Big Oil and Congress
After taking tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Big Oil, Rep. Scott Tipton (Colo.) has voted repeatedly to keep giving oil companies billions in wasteful oil subsidies.
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From the Blog: Big Oil
Chevron Pockets $1.5 Billion Handout, Spends Big to Keep Friendly Congress
03/01/2013 - 20:13A Washington Post story yesterday revealed that oil and gas companies have enjoyed a massive taxpayer-funded giveaway of $11 billion since 1996 thanks to royalty free wells in the Gulf of Mexico, with Chevron’s $1.5 billion in extra profits topping the list.
The deal is a result of a 1995 law that was intended to encourage oil production at a time when the price of a barrel of oil dropped as low as $11. Now that same barrel of oil would sell for nearly $100, but Big Oil has no intention of giving up its preferential treatment.
With the sequester set to harm communities all across the country, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has suggested that there might be a better use of money than widening the deficit with up to $15.5 billion in additional giveaways to oil and gas interests. But similar legislation to...
Oil Lobbyist Confident Friendly Senate Will Block Climate Legislation
02/21/2013 - 18:48Despite an increased focus on climate change from President Obama, public pressure such as the largest climate rally in U.S. history last weekend, and a new piece of legislation to regulate carbon emissions introduced by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard is confident that the bill will never even reach the floor of the Senate.
As The Hill reports: “'I think no, it will not get to the floor, and I think the reason it won't get to the floor is the dynamics surrounding carbon has changed,' Gerard told E&E TV.”
Gerard says that increased natural gas production, which API has advocated, is responsible for slightly lowering American carbon emissions...
Exxon donates $250,000 to Obama Inaugural
01/18/2013 - 16:20ExxonMobil will donate $250,000 to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, according to a report in The Hill, a surprising donation from an industry that fought tooth and nail to defeat President Obama and elect Mitt Romney.
In 2012, Exxon’s employees donated $185, 985 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, with $88,000 going to President Obama. Last August, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson held a fundraiser for Romney that netted $7 million. In the last cycle, Tillerson donated $5,000 to Romney’s presidential campaign and $34,300 to the Republican National Committee, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Energy giant Southern Company...
Clips round up for 10/31/2012
10/31/2012 - 16:01Jack Gillum at AP pulls together the top donors to the Obama and Romney campaigns (and super PACs). Obama: Fred Eychaner, James Simons, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Irwin Jacobs, Jon Stryker. Romney: Shel Adelson, Harold Simmons, Bob Perry, Robert Rowling, Bill Koch.
The Hill has released its "Top Lobbyists." Several friends of this list on the "Grassroots" section.
And, did you miss the Frontline episode, "Big Sky, Big Money" last night?...
Big Donor Harold Hamm to Senate Finance Committee: Keep Giving Big Oil Tax Breaks
06/12/2012 - 13:30Billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm will appear before the Senate Finance Committee today to “warn against nixing oil industry tax breaks”.
While Hamm may these days be known as an energy adviser and fundraiser for Mitt Romney and big donor to Romney’s super PAC, he is also a big giver at the Congressional level, according to our analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
- Hamm has donated to at least four members of the Senate Finance Committee over the years. Donations include $2,500 in 2011 to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), $2,000 in 2004 to Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), $2,000 in 2004 to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and $2,300 in 2009 to Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).
- The Republican National Committee has received $86,600 from Hamm since 2008. Since 2010, the...