Wildfire Survivors, Consumer Groups, Insurers, Public Entities Oppose Limits on Survivors’ Rights At Hearings In CA Capitol On CEA SB 254 Report

Oil Permits Surge In First Q 2026 With Majority For Dangerous Extraction Techniques; Watchdogs Warn New State Drilling Law Unfair

Watchdog Warns of Continued Gasoline Price Spikes Without Promised Energy Commission Rules

Reports

A Field Guide to Fossil Fuel Front Groups

August 14, 2026 · Alexandra Nagy

As the United States Supreme Court is set to decide a bellwether climate deception case in Suncor v. Boulder, Consumer Watchdog has documented the fossil fuel companies, billionaires and climate-denial networks behind 25 organizations that filed briefs in the case…

THE DISINFORMATION ECHO CHAMBER: How California’s For-Profit Utilities Built Political Support For A Wildfire Utility Bailout

August 6, 2026 · Alexandra Nagy

California's investor-owned, for-profit utilities are pursuing one of the largest corporate bailouts in California history — one that would shift billions of dollars in wildfire liability away from themselves for causing catastrophic fires on to wildfire survivors,…

The Slow Death and Dangerous Reinvention of California Resources Corp

July 20, 2026 · Liza Tucker

As California’s largest oil producer, California Resources Corp. is the poster child for both the industry’s slow death as it runs out of oil, and dangerous reinvention as it pushes Carbon Capture and Storage technology that is a bad bet for the public and the…

Dirty Deal: How A Corporate Utility Fixer Is Poised To Turn Over California Climate Law To Trump

April 17, 2025 · Justin Kloczko

For decades, the electrical worker union lobbyist Scott Wetch has been one of the most powerful figures in Sacramento, wielding wide influence over labor and energy policy, and making a killing doing it. As part of his personal real estate holdings worth over $13…

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

April 19, 2023 · Liza Tucker

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 a substantive reform of the program.

Taxing Oil Refiners’ Profits: How To Get Back What Californians Overpay At the Pump

October 6, 2022 · Liza Tucker

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY “Oil companies are ripping you off,” Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted on September 30. “Their record profits are coming at your expense at the pump. I’m calling for a NEW windfall tax exclusively on oil companies. If they won't lower their prices, we…

Pilot Error : How CalRecycle’s New CRV Refund Pilots are Crashing and Burning

July 15, 2022 · Liza Tucker

C alifornia’s bottle deposit system is in disrepair. The rate at which consumers redeem their California Redemption Value (CRV) deposits is 58%, the third lowest among bottle deposit states. Too few redemption centers exist for a state of nearly 40 million people.…

Black Gold: The $10 Trillion Dollar Cost of California Oil

June 2, 2022 · Liza Tucker

According to the oil industry, California oil and gas production is indispensable. But a rough tally of costs in the form of harm to public health from oil and gas pollution, fossil fuel-accelerated global warming, exacerbated wildfires and drought, and fiscal risk to…

Cash For Trash: Recycling Fraud In California

January 6, 2022 · Liza Tucker

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A Consumer Watchdog investigation into fraud under California’s bottle deposit law finds fraud is rampant in the system – potentially costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars –in nickel and dime deposits stolen in fraudulent bottle and can…

Waste Haulers: The Square Peg in the Circular Economy

May 26, 2021 · Liza Tucker

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Governor Gavin Newsom has called for a circular economy that slashes waste while extracting maximum value by reusing or remanufacturing as much of it as possible. A circular economy cuts greenhouse gases and toxic emissions. It helps companies meet…

TRASHED: How California Recycling Failed and How To Fix It

January 7, 2020 · Liza Tucker

The California bottle deposit law was designed to recycle billions of empty glass, plastic and metal beverage containers every year, cut pollution, and save energy. Consumer Watchdog’s year-long investigation of the system and others like it around the world has found…

Half a Nickel: How California Consumers Get Ripped Off On Every Bottle Deposit They Pay.

February 27, 2019 · Liza Tucker

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The opinions expressed in this report are solely those of Consumer Watchdog and do not reflect the opinions of the Container Recycling Institute. CRI provided valuable technical assistance but any conclusions, assertions and statements are those of…