’s Oil Spill
Newsweek has picked up on the story of Obama taking oil money even though he claims he doesn’t. (As you can see from Oil Change’s cool tool – he does take oil money). According to Newsweek: “ In a new ad, Obama says “I don’t take money from oil companies … that’s a little too … Read More
Watch Live: Congressional Hearing with Top Big Oil Executives
Its April Fool’s Day, and Congress is giving us a chance to have some fun while taking a serious look at the impact of Big Oil. Oil Change International will be watching the hearing closely, and we hope you can watch it with us! Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass), who chairs the Energy Independence and Global … Read More