Energy

Buckle up! Pump prices set to take off

November 4, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune (California)</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica said a study it had commissioned found a pattern of oil refiners cutting profits before three national elections, including this year. Judy Dugan, the foundation's research director, said the lack of access to oil company operations records made charges of election-period price rigging hard to prove conclusively, but she added that companies can't disprove the charge without opening their books.</p>

Potential ballot-box profits raise concern

November 3, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Yusef Robb, a spokesman for Yes on 87, calls such arguments "a lot of smoke thrown up by oil companies" to scare voters. "All the dollars will be given out through a competitive, public process," he said. The panel would meet in public, he said, and funding would be monitored by independent auditors, the state controller's office and an oversight committee.</p>

Speculation in the Oil Market & The U.S. Midterm Elections

November 1, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3><a href="http://priceofoil.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/Speculation%20in%20the%20Oil%20Market%20and%20the%20U.S.%20Midterm%20Elections.pdf">Click here to view the report</a>.</h3><p class="source">Price of Oil.org</p>

Comparing Retail Gas Pump & Crude Oil Prices in Election Years

October 30, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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October Gas Pump Price Profit Indicator In Election Years

October 30, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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October Gas Pump Prices in Election Years

October 30, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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Chevron earnings surge to a record;

October 28, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The oil company posts a profit of $5 billion, boosted by strong sales at the gasoline pump.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>During the summer's gasoline-price surge, California motorists paid as much as 50 cents more than the national per-gallon average, a difference that the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights dubbed the "Chevron tax." The Santa Monica-based consumer group estimated that the company was amassing as much as $5 million extra a day in California because of the state's higher fuel prices.</p>

Price & Profit of California Crude Oil

October 27, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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Both sides pump big bucks into Prop 87 fight

October 20, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, vouched for the initiative's safeguards. "California has some of the toughest political reform provisions and open-meeting laws in the nation," he said. "And this existing agency will be subject to those laws. That gives consumer agencies, like mine, an opportunity to hold it accountable."</p>

Invest in the future, not war;

October 20, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Candidate supports Prop 87</h3><p class="source">Marin Independent Journal (California)</p> <p>Proposition 87 is a step in the right direction. It taxes the oil producers. In general, if one is going to tax people for a bad habit, I favor taxing the pushers, not the users, particularly when the pushers in this case have so much money and political influence at their disposal.</p>

Corporations on spending tear — Big Oil, tobacco firms pour big money into campaigns

October 20, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Big business campaign funding, mostly to thwart initiatives, has hit $157 million so far this election</h3><p class="source">The San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Chevron and Aera Energy (ExxonMobil and Shell), the top four corporate donors, have contributed $108 million alone. "The millions spent by oil and tobacco companies are designed to drown out the voices of the other side," said Carmen Balber, spokeswoman for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "And it's used to overwhelm voters with a barrage of negative advertising." By comparison, corporations have outspent unions, another group not shy about putting money into campaigns, by a 12-to-1 margin in this election.</p>

Difference in Post-Katrina Gas Price Drop vs. Pre-Election Gas Price Drop

October 18, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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