Liza Tucker

Liza Tucker is a consumer advocate for Consumer Watchdog, following everything from oil and gas to the regulation of toxic substances in the state of California. She comes to us from Marketplace, the largest U.S. broadcast show on business and economics heard by ten million listeners each week on 400 radio stations. Liza worked at this public radio show for a decade, first as Commentary Editor and then as Senior Editor for both Washington and Sustainability News. At Marketplace, Liza produced and edited several special feature series from who funds Washington think tanks to the BP oil spill. Liza has worked as a journalist, consultant, teacher, and translator.

Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Liza spent a few years in Bologna, Italy. She covered business at The Washington Post and later free-lanced her way through the Soviet Union, covering its collapse for Time, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. Liza is fluent in Russian and speaks Italian. She taught journalism at Allegheny College.  She also served as a consultant to the MacArthur Foundation awarding individual grants in the areas of independent media, women’s rights, and legal reform, and to US AID on how to support independent media in Ukraine. She translated Alexandra’s letters to Nicholas for The Fall of the Romanovs, published by Yale University Press. She traveled through Europe in 2009 as a German Marshall Fund Fellow studying German, French, Danish, and British approaches to sustainability. She holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

Liza Tucker

CRC Play To Buy Aera Is Way To Avoid Plugging Idle Wells, Extending Life Of Depleted Oil Fields Via Unproven Technology, Say Consumer Watchdog...

Los Angeles, CA—Oil giant California Resources Corp’s purchase of Aera Energy for just half the price it fetched two years ago is a ploy...

Oil Drilling Permit Approvals Cratered In 2023; Plummeting Production Calls for Plugging Idle Wells, Chevron Wells Produce Only 3 Barrels of Oil Per Day 

Los Angeles, CA—California oil regulators issued 95% fewer permits to drill new wells and 25% fewer to fix or redrill existing wells during 2023...

Watchdog Wants Legislative Investigation Into CA Department of Finance $300 Million Understatement of Bottle Deposit Funds As Means to Stop Spending on Reforms

Sacramento, CA— Consumer Watchdog called upon the Senate and Assembly budget chairs to investigate the Department of Finance’s understatement of available funds in CalRecycle’s...

Oil Drillers Mislead With Advertising Claims That Decreased CA Crude Oil Production Policies Lead To High Gas Prices

Los Angeles, CA -- In a barrage of deceptive Facebook and television advertisements, oil drillers, masquerading as “Californians for Energy Independence,” are falsely claiming limiting...

Valero Posts $2.6 Billion 3rd Q Profit On CA Gasoline Margins 56.5% Greater Than Other Regions; Shows Need For Expedited Price Gouging Penalty, Consumer Watchdog...

*This press release has been updated: Valero posted 3rd Q profit on CA Gasoline Margins that are 56.5% greater than other regions, not 70%. It...

CalGEM Continues 2023 Oil Permit Approvals in Vulnerable Communities, Works Against Legislation Raising Billions in Oil Bonding to Plug Unproductive Wells; Newsom Must Ignore...

Los Angeles, CA—The state’s oil and gas regulator CalGEM has gone rogue, approving hundreds of oil permits this year in vulnerable communities breathing poisonous...

The Good That Came Out Of Suing the State Over Allowing Illegal Disposal Of Radioactive Waste From CA’s Most Notorious Cold War Lab: An...

The Santa Susana Field Lab, nestled in the Simi Hills, is about an hour by car from downtown Los Angeles.  It is the scene of...

KCRW-FM (Radio) – Los Angeles, CA: Liza Tucker Answers Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Recycling

By Staff Reporters, KCRW – Los Angeles, CA Click below to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.

Prominent Public Interest Groups Support Consumer Watchdog Petition To CA Supreme Court To Require State Agencies To Enforce Strict Rule On Radioactive Debris Disposal...

Supreme Court Action Needed To Protect Hundreds Of Thousands Of Californians From Harm Los Angeles, CA—Public interest groups filed amicus letters with the California Supreme...

California Oil Regulators Continue Issuing Permits In Q2 To Rework Leaky, Unproductive Wells; Should Order Plugging Instead, Advocates Say

Los Angeles, CA—The total number of oil drilling permits issued blew past 15,000 since Governor Newsom took office in 2019, while nearly all permits...

CalMatters OpEd- How California Bottle Recycling Overhaul Could Give Heaps of Landfill Money Back to Consumers

By Liza Tucker, CAL MATTERS https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/06/bottle-recycling-overhaul-california-consumers/ Californians pay about $1.5 billion in recycling deposits every year on beverages from bottled water to beer. But less than 1 in...

Consumer Watchdog Asks CA Finance Dept. To Strike Continued Funding For Failed SF Mobile Recycling Pilot From Budget

Los Angeles, CA— Consumer Watchdog has called upon the Governor’s Department of Finance to strike a $500,000 allocation in the legislative-approved budget for the...

KERO-BFL (ABC) – Bakersfield, CA; Oil Drilling Near Homes Can Cause Health and Safety Concerns

Liza Tucker says despite the senate bill 1137 being put on hold, she believes the state's geologic energy management division can still deny these approvals.

