Energy

Power price shock lingers

December 27, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Daily News of Los Angeles</p> <p>"It's too little too late," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "It's like catching the guy who stole 100 bucks from you and requiring him to give you $ 10 of it back. And then the utility company says, 'Oh, by the way, now you owe us $11."</p>

Shell Oil official clarifies remarks to Senate panel

December 14, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Kansas City Star</p> <p>The closing of refineries has been an issue because a lack of refinery capacity can contribute to higher prices for gasoline and other refined products. One of California's senators, Democrat Barbara Boxer, said Hofmeister's admission was another reason to recall him and the other oil executives who were at the November hearing and make them testify under oath.</p>

Shell Oil president retracts statement about Bakersfield, Calif., refinery

December 9, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Bakersfield Californian</p> <p>"They (Shell) knew by keeping this refinery closed they would have been able to charge a dime more a gallon," said Jamie Court of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. "This is a case study on what actually happens in the oil industry every day."</p>

Crude tactics

November 22, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Big oil mergers have left the U.S. with fewer refiners and more costly petroleum products.</h3><p class="source">The Daily Deal NewsWeekly</p> <p>"It was a classic example of an oil company's shutdown to artfully drive up the price," says Jamie Court, president of Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocacy group based in Santa Monica, Calif., which hired Hamilton to study California's refinery situation.</p>

Report: Storms, refineries blamed for high California gas prices

November 20, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Jose Mercury News</p> <p>"The story about gas prices isn't about the local gas stations, but the few mega-refiners who have seen their profits hit record levels while the nation suffers," said Doug Heller, consumer advocate with the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

California refinery woes fueled post-Katrina spike in gas prices

November 20, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>"The oil industry intentionally reduced supply in California and around the country," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. Heller cited the commission's findings that reported pipeline exports from California to Arizona and Nevada rose 45 percent during the four weeks after Katrina.</p>

Governor, on rebound, lands in Far East;

November 13, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Emerging China offers market potential for high-tech, agriculture, energy interests</h3><p class="source">THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE</p> <p>Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, the watchdog group that runs the ArnoldWatch Web site, said, "The larger public policy issue is: Arnold Schwarzenegger has six days of travel around China -- not just with people funding his trip, but with people who have funded his entire political career." "Labor is not represented; it's all big business," says Art Pulaski, who heads the California Labor Federation AFL-CIO. </p>

Oil, gas companies feeling heat

November 13, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Tulsa World (Oklahoma)</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, has a different theory. Fuel supplies are tight because the industry deliberately made less gasoline and ignored a need to build new refining capacity, he said. Internal memos from several big oil companies expose a strategy to drive up profits by shutting down U.S. refining capacity, Court said.</p>

New Analysis Shows that Private Companies Awarded Lucrative Medicare Drug Contracts Contributed $6.5 Million to Win Congressional Favor

November 10, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>"Rx Express" Riders Across the Nation Say Medicare Should Be Allowed To Use Its Purchasing Power To Negotiate Discounts</h3>

Furor over oil-industry windfall puts GOP to the test

November 4, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">CBS MarketWatch</p> <p>Conservatives in Washington usually deride talk of a windfall-profit tax - a policy last seriously advocated in 1979 - as populist demagoguery intended to appease angry consumers by finding a culprit and thereby give lawmakers political cover. This time, the climate seems to be changing. "It's definitely gaining traction," said Jamie Court, president of the California-based FTCR, and a windfall-tax proponent.</p>

Oil profits stir windfall tax ideas

November 3, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Gannett News Service</p> <p>Consumer groups and Democrats started pushing for a windfall-profits tax after gas topped $3 a gallon in September. But even some Republicans, who traditionally have opposed tax increases, are joining the call for a tax on oil companies' profits.</p>

Russell Roberts of George Mason University & Jamie Court, Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, discuss the taxation and regulation of the oil industry

November 3, 2005  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">Kudlow & Company Show (CNBC-TV)</p> <p>Mr. COURT: I favor regulation of supply, and I think that for three years we've had big profit margins for this industry for one reason. They've made too little gasoline to meet demand. And when the market doesn't work, the government does have to step in and make sure it's fair, particularly when gasoline that fuels the rest of the economy is what we're talking about.</p>