Tag Archives: Chevron

Gas is Expensive, And it’s Chevron’s Fault

(Oops! Forgot the Field poll link (PDF) – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

And I don’t disagree.  I just heard a new Cheveron Ad, and they were super-psyched about finding some new oil field that will allow us to continue to pollute for generations to come. Yay!!  Well, Field Research has just released one of their awesome Field polls, this time on how gas prices are affecting ordinary Californians.  Apparently, 70% of Californians see gas prices as a “serious” situation (either very serious or somewhat serious), with the amount of people saying “Very serious” up to 35% from 32% in August 2005.

And I’m not going to quibble with that.  Adjustment to a new price condition is ahrd.  DUde, I saw $4 regular gas for the first time yesterday. $4.09.9 to be exact. Yowsers! (I won’t go to that station, it’s an outlier b.c of it’s convenience to the highway.  But, folks, yeah, you are going to have to adjust to these new conditions.

If you look at this cool graph (right) from the Department of Energy, you’ll see that, oh, um, yeah we are the green line on the bottom $4 cheaper than European prices.  Don’t you think they are hurt by these energy prices too?  Well, instead of just blaming Chevron (and ya, i’m cool with that as well), what else can we do to make our economy more competitive in a market that is just going to have expensive gas prices? How about adding more rail services and other public transportation? Increasing the CAFE standards? Taxing gas hogs?

Look, gas ain’t going to get a whole lot cheaper, so how about spending a little more effort to address conservation and replacement technologies? And sure, keep blaming Chevron…they can handle it.

Chevron Fights Clean Elections and Clean Energy

( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Cross-posted at Daily Kos

California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg isn’t the only Sacramento powerhouse seeking to protect power by opposing reform.

The Chevron Corporation — formerly known as Standard Oil of California — wrote a $250,000 check to a special interest group opposing Proposition 89, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act.

Chevron Proposition 87 Chevron has extensively funded the negative attack ads against Proposition 87, the Clean Energy initiative also on the November ballot.

A chronological view of Chevron’s $19 million in contributions contains seven checks written over a nine month period.

The company has a storied history of buying results. In 1984, Chevron’s merger with Gulf Oil was the largest merger that had ever occured. Chevron also gobbled up Texaco, Unocal, and Sacramento politics.

On September 2, 2004, Tom Chorneau reported for the AP:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ambitious plan to reorganize almost every aspect of state government was influenced significantly by oil and gas giant ChevronTexaco Corp., which managed to shape such key recommendations as the removal of restrictions on oil refineries.

Many corporations and interest groups participated in the governor’s reform plan — known as the California Performance Review — but state records and interviews with the participants show Chevron enjoyed immense success in influencing the report through its array of lobbyists, attorneys and trade organizations.

And few corporations have spent so much political cash on the governor, either. Since Schwarzenegger’s election last October, the San Ramon company has contributed more than $200,000 to his committees and $500,000 to the California Republican Party.

Chevron, whose officials acknowledge they lobbied hard to get their ideas in the report, is one of about 20 companies that paid to send the governor and his staff to this week’s Republican National Convention in New York. On Wednesday, Schwarzenegger attended a closed-door meeting in New York with representatives of those companies, including Chevron. And just three weeks after the Governor’s Office released the 2,700-page reorganization report, the company gave $100,000 to a Schwarzenegger-controlled political fund.

At the time that was a lot of money. Richard Holober, Executive Director Consumer Federation of California, explained what has happened since then:

Since 2004, Chevron gave $3 million in political contributions in California. For a company that made a record $14 billion in profits last year, it was money well spent. Despite public indignation, big oil crushed a proposed state tax on windfall oil profits.

ChevronChevron has proven successful in the current system. The company has spend millions and ensured they make record billions.

Under Proposition 89, Chevron would be able to contribute $10,000 against each initiative, removing almost twenty-million dollars in negative ads. Chevron employees would be able to contribute, but Proposition 89 would create a system where political issues aren’t decided like an auction.

Clean Money — public financing of campaigns — has proven successful in Maine and Arizona. Included in Proposition 89 are the best practices from those systems, adapted for California. The initiative also includes are review process that will allow regular refinement.

Yes on 87: Call on Chevron to Support Clean Energy

(Edited for space and appearence. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Right now, we have a great chance to take a huge step toward cleaner air and cheaper energy for California.  Proposition 87, on the ballot for November 7th, will:

  • Reduce gasoline and diesel usage by 25% over the next 10 years;
  • Create thousands of new clean energy jobs and grow our economy;
  • Reduce air pollution that causes asthma attacks, lung disease and cancer;
  • Make oil companies pay their fair share for oil drilling in California, just like they already pay in every other oil-producing state — even Texas;
  • Make it illegal for oil companies to raise gas prices to pass the cost along to consumers.

Proposition 87 is a great initiative, and we urge you to support it.  Sign the Yes on 87 campaign’s petition now, at:

  The Yes on 87 Website

There’s more in the extended.

Not surprisingly, the oil companies are trying to kill Prop. 87, with a massive TV and radio ad blitz designed to scare and mislead California’s voters.  The race has barely started and already ABC News has called the oil companies’ ads “misleading” and “not accurate”.[1]  The oil companies’ warchest is currently more than $30 million, and they could spend millions more.  Prop. 87 needs our help to overcome all this money.

The single biggest funder of the campaign to kill Prop. 87 is Chevron, at $12.8 million and counting.  Ironically, at the very same time, Chevron’s also running a PR campaign trying to paint itself green, asking everyone to join them in moving toward alternative energy sources:

  “At Chevron, we believe that innovation, collaboration and conservation are the cornