Big Oil

ExxonMobil rakes in record cash, spends only 1 percent on alternative energy

ExxonMobil broke its own record for the highest quarterly earnings in U.S. history, reporting $11.7 billion in profits for the second quarter. And as ABC reports, the company spent only 1 percent of its profits last year on alternative energy sources. “They’re probably spending more on the advertising than they’re actually spending on the actual […]

Ads from Sierra Club and MoveOn hit McCain over energy policy

“Big Oil companies have our economy and politics in a choke hold,” says a new TV ad released today by the Sierra Club Political Committee. “They are getting billions from the government, raking in record profits, while we pay more and more for gas.” “John McCain’s answer?” the ad continues. “Another $4 billion giveaway to […]

Big Oil tries to hide behind an acronym

Ever watch the cable news networks during the afternoon? You're bombarded with issue ad after issue ad. Well, imagine that every TV and radio station was like that 24 hours a day. That's local media here in D.C. And since the climate and energy debate began in earnest on Capitol Hill last summer, it seems like you can't get through one commercial break without hearing GM or Big Oil explain how they don't need big government telling them what to do (unless, of course, big government wants to tell them to drill for more oil).

Every morning over breakfast, WTOP Radio gives me a steady diet of news, traffic, weather, and propaganda. But Monday morning brought a new twist that perked me up even before my organic coffee could kick in. It was an ad I'd heard before featuring actors pretending to be "average Joes" saying we need to drill anywhere Big Oil wants. Previously, it had closed with "paid for by the American Petroleum Institute." But this morning, the ad closed with "paid for by API." (To hear the ad without the tag line, go here and scroll down to "Times are changing.")

Of course, if you look at the American Petroleum Institute's print ads, you won't even find an "API." They're tagged with "the people of America's oil and natural gas industry," which sounds vaguely like employees took up a collection on their own to buy the ad. Is Big Oil afraid of its own shadow?

Sierra Club ads defend Dems who are ‘standing strong against Big Oil’

The Sierra Club rolled out a new radio ad campaign this weekend that aims to defend Democrats who are being hammered for not supporting efforts to open more areas to oil drilling. Sixty-second ads being aired in six states ask listeners to call and thank these members of Congress for “standing up to the oil […]

McCain’s switch on offshore drilling brings him big money from Big Oil

While the drumbeat for more domestic drilling is unlikely to get additional oil flowing anytime soon, it has increased the flow of cash to GOP presidential candidate John McCain. McCain changed his position on offshore drilling last month, calling for coastal areas to be opened to exploration, and since then he has been campaigning hard […]

It’s a 1980 flashback, as energy price spikes make oil shale economical once again

The Bush administration’s latest push to force dirty energy extraction down the throats of Americans living in western states has some historical pedigree. Extracting oil from keragen — somewhat misleadingly known as "oil shale" — by cooking the rock at high temperatures is an environmental, social and economic nightmare that’s been with us since the […]

A failure of leadership in the wind

This recently appeared in Wendy Williams' blog. She is coauthor of the book Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound, now out in paperback -- a fascinating and horrifying read.

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I've been giving lots of talks about Cape Wind around the country, and I can tell you -- the American people are getting really angry. Both Democrats and Republicans are equally disgusted by what they read in our book about Cape Wind.

At this point, they're angry about a lot more than Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney getting together behind the scenes or over dinner to plot about how to kill Cape Wind.

Gingrich’s ‘grassroots’ drilling campaign is funded by Big Oil, report says

*Several corrections have been made to the original post to fix inaccuracies in the report from Alaska Wilderness League. “Green conservative” Newt Gingrich is scheduled to deliver his “Drill here, drill now, pay less” petition to Congress today. According to his American Solutions website, more than 1.3 million people have signed the petition. But who’s […]

Increased offshore drilling does not substitute for national energy policy

This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.

When it comes to energy policy, Amory Lovins has proven again and again that he's a pretty smart guy. At the moment, nothing seems more insightful than one of Amory's comments in the May/June issue of Mother Jones.

Asked what energy policies the next president should champion, Lovins was skeptical. He believes energy policy will continue to be made not at the national level, but by communities and states. "With modest exceptions," Amory said, "our federal energy policy is really a large trough arranged by the hogs for their convenience."

Right now, the hogs are eating very, very well.

With voters struggling from record prices for gasoline and all of the products made from petroleum and with no end in sight, the oil companies are pushing for more leases to drill for more oil on more public lands. President Bush, Big Oil's special friend in the White House, is pushing for more drilling, too, as are a number of people in Congress. At the moment, most Democrats on the Hill seem to be holding fast against this strategy -- but there's an election coming up.