Energy

Unleashing Maria

September 28, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<font face="verdana,sans-serif" size="2">Arnold's been dropping wife Maria's name a lot lately and yesterday Shriver announced her Chief of Staff would be Democratic party hound and Gray Davis operative Daniel Zingale. A former AIDS...</font>

RITA’s AFTERMATH: Bush, Urging Conservation, Seeks to Boost Fuel Supply;

September 27, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The president stresses a need for more refining capacity. Environmental groups express worry.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Critics such as Jamie Court, president of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, have contended that the industry resisted expansion because keeping supplies tight boosted profits. "The answer is not more carrots for the industry, like gutting environmental laws and immunizing companies for the harm they cause, but sticks, such as forcing companies to invest in beefing up refining capacity when it is needed," Court said.</p>

Bush asks U.S. to save energy;

September 27, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>With gasoline prices up almost a dollar over 2004, most Americans say they're feeling the pain. The president tells them to reduce demand.</h3><p class="source">The Wichita Eagle</p> <p>Some consumer groups have accused oil companies of deliberately restricting refining capacity to keep gasoline prices high. "They know when they make less gasoline, they make more money," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Los Angeles-based group that frequently battles oil companies in court.</p>

Supply-side regulation needed for the US oil industry

September 21, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Marketplace Radio Program (NPR)</p> <p>Since deregulation in 1982, oil consumption has increased 33 percent. But oil companies have reduced refining capacity by about 10 percent. Why? They know the scarcer the product, the bigger the profit. Conspiratorial? A few years ago, US Senator Ron Wyden released internal company memos proving that in late 1990s refiners realized they had to reduce supply to pump up profits and that's just what they did.</p>

Californians gouged on gasoline prices?

September 19, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Big Oil Bringing Price Controls On Itself</h3><p class="source">Ventura County Star (California)</p> <p>FTCR suggests the 20-cent post-Katrina leap was pure gouging, with no other apparent cause -- no new refinery failures, no shipwrecked oil tankers, no major new leaks on the Trans-Alaska pipeline. There have so far been neither denials from oil companies nor other explanations for why prices for all brands rose in concert to record levels.</p>

Crude Manipulation;

September 13, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>In Katrina's wake, the supposed oil shortage and suspicious gas price hikes</h3><p class="source">The Village Voice (New York)</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a California consumer group dealing with utility and energy issues, has released a series of internal oil company memos that strongly suggest the industry conspired to withhold refined products to drive the price up.</p>

Katrina exposes oil industry problems

September 11, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">UPI - United Press International</p> <p>Industry critics allege oil companies have intentionally limited refining capacity to improve the bottom line. "They are supposed to compete and bring the lowest price to consumers," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "But the truth is that a small number of oil companies cheat by working together by artificially reducing supplies."</p>

Storm Stretches Refiners Past a Perilous Point

September 11, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The New York Times</p> <p>'Oil companies have jacked up gasoline prices through a simple mechanism: reducing inventories and refining capacity,'' said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, an advocacy group, whose views are widely shared by industry opponents. ''They are supposed to compete and bring the lowest price to consumers,'' Mr. Court said. ''But the truth is that a small number of oil companies cheat by working together by artificially reducing supplies.''</p>

Some calling profits obscene

September 9, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Philadelphia Daily News</p> <p>Indeed, public-interest group, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR), just this week released internal memos from Chevron, Texaco and Mobil during the 1990s suggesting there was an intentional effort to keep America's gasoline-refining capacity down to boost profit margins.</p>

Debate over alleged gas-price gouging in California continues

September 9, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Consumer advocates such as Jamie Court say they believe the oil companies have shown they're willing to restrict supplies in an effort to raise prices. The most recent example came when Shell Oil Co. was prepared to close its Bakersfield refinery until elected officials and Court's organization, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, pressured Shell into finding a buyer for the facility. The refinery supplies about 2 % of California's gas</p>

Consumer expert: Hurricane exposes need for more U.S. refineries

September 8, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Gannett News Service</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights, said the oil companies deliberately reduced their refining capacity in the 1990s to make more money. So when a disaster hits, he added, there is no reserve to tap into and gas prices skyrocket.</p>

Katrina’s Aftermath – Energy Profits Likely to Keep Rising;

September 8, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Industry executives and analysts expect refiners' gains to continue to be strong into next year.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica, said the industry hasn't built new refineries in decades and otherwise keeps supplies low, "so every disaster means a big hike in profits. The Congress and the statehouse need to focus on regulating [fuel] supplies in the same way they regulate electricity supplies," he said.</p>