Energy

The Curious Case of Karen Bass

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>How a dedicated community organizer becomes an insulated, perk-oriented politician</strong><br />  <br /> More recently, Bass' staff made the news for taking from oil giant BP lots of free tickets to major sporting and other events in Sacramento. Though it was legal, it left an uneasy feeling that Bass had morphed into just another pol, and more quickly than most. "At the very least," says Doug Heller of Consumer Watchdog of her per diem take, "it's a major loss of perspective over what should have been a natural and obvious bright line for someone like Karen Bass. When you go to Sacramento and live in that insular world for five or six years, clear rules become fuzzy."

Liveblog: Did OTS fail?

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> In Session 2 so far, a lot of the questioning has been directed at the structural deficiencies of regulatory agencies. One large revelation has been the way in which many financial firms are able to manipulate and <em>de facto </em>pick...</p>

House and Senate Lawmakers Reach Deal on Financial Reform

June 25, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Congress is expected to approve the bill next week, making it the most far-reaching set of financial reforms since the Great Depression. What measures were included or left out of the bill, and will it be enough to reform Wall Street? </p> <p> Guest: Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog and author of "Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom...And What You Can Do About It" </p>

Liveblog: House on consumer protection

June 22, 2010  ·  Carmen Balber

For a conference process that's more open than any in recent memory, most of these decisions are still being made behind closed doors. But votes in the open will at least make members accountable, especially on consumer protection...

BP’s Ties to Agency Are Long and Complex

May 25, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Added John M. Simpson of <a href="../../../">Consumer Watchdog</a>: "From what I’ve seen, the Energy Department’s response has been less than rapid to this <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_spills/gulf_of_mexico_2010/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about oil spills.">oil spill</a>. This whole thing just underscores that corporate interests have created, over time, these relationships that give them unfair access to policy makers." <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/steven_chu/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Steven Chu."></a>

Corporate Bucks Behind ‘Citizens’ Initiatives In Calif.

May 24, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Opponents of Proposition 17 say the measure is really an excuse to raise rates on drivers who’ve let their insurance lapse. Jamie Court, the head of Consumer Watchdog, says, “The people who are most likely to be hit are college students, military personnel stationed domestically on a base where they don’t need a car — anyone who decides the economy is just too tough and they’re just going to put their car in the garage. When they come back into the market, they’re going to be facing surcharges of up to 70 percent in many cases.”

BIOTECH: Key Embryonic Stem Cell Patent Rejected

May 3, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<b>Local Researchers Applaud Decision</b> <br><br> The decision is good news for medical researchers, especially in California, said Jeanne Loring, a prominent stem cell researcher at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. If the decision stands, researchers won't have to get permission or pay royalties to commercialize their research. Loring has challenged the patent along with two consumer groups; Consumer Watchdog and the Public Patent Foundation.

Don’t filibuster Wall Street reform

April 26, 2010  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> The GOP has put more energy into <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126271396">filibustering reform</a> than it has spent legislating all year. Friends of Wall Street are gearing up to use their favorite maneuver again tonight, this time to block action on the Senate's Wall Street reform bill... </p>

Will Google’s PowerMeter give power to the people or spy on them?

March 26, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Sometime soon, my refrigerator could be spying on my late night ice cream binges. Right now it’s just a large frost-free appliance that doesn’t talk back. But when it starts to network on the Smart Grid via a meter and Google’s PowerMeter application, will Google be analyzing my high-cholesterol snacks?

Whitman’s Promise of a Blind Trust for Her Assets May Be Impossible to Achieve Quickly

March 18, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<b>The billionaire GOP candidate has vast holdings spread across hedge funds and venture capital groups. The investments may bind her in long-term contracts that she can't break.</b> <br ><br > Doug Heller, executive director of the Santa Monica nonprofit Consumer Watchdog, said Whitman would have trouble governing effectively were she to keep secret the dealings of her many hedge funds and venture capital partnerships. </br>

Blaming Big Oil

March 15, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Critics see price-gouging as refinery capacity is cut; the industry says it's just business.</strong><br /> <br /> Today's problem isn't so much high prices, which have fallen since 2008. It's that actions by oil companies may be preventing them from dropping as much as they should. The combination of the recession and improved fuel efficiency has greatly reduced demand, and major refiners are considering cutbacks, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-refineries11-2010mar11%2C0%2C5317635.story">according to a report by Times staff writer Ronald D. White</a>. Some refineries already have been closed, such as a Delaware facility owned by Valero Energy and a New Jersey plant owned by Sunoco. Industry analysts say there is little choice because of excess capacity, but consumer advocates such as <a href="http://www.citizen.org/">Public Citizen</a> and Santa Monica-based <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org">Consumer Watchdog</a> think refiners are just trying to keep the price of gas artificially high by constraining supplies. Some advocates are calling on regulators to probe whether the companies are violating antitrust laws.

Oil Companies Look At Permanent Refinery Cutbacks

March 10, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>The response to slumping gasoline use would likely mean higher prices for drivers. Consumer advocates want regulators to examine the firms' plans. </strong> <p> Consumer advocates want regulators to probe refinery closures or consolidations that slash supply. Judy Dugan, research director for the Santa Monica-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, said that "closing or selling refineries to others who would limit production would be a serious case of corporate irresponsibility." </p>