Energy

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

Mr. Koch, the Governor Is On the Line

February 24, 2011 · Judy Dugan

<img class=" size-full wp-image-1978" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/thumb_0.png" style="width: 200px; height: 143px;" width="300" height="214" />The hilarity of the day: A journalist at a little online alternative magazine, <a href="http://www.buffalobeast.com/">the Buffalo Beast,</a> made a cold call to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Posing as energy megabillionaire and Tea Party funder David Koch, Beast editor Ian Murphy not only got past some oblivious staff members to get Walker on the phone, the Tea Party-backed governor spilled a dirty-tricks plan to deceive opposing legislators.

Golden Wasteland: Regulating Toxics or Toxic Regulation

February 9, 2011 · Liza Tucker

California produces more than four billion pounds of hazardous waste every year. That’s enough to fill 727 Olympic-sized pools. At least one hundred thousand businesses, from...

1,500 People Against the Koch’s Dirty Money, Dirty Energy

January 31, 2011 · Judy Dugan

<img class=" size-full wp-image-1937" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/images_polarbear2_0.png" style="width: 300px; height: 176px;" width="371" height="218" />(Rancho Mirage, CA) -- A year ago, it's unlikely that 15 people would have shown up for a rally against the Koch brothers, owners of the largest privately owned corporation in the U.S, even in the middle of L.A. or New York. Today, in the desert town of Rancho Mirage, 1,500 showed up, protesting the brothers' plutocratic, climate-change-denying, democracy-thieving ways.

Pushing Back Against the Kochs

January 30, 2011 · Judy Dugan

Sunday Forecast: Disturbances for Koch Meeting

January 28, 2011 · Judy Dugan

California Lawmakers Rack Up Gasoline Tabs

January 25, 2011 · Mark Reback

While Gov. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/jerry-brown/">Jerry Brown</a> struggles to erase $25 billion in red ink from the state budget by slashing everything from cell phones to staff, California lawmakers routinely rack up thousands of dollars in bills annually with a political perk unique in the country - no-limit, state-issued gasoline credit cards.

$4 Gas? Blame the Big-Bucks Lobby–and the White House

January 25, 2011 · Judy Dugan

Do you know where your gas taxes are going?

January 24, 2011 · Judy Dugan

In Bow to Political Realities, Brown Avoids Big Guns

January 17, 2011 · Mark Reback

SACRAMENTO -- Some big targets were left largely untouched in Gov. Jerry Brown's call for shared sacrifice in his proposed budget. In his plan to raise $12 billion in taxes, Brown avoided a source of revenue Democrats have been going after for years: oil severance fees. Extra taxes on alcohol, tobacco and the wealthy, also targets of Democrats in recent years, were also bypassed.

Gov. Brown, Why No Oil Tax?

January 11, 2011 · Judy Dugan

Valero Uses Contract Workers for Easy Layoffs

December 30, 2010 · Judy Dugan

We’ve been watching the refining company Valero since it<a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/node/10107"> spent $5 million</a> last year attempting to kill California’s landmark global warming law and throttle the state’s green energy industries. Valero didn’t succeed with Proposition 23, but ads for the ballot measure pounded on the idea that the ballot measure would protect jobs.

Will Gasoline Prices Crash the Economy? Again?

December 28, 2010 · Judy Dugan