KNBC-LA (NBC) – Los Angeles, CA; Consumer Watchdog’s Liza Tucker Speaks of New Concerns With Santa Susana Field Lab Clean Up

Consumer Watchdog's Energy Advocate, Liza Tucker, explains how Boeing's Santa Susana field lab just northeast of Los Angeles poses potential health risks to people nearby.

New Watchdog Report Lays Out Checklist For CalRecycle To Make Bottle Deposit Refunds Easy As Buying The Beverages

Los Angeles, CA— Consumer Watchdog released a report today outlining what CalRecycle, the state’s recycling regulator, should do beginning at its public workshop on...

At Your Convenience: How California Can Make Refunding Bottle Deposits As Easy As Buying Beverages In The First Place.

After decades of consumer and media criticism of California’s failed bottle deposit return program, Governor Newsom and the California Legislature last year finally passed...

Public Interest Groups Take On Newsom Administration Over Backtracking On Cleanup Of Radioactivity At Santa Susana Site, Case To Be Heard On Monday

In an appeal before the Court of Appeal in Sacramento to be heard on Monday, the Newsom Administration will be challenged over positions that breach a longstanding agreement to require all radioactive waste from the Santa Susana Field Lab be disposed of at sites licensed and designed for such waste.

1st Q Oil Permits Within 3,200-Foot Setback Zone Total 62% Of All New Permits Approved In State Action Condemned By Advocates

The total number of oil drilling permits approved since Governor Gavin Newsom he took office reached nearly 15,000 in the first quarter of 2023, FracTracker Alliance and Consumer Watchdog said today.

Executives And Insiders At CA Big 5 Refiners Cashed Out $590 Million In Company Stock During 2022 In Wartime Profiteering

Top executives and insiders at California’s big five oil refiners cashed out $590 million in stock in 2022, according to a review of filings with Securities Exchange Commission by the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog.

PBF Energy, Last of California’s Big Five Refiners To Report 2022 Results, Finishes Parade Of Windfall Profits In California

Los Angeles, CA—PBF Energy today posted an annual profit of $2.9 billion. The five refiners controlling California’s gasoline market --  PBF Energy, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum,...

Two California Refiners Reveal Windfall Profits For 2022, Continuing In Footsteps of Chevron

Los Angeles, CA—Marathon Petroleum made 75 cents in profit per gallon off West Coast drivers in 2022, virtually doubling what it made the year...

Valero 2022 Profits Skyrocket But Gas Pump Gouging In CA Moderates As CA Threatens Refiner Penalty

Los Angeles, CA—Valero raked in $11.5 billion in 2022 profits, beating its $930 million for the previous year by a dozen times. However, Governor...

80 Environmental Advocacy Groups Support Price Gouging Penalty On California Refiners

Los Angeles, CA—80 environmental and public health advocacy groups have sent a letter of support to Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), author of legislation setting...

4th Quarter Oil Permit Approvals Show Steep Rise Within Protective Buffer Zones As State’s Top Oil Regulator Steps Down, Advocacy Groups Report

Los Angeles, CA—The state Oil & Gas Supervisor at the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) has been relieved of his job against the...

CA’s Big 5 Oil Refiner Profits Top $26 Billion, $1 Per Gallon; Watchdog To Make Case For Profits Disclosure Bill And Windfall Profits Tax...

​ Los Angeles, CA— A review of California’s five big oil refiners’ investor reports from the second quarter shows unprecedented, windfall profits that top $1 per...

Oil Producers Financing Referendum Against Drilling Ban Received New Permits This Year To Drill In Public Health Safety Zone Ahead Of January Ban

Los Angeles, CA—As a ban on permit approvals for oil drilling near vulnerable communities looms on January 1, oil drillers seeking to overturn the...

California Oil Refiners Post 30% Higher Profits In CA, Capturing A $1.8 Billion Windfall: Why We Need A Windfall Profits Cap

With California’s five big oil refiner third quarter profits reports complete, a Consumer Watchdog review shows that four of the five together posted 30% higher profits per gallon from gasoline sold on the West Coast than anywhere else in the nation or world.

Phillips Extracts 68 Cents Per Gallon In 3rd Q Profits From West Coast Consumers; Pushes Total Windfall Profits For CA Refiners Past $1.5 Billion...

Los Angeles, CA—Oil refiner Phillips 66 posted 3rd quarter refining profits of $2.8 billion, accounting for more than half of its total quarterly profits of...

Chevron Doubles 3rd Q Refining Profit to $2.5 Billion; New CA Transparency Law To Reveal Extent Of Big, Hidden Windfall Profits

Los Angeles, CA—Chevron posted refining profits of $2.5 billion dollars in the third quarter, almost doubling their haul from the same quarter the year...

PBF’s Oil Refining Profits Triple, Makes 78 Cents Per Gallon On California Gasoline Compared To 50 Cents In Rest Of US

Los Angeles, CA— California’s third biggest oil refiner made a whopping $2.26 billion off refining gasoline, tripling its profit in the third quarter, after...

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