Energy

Officials’ overseas trips raise eyebrows;

April 6, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Foundation skirts gift limits, critics say</h3><p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune</p> <p>One watchdog group has demanded that Kehoe and Levine disclose details of the trip immediately. Carmen Balber of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights wrote to Kehoe that it was with "great concern that we learned of your participation in a study trip to a foreign country with the very companies you are charged with overseeing."</p>

Group wants details of trip:

April 5, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Expense-paid Japan travel for lawmakers, regulators bothers consumer advocates</h3><p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>"It was with great concern that we learned of your participation in a 'study trip' to a foreign country with the very companies you are charged with overseeing," wrote Carmen Balber of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, in letters to Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, and Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego.</p>

State officials’ free junket to Japan with execs raises brows

April 3, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>"What makes this trip so particularly egregious is that the corporations are focusing on the exact levers of power in hosting this junket for the state's top utility cops," said Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer-advocacy group. "If you had to identify the people with the most responsibility over utility issues in the state, they've brought the two in the Legislature and 40 percent of the Public Utilities Commission."</p>

Gasoline price up 9.7 cents in U.S.;

April 3, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>California's drivers continue to pay more at the pump than motorists in other states.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>"The oil companies continue to frame this as a matter of supply and demand, but what they don't talk about is that they control the supply," said Judy Dugan, a spokeswoman for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. "That would be fine if they were selling Tickle Me Elmo dolls because no one has to buy them. But gasoline is something that no Californian with a job or a family can do without."</p>

STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT

April 1, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Oakland Tribune</p> <p>Consumer advocate Jamie Court focused on legislative solutions. "California needs to regulate supply and force oil companies to run their refineries full speed and sustain adequate levels of inventory," Court said. "Either the Legislature has to pass such a law or the people have to enact it at the ballot box."</p>

Could $4 gas be on the way?

March 31, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Oakland Tribune</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of consumer advocacy group the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, was even more pessimistic. "We have record San Francisco Bay Area prices in March, which means by summer we are heading toward $4 a gallon, if no one intervenes," Court said.</p>

FUEL PRICES A HOT TOPIC

March 26, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Marketplace Radio Program (American Public Media)</p> <p>One thing you didn't hear President Bush or the car company CEO's pointing out this morning, is that right about the time they were talking, oil was hitting $63 a barrel. Or that gas prices are up sharply as well, more than a nickel in the past two weeks. $2.61 is the average for a gallon of self-serve regular now. Part of that's geopolitical. Tensions in the Middle East and supply problems in Nigeria rarely make prices to go down. But commentator and consumer advocate Jamie Court suggests there are some sleight of hand behind those rising gas prices, too.</p>

FUEL PRICES A HOT TOPIC

March 26, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Marketplace Radio Program (American Public Media)</p> <p>One thing you didn't hear President Bush or the car company CEO's pointing out this morning, is that right about the time they were talking, oil was hitting $63 a barrel. Or that gas prices are up sharply as well, more than a nickel in the past two weeks. $2.61 is the average for a gallon of self-serve regular now. Part of that's geopolitical. Tensions in the Middle East and supply problems in Nigeria rarely make prices to go down. But commentator and consumer advocate Jamie Court suggests there are some sleight of hand behind those rising gas prices, too.</p>

High Gas Prices Not Much of a Mystery

March 22, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Precinct Reporter</p> <p>"One of the best evidences we've seen of manipulation of the gasoline market came in October. Just as we were approaching election season, gasoline prices fell. In fact, they fell pretty dramatically. The problem is not our dependency on foreign oil; it's Washington politicians' dependence on oil campaign contributions," said Doug Heller, consumer advocate with FTCR.</p>

PG&E, Giants draw heat over solar plan

March 22, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, objected to the planned use of ratepayer funds for the solar project. "This was an attempt to get a nice PR ploy, and if that's the case, then PG&E shareholders should pick up the tab," Court said.</p>

PG&E plans to dun ratepayers for AT&T solar panels

March 21, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>"Its hypocritical for PG&E, the Giants and the mayor of San Francisco to say they are doing something good for the environment when the public is going to be asked to pay for it, especially when PG&E doesn't have permission for it yet from the PUC,'' said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Los Angeles. Court said that consumer groups will ask the PUC to require PG&E to pay the bill.</p>

Chevron honcho hauls in $31.6 million;

March 20, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>San Ramon-based company, facing consumer group criticism, says 2006 salary was actually only $13.5 million</h3><p class="source">The Contra Costa Times (California)</p> <p>The compensation amounts, coupled with the gains from selling stock, irked Judy Dugan, research director for the consumer foundation. "In California, we constantly pay more for gasoline than the rest of the country, and the result is pure profiteering by Chevron and other oil companies," Dugan said. "These are obscene profits that go to pay for an obscene salary."</p>