The Exxon Delegation Halts Two Key Pieces of Legislation

The Exxon Delegation, led by Senators McConnell and Inhofe, voted today on the side of Big Oil companies, again, denying cloture to bring to debate two pieces of legislation that worked to defend working families and provide them with alternative energy options.

The Consumer-First Energy Act was defeated, despite the support that it received by 50 members not afraid of Big Oil. The bill would have cracked down on the outrageous profits of oil and gas companies and diverted portions to a fund designed to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and offset the effects of global warming.

The Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act received the support of 51 Senate members. It was designed to extend federal tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and held the potential to grow the economy, create thousands of jobs and take steps in the fight against global warming.

LCV is working tirelessly to elect pro-environment candidates into the Senate so that in November we will have the 60 votes needed to pass necessary legislation to combat Big Oil and safeguard our nation’s working families.

LCV Asks John McCain to Clarify Position

LCV Press Secretary Josh McNeil just wrote the following press release:

Washington, DC – In response to Senator John McCain’s call for a gas tax holiday, the League of Conservation Voters today asked the Presidential candidate to clarify his position. In a speech in Philadelphia today, Senator McCain said, “In my administration, there will be no corporate welfare.” Yet, when given the opportunity to vote to repeal more than $18 billion in subsidies to Big Oil, McCain failed the American people.

On December 17, 2007, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on a version of the energy bill that would have repealed those handouts to Big Oil. The measure failed by one vote – 59 to 40. McCain was the lone Senator to miss the vote, ensuring that billions of taxpayer dollars continued to flow into ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips. These multinationals enjoyed another year of record profits, yet the corporate tax cuts McCain proposed today would reduce taxes for those five companies by an addition $3.8 billion.

Meanwhile, McCain’s proposal raises more questions than it provides solutions for our ailing economy. For example, federal gas taxes go to the highway trust fund — does this proposal mean that resources devoted to creating jobs and repairing our crumbling bridges and roads are slashed? His plan would cut $11 billion for highway funding, a sum that could be better made up by repealing the $18 billion in subsidies for Big Oil.

“If Senator McCain wants to save money for American taxpayers, he should get to the root of the problem: massive taxpayer-funded subsidies to huge oil companies that are already making tens of billions of dollars a year,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said. “The answer to the high cost of gas is not temporary tax maneuvering, it is a fundamental shift away from oil and towards clean, renewable energy.”

CNN reports that the average cost of a gallon of gasoline is $3.38 per gallon this week, but taxes make up less than 5.5% of that cost. A average family filling a 12 gallon tank today will pay $40.56. Only $2.21 of that total goes to federal taxes, while the cost of gas has grown exponentially in the last few years.

April Fools

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters, today acknowledged his utter shock at the testimony of executives from the five largest oil companies before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Leaked copies of testimony broke early this morning and represent an unprecedented shift in the oil and gas industry’s political strategy.

“After decades of standing in the way of clean energy, energy efficiency, and global warming legislation, it looks like these oil execs finally got a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future,” Karpinski said.

The leaked testimony gives an indication of the fundamental change in policy.

Peter Robertson, the Vice Chairman of Chevron, began his testimony with an apology to the people of the world on behalf of the Big Oil companies for standing in the way of vital global warming legislation. He promised that the $123 billion profits of these five companies in 2007 would be directly invested into research and implementation of clean, renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar, and geothermal. Tears streaming down his face, Robertson stated “I only hope my grandchildren can forgive me.”

J. Stephen Simon, ExxonMobil Senior Vice President publicly repudiated the 2006 statement by his boss, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson that “At a minimum, there’s an enormous amount of uncertainty around this whole question [of global warming].” Simon admitted that global warming is a real and dangerous issue, and that ExxonMobil had spent more than $23 million to fund bogus scientific studies to mislead the public about global warming. He promised to return that money to consumers, who paid for it with record prices at the pump.

John Hofmeister, President of the Shell Oil Company, begged consumers’ forgiveness for the more than $295,000,000 donated to politicians and political action committees by Big Oil in the last decade. Promising to put that money into savings at the pump, Hofmeister said, “We have used our record profits in an attempt to buy off the United States government and to pilfer another $18 billion from taxpayers who are already paying close to $4 at the pump. We have no excuse.

Today, April 1, is the last time we play the American people for fools.”

Alaskan Village Sues Energy Giants

Talk about David and Goliath: today a village of less than 400 inhabitants in Kivalina, Alaska, sued Exxon Mobil Corp, BP PLC, seven other oil companies, 14 power companies and one coal company. The villagers of Kivalina accused the energy giants of releasing greenhouse gases that are causing the land around them to erode into the sea, and melting the ice that once shielded the village from storm waves and surges. Relocation costs have been estimated at $400 million. Villagers also accused some of the defendants of a conspiracy to mislead the public about the causes and effects of global warming. If successful, the trial could influence future courts to hold energy companies accountable for the havoc their emissions inflict on communities.

See International Herald Tribune article