Pushing Back Against the Kochs
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Energy
Energy and utility watchdog coverage — gas prices, oil-industry profits, utility rates, and clean-energy accountability.
California Lawmakers Rack Up Gasoline Tabs
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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.</p>
Do you know where your gas taxes are going?
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<a href="http://www.oilwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/gastax.png" rel="lightbox" title="Do You Know Where Your Gas Taxes Are Going?"><img alt="Do You Know Where Your Gas Taxes Are Going?" class="right" height="214" src="http://www.oilwatchdog.org/wp-content/themes/freshnews/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/01/gastax.png&w=300&h=214&zc=1&q=90" width="300" /></a></h2>
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In Bow to Political Realities, Brown Avoids Big Guns
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SACRAMENTO -- Some big targets were left largely untouched in Gov. Jerry Brown's call for shared sacrifice in his proposed budget.<br />
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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.<br />
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Valero Uses Contract Workers for Easy Layoffs
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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.</p>
Good-Government Groups Call for Reforms After Mercury News Investigation
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Responding to Mercury News reports documenting how outside interests exert undue influence on the state Legislature, political watchdog groups this week called for California legislators to make their calendars public to reveal lobbyists' intrusive role in lawmaking.</p>
Valero ‘Eve of Destruction’ Was a Big Fake
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<img class=" size-full wp-image-1897" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/images_valeroprotest.png" style="width: 300px; height: 206px; " width="641" height="440" />Oil refiner Valero, as it pumped $5 million into a California ballot proposition aimed at killing climate change regulation, warned that such regulation would bring an <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=179081203504">economic Armageddon of lost jobs</a> in refineries and elsewhere, as well as unaffordable energy prices.</p>
Jerry Brown, Can Fiji Make You Look Like a Wimp?
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The wee island nation of Fiji <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_16753594">managed Wednesday </a>to back down a California-owned company and extract a fee of 8 US cents per liter on Fiji Water. The state of California can't even manage to back down Big Oil and charge a few cents a gallon on oil pumped out of its public lands. Jerry Brown, are you listening?</p>