If Exxon Can’t Deal With the Montana Spill…
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Energy
Energy and utility watchdog coverage — gas prices, oil-industry profits, utility rates, and clean-energy accountability.
Veil Drawn On Donors To Latino Caucus-Controlled California Nonprofit
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Special interest groups are donating money to causes supported by California's Latino legislators – potentially buying influence – without any public disclosure.</p>
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The Latino Legislative Caucus two years ago stopped revealing which Capitol interest groups give hundreds of thousands of dollars to a nonprofit group it controls.</p>
Facebook Money? Will The Feds Shut Down Facebook’s Power Grab For Online Currency?
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If Facebook's new facial recognition software isn't scary enough, imagine Mark Zuckerberg's face replacing George Washington's on the dollar bill. Or rubbing out all the dead presidents on every bit of American currency.</p>
Gasoline Pump Prices Line Refiners’ Pockets
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<img class=" size-full wp-image-2083" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/oilpipelines.png" style="width: 250px; height: 178px;" width="300" height="214" />The financial news today is that oil prices are down below $90 a barrel from over $100, and futures market prices for gasoline are <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110516-713503.html">down 5%</a> to below $3.00 a gallon. Will that translate to big savings at the pump? Don’t bet on it, at least not for long.</p>
$4 Gasoline and the Price of Silver: Yeah, There’s a Connection
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<img class=" size-full wp-image-2072" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/thumb_5.png" style="width: 220px; height: 157px;" width="300" height="214" />U.S. gas prices have hit their <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/weekly-gas-prices-crude-oil-gasoline-prices-roiled/story?id=13509864">highest level ever</a> for springtime, at $3.96 a gallon for regular on average. Yep, higher even than the record surge in 2008, as oil companies reap near-record profits. So what does that have to do with the price of silver?</p>
Will Potus Gridlock West L.A. As Prelude To Earth Day? He Should Read The Gas Station Signs
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<img class=" size-full wp-image-2063" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/obama.jpg" style="width: 120px; height: 90px;" width="120" height="90" />The email warnings are flying in West Los Angeles about how the president's motorcade will once again <a href="https://blogger.huffingtonpost.com/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&blog_id=3" target="_hplink" rel="noopener">gridlock afternoon rush hour</a>. The cause: two mistimed, ill-placed Hollywood fundraisers on opposite sides of the traffic jam known as West LA. There's probably no major city as pro-Obama as Los Angeles, or state so solidly in his camp as California.</p>
Donald Trump’s Companies Filed for Bankruptcy 4 Times
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Donald Trump -- or companies that bear his name - have declared bankruptcy four times.</p>
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Trump has built an American empire from Las Vegas to New York with towering hotels and sparkling casinos. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/donald-trump">Forbes</a> estimates he's worth $2.7 billion. But not all of Trump's business ventures have been constant money-makers. In 1991, 1992, 2004, and again in 2009, Trump branded companies or properties have sought Chapter 11 protection.</p>
Lawmakers Lose State Cars At Last
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Few tears are being shed - outside the state Capitol - for our legislators, who have lost a valued perk.<br />
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The California Compensation Commission ruled last week that lawmakers, as of December, no longer will drive cars bought for them by the state's taxpayers.<br />
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California is the only state that still buys cars picked out by its legislators and "leases" them to the lawmakers. The state also pays for maintenance, repairs and unlimited gasoline for any Assembly or Senate member who wants it.<br />
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Is There a ‘Gashole’ in Your Tank?
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<img class=" size-full wp-image-2057" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/thumb_4.png" style="width: 220px; height: 157px;" width="300" height="214" />(<a href="http://store.cinemalibrestore.com/gasholedvd.html">Click here to order a DVD copy at a discount with this code</a>: gas052011)</p>
What’s Causing the Gas Hole in Your Wallet? You’ve Got to See This Movie
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<img class=" size-full wp-image-2054" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/gashole_3d.png" style="width: 200px; height: 278px;" width="200" height="278" />If you want to know why we're really paying over $4 per gallon for gasoline, and there appears to be no end in sight, the film <a href="http://store.cinemalibrestore.com/gasholedvd.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener"><em>Gas Hole</em></a> lays it all out for anyone who wants to know the history of the pain at the pump.</p>