Energy

Feinberg to Chamber: “It won’t work”

October 28, 2010  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> As <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-27/feinberg-defends-legal-system-rejecting-u-s-chamber-s-campaign.html">reported by Bloomberg</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p> Kenneth R. Feinberg, the attorney running BP Plc’s fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce not to use his efforts as an argument to revamp the U.S. legal system.</p> </blockquote> <p> Feinberg gave the keynote speech in the AIG-sponsored “Hall of Flags” yesterday at the Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform.</p>

Hey, Chevron. Clean up your own messes

October 28, 2010  ·  Judy Dugan

<div class="entry"> <a href="http://www.oilwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/followthemoney-300x216.png" title="Hey, Chevron. Clean up Your Own Messes"><img alt="Hey, Chevron. Clean up Your Own Messes" class="post-thumbnail woo-image" height="214" src="http://www.oilwatchdog.org/wp-content/themes/freshnews/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2010/10/followthemoney-300x216.png&w=300&h=214&zc=1&q=90" width="300" /></a> <p>

BP’s Long, Ugly History of Profit Over Safety

October 27, 2010  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> (updated 10-27 with Frontline <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-spill/" mce_href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-spill/">video link</a>)</p>

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  ·  Doug Heller

<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  ·  John M. Simpson

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  ·  Jamie Court

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

Valero Energy, a San Antonio, Texas-based refining and gasoline retail company, is among the top five oil refiners in California, but is not a household name like Chevron or BP. However, as Valero becomes a political force in California, residents should know more…

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  ·  Judy Dugan

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  ·  Judy Dugan

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.