Energy

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

VOTES A TEST FOR SCHWARZENEGGER

October 2, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

The Boston Globe A poll released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California indicated that one-third of adult Californians approve of the governor's job performance, his lowest standing ever, down from 61 percent a year ago.

Powerful Teachers Union Is in the Thick of Ballot Battles

September 29, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

Los Angeles Times "They seem to call it as they see it, and aren't afraid to take on whomever is in charge," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica advocacy group.

AARP Opposes Pharmaceutical Industry’s Proposition 78

September 29, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

Los Angeles Times Concerns about possible legal flaws have prompted some advocates of drug price reform to remain neutral on Proposition 79. The Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, for example, opposes Proposition 78 but has not endorsed Proposition 79.

State gas prices are said to be insulated

September 29, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

The San Diego Union-Tribune (California) Consumer advocates said anti-gouging action by state attorneys general may have inhibited further price hikes. They added that a rare call for consumer conservation from the Bush administration may be causing the oil industry to hold the line on prices. "Bush is sending signals to the industry that the type of world-record profits they are recording should not be jeopardized because if prices go up much further, there might be a populist backlash," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica.

Unleashing Maria

September 28, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

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...

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>Los Angeles Times 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.

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>The Wichita Eagle 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.

Supply-side regulation needed for the US oil industry

September 21, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

Marketplace Radio Program (NPR) 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.

Californians gouged on gasoline prices?

September 19, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Big Oil Bringing Price Controls On Itself</h3>Ventura County Star (California) 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.

Crude Manipulation;

September 13, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

<h3>In Katrina's wake, the supposed oil shortage and suspicious gas price hikes</h3>The Village Voice (New York) 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.

Katrina exposes oil industry problems

September 11, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

UPI - United Press International 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."

Storm Stretches Refiners Past a Perilous Point

September 11, 2005 · Consumer Watchdog

The New York Times '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.''