Energy

Energy and utility watchdog coverage — gas prices, oil-industry profits, utility rates, and clean-energy accountability.

Debut of fix for ‘hot fuel’ on hold:

March 4, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A company backs off plans to sell retail pumps that would solve the problem in California.</h3>The Kansas City Star (Missouri) "Now that regulators have done their job and certified technology to cool down the hot-gas market, the oil companies should not be allowed to pressure manufacturers to deny Californians fair and honest accounting at the pump," said Jamie Court, president of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica, Calif. "This could be the oil industry's Waterloo."

State gas prices zooming near $3

February 28, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

Sacramento Bee (California) Yet California prices have risen more quickly than in the rest of the country. The traditional "spread" of 20 cents to 30 cents, caused in part by California's tougher fuel specifications, has grown to a whopping 46 cents. One consumer advocacy group, Santa Monica's Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, called this week for "immediate action by Congress and California lawmakers to regulate gasoline supplies and curb price-gouging by oil companies and refiners."

California’s Gas Price Higher Than U.S. Average

February 28, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

CSNews.com The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said there is no credible reason for the large and widening disparity, and called for immediate action by Congress and California lawmakers to regulate gasoline supplies and curb price-gouging by oil companies and refiners, the report stated.

Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air – How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science

February 27, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

Union of Concerned Scientists

State’s gasoline jumps 8.6 cents;

February 27, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

<h3>California's average is almost 36 cents higher year over year. Refinery problems are blamed.</h3>The Los Angeles Times The gap between the California average and the national average was 41 cents a gallon Monday, a fact one consumer group attributed to price gouging and a deliberate effort to keep supply tight. "California's price spike in February, nearly the lowest consumption period of the year, is setting up the state to smash last year's $3.38-a-gallon record," said Judy Dugan, research director for the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights. "Lawmakers will be guilty of political malpractice if they ignore this blatant profiteering."

Exxon in Sheep’s Clothing

February 21, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

TheHill.com What's up with oil industry advertising? In full-page ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other major newspapers and magazines, Exxon, Chevron and the American Petroleum Institute soberly explain their positions on "climate change" (Exxon), the inextricably global nature of the oil business (Chevron) and why the oil industry's bloated profits are just average (API). These are messages aimed not at the average motorist, but at Congress and regulators.

Climate Change Futures Report: Health, Ecological & Economic Dimensions

February 20, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

Center for Health & The Global Environment - Harvard Medical School

CAPITOL NOTEBOOK: Primary move – No limits on cynicism

February 18, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

Contra Costa Times (California) "Really, what we're looking at is two powerful politicians looking to extend their stay in office." -- Carmen Balber, for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, on an initiative to change terms limits that could result in extending the terms of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland.

NRDC ExxonMobil Internal Memo on Global Climate Science

February 16, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

NRDC

Termed out? Maybe not;

February 16, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

<h3>MEASURE'S APPROVAL COULD KEEP PERATA AND NÚÑEZ IN POWER</h3>The San Jose Mercury News (California) Critics say that legislators are using an early presidential primary as a pretext for an early vote on term limits. If the initiative passed in February 2008, it would allow Perata and Nuñez to retain their seats. If it's delayed until June, it will be too late; they already will have been termed out. "Really, what we're looking at,'' said Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, "is two powerful politicians looking to extend their stay in office.''

Big Oil Shifts To Greener Rhetoric But Investment Still Lags

February 14, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

Dow Jones Newswires Big Oil's embrace of the environmental debate has drawn jeers from some quarters. "Big Oil CEO's are meeting in Houston this week to develop a message on making their energy look better -- greener and more committed to energy efficiency," said the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, headlined "Big Oil's Hot Air in Houston." "But their underlying business strategy hasn't changed a bit."

Topics shift to the environment as oil executives meet in Texas;

February 14, 2007 · Consumer Watchdog

<h3>'It really reflects how the times change,' says Daniel Yergin, whose group is the sponsor.</h3>The Los Angeles Times All the talk of ethanol, biofuels and climate change represented a striking departure from the hot topics that have coursed through this energy conference over the last 25 years. But oil industry critics at the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights weren't impressed. "Big Oil CEOs are meeting in Houston this week to develop a message on making their industry look better -- greener and more committed to energy efficiency. But their underlying business strategy hasn't changed a bit," the Santa Monica-based consumer group said in a Tuesday statement.