Big Biz Shaped Bush Energy Plan, Congressional Investigators Say
Corporations had a significant hand in formulating the Bush administration’s energy policy, but the full extent of their influence is unknown because the White House has mulishly refused to release information on the matter. That’s the word in a report released yesterday by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Executives from petroleum, electricity, nuclear, coal, chemical, and natural gas companies gave detailed recommendations to the energy policy task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, the GAO said, while environmentalists and academic experts were largely shut out of the process. The GAO had filed suit to obtain information from the White House about the task force’s dealings but the suit was dismissed in federal court and the agency didn’t appeal. The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch are pressing forward with a separate lawsuit that would force the administration to reveal details of its secret meetings with industry officials.
