Consumer Watchdog

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Consumer Watchdog

Energy

Stop the Gas Price Gouging

Stop the Gas Price Gouging

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2606" alt="" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/images_Gas-Cash.gif" style="width: 250px; height: 170px; float: right; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 4px;" width="300" height="204" />If you think the price you are paying at the pump today is too high, <em><strong>what do you think will happen if there are even fewer oil companies providing your gasoline?</strong></em><br /> <br />
WILDOMAR: State Senator Seeks Clarity On Deaths

WILDOMAR: State Senator Seeks Clarity On Deaths

<p>A state senator is demanding that state environmental officials take action to settle questions about whether chemical contamination can be blamed for the deaths of two Wildomar women and illnesses among others who lived in the same housing tract.</p> <p>“I ask that you take the necessary steps to rule out toxic chemicals as the cause of the illnesses and deaths,” Sen. Joel Anderson, R- Alpine, said in a Feb. 22 letter to Debbie Raphael, director the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control.</p>
Toxics Watchdog

Toxics Watchdog

California has some of the toughest environmental laws in the nation, but some of the weakest enforcement. Toxic pollution emissions to soil and water rose...
Was Sen. Rubio Auditioning For Job at Chevron?

Was Sen. Rubio Auditioning For Job at Chevron?

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2603" alt="" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/chevwrong.png" style="width: 300px; height: 340px; float: right; " width="397" height="450" />The power of the petroleum industry in California may be unparalleled in the states. Its lobbying machine is  stupendously successful.  For instance, California remains the only significant oil producer that <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/gov-brown-why-no-oil-tax">does not tax </a>oil extracted in the state.
Senator Quits For Job With Chevron

Senator Quits For Job With Chevron

<p><strong>State lawmaker Rubio had led a push for business-friendly environmental rules.</strong><br /> <br /> SACRAMENTO, CA -- State Sen. Michael J. Rubio, who was leading the Legislature's effort to make California's environmental laws more business-friendly, abruptly resigned from office Friday to accept a government-affairs job with Chevron Corp.<br /> <br />
If the President Wants Cleaner, Safer Gas and Oil, Give Consumers Knowledge and Power

If the President Wants Cleaner, Safer Gas and Oil, Give Consumers Knowledge and Power

<p> </p> <p style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; "><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2595" alt="" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/fracking_holding_pond.png" style="width: 280px; height: 206px; margin: 10px; float: right; " width="358" height="264" />It was a relief to hear more than a passing reference to climate change in President Obama's State of the Union Speech, including promises of more support for wind and solar power. But the oil industry heard nothing to even cause even a smidgen of concern.</p>
Fracking Regulations Only Exxon Could Love

Fracking Regulations Only Exxon Could Love

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2261" alt="" height="219" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/images_fracking_waste_pit.png" style="float: right;" width="289" />California's oil and gas industry regulators are about to write final state regulations on the controversial practice of fracking natural gas and oil wells in the state. Don't expect any backbone, however, from the state Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Regulation.
California Gas Prices: A Rigged Game Where Consumers Lose Big

California Gas Prices: A Rigged Game Where Consumers Lose Big

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2550" alt="" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/images_gasprices_0.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 245px; float: right;" width="512" height="501" />Who would want two companies, Tesoro and Chevron, to control more than half of California's gasoline market? Only people, like oil company executives, who think paying five dollars a gallon should be the new normal.</p>
Energy Price Manipulation Found On Two Fronts

Energy Price Manipulation Found On Two Fronts

<p>Anyone who thought manipulation of California energy prices ended with the criminal penalties assessed against executives of companies like Enron and Williams Energy after the state's 2000-2001 electricity crunch turns out to have been hopelessly naive.</p>
Senators Add Fire to Scandal Over Phony California Fuel Crisis

Senators Add Fire to Scandal Over Phony California Fuel Crisis

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2046" alt="" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/oilrefinery.png" style="width: 300px; height: 214px; float: right;" width="300" height="214" />Today, senators from California, Washington and Oregon joined our call to investigate refineries, asking the Department of Justice to comb through California refineries one by one to see whether market manipulation or false reporting by oil refineries had something to do with record $5 dollar a gallon prices at some California gas stations last month and near record prices earlier in the year.<br /> <br />
Gas-Price Increases Questioned

Gas-Price Increases Questioned

<p class="loose"><span class="verdana">A new report calls into question gasoline price <span class="hit"><span>spikes</span></span> in California this year, arguing costs outpaced the traditional supply-and-demand model and insinuating market manipulation on the part of <span class="hit"><span>oil</span></span> refineries.</span></p>