Energy

Filmmaker Joins Governor in Climate Fight

October 16, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Academy Award-winning director James Cameron – whose movies have featured Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – on Friday pledged $1 million to oppose Proposition 23, a measure that would suspend the state's landmark climate change law. Cameron joins environmental groups, green tech advocates and financiers who already had lined up with Schwarzenegger in opposing the measure. The director's contribution signals the governor's growing role in protecting the greenhouse gas reduction law, a significant part of his policy legacy. </p>

California pension funds should divest from price gouging oil firms behind Prop 23

October 15, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Consumer Watchdog has called on California's two large public employee pension funds -- CalPERS and CalSTRS -- to sell off their holdings in Valero Energy and Tesoro, the big oil refiners behind Prop 23.  The two companies have...</p>

Oil Watchdog: New report documents problems at Big Oil U

October 14, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Big Oil has flooded campuses with millions of dollars to pay for clean energy research at American universities, undermining tradition academic values and potentially furthering a narrow commercial research agenda, according to a <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/big_oil.html">report</a> released Thursday by the <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/">Center for American Progress.</a> Jennifer Washburn shows how <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/big_oil.html">Big Oil has underwritten research at top-tier universities</a> with few protections for scientific objectivity or scholarly independence. <p>   </p>

Taking on Koch Industries in Times Sq.

October 13, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

If you walk through the heart of Times Square today and look up at the 520 sq. ft. CBS superscreen on 42nd St., you're going to be introduced to the largest oil company you've never heard of: Koch Industries.

Valero Energy and Its California Profit Pipeline

October 12, 2010  ·  Judy Dugan

A review of profit, shareholder and government reports from the last decade show that Valero reaped extraordinary profits from its refining operations in the Golden...

A Fee To Pay Your Bill? Yep

October 5, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Mortgage lenders and utility providers are charging customers as much as $20 to pay by phone.</strong> <p> "People pay for a product or service," said Doug Heller, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica advocacy group. "They shouldn't have to pay again just for the right to pay them." He said most businesses already factor in their operating costs in the prices they charge customers. "Companies that make you pay to pay your bill are basically charging you twice," Heller said. "They build everything into their price for a product or service, and then they break it out again as a fee. "It's deceptive," he said. "And it's not fair." </p> <p>   </p>

California Tea Party Activists Work to Pass Proposition 23

October 4, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> The tea party is often characterized as a grass-roots movement. But some consumer advocates say the involvement of tea party activists in the Yes on 23 campaign appears to be highly orchestrated. "When I see senior citizens out on the street corner holding 'Thank You Valero' signs, it just doesn't jibe," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. "Clearly the tea party is being used, and they are becoming the ground army for the oil refineries. Senior citizens would not come out to defend Valero unless there's some formal structure to get them out there." </p>

Oil Watchdog: BP Safety Chief: Big talk, but what else?

September 29, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

BP executives can’t seriously believe that this time they’ll get safety right. The company’s penny-pinching “safety be damned” culture is too entrenched to reverse -- especially if you put the old vice-president of excuses in charge of the new plan. BP’s new CEO Robert Dudley announced a sweeping overhaul of its safety division Wednesday, yet put the company’s current Vice President for Safety and Operations, Mark Bly, in charge.

Oil Watchdog: Fiorina joins the Koch-heads. Ka-ching!

September 23, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

There’s a name that’s becoming as ubiquitous in dirty oil politics as Coke cans are in greasy spoons. And it’s pronounced like the soft drink, but spelled Koch. Koch-heads now on the radar include Carly Fiorina, the Tea Party and Proposition 23.

Oil Watchdog: Big Oil behind the Tea

September 22, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

When Californians angry about oil companies' attempt to repeal the state's greenhouse gas emission cap went to confront the oil refiner behind Prop 23's power play, they found the Tea Party in their way.

Consumer Protection Czar Analysis

September 20, 2010  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> Elizabeth Warren has been named the new so-called consumer protection czar and is being touted as the answer to runaway Wall Street practices. But some in Congress say they're being silenced. Mark Calabria, Director of Financial Regulation Studies at the CATO institute, and Carmen Balber who is the Washington Director Of Consumer Watchdog, joined us with more. </p>

Oil Watchdog: Big Oil’s “jobs” echo chamber

September 16, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

It’s amazing how oil companies stay so completely on message. The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry mouthpiece, is pushing the same deceptive “jobs, jobs, jobs” message as the Texas oil companies backing Proposition 23 on the California ballot. Both are saying that any shift toward greener energy that costs the oil industry a dime will trash American jobs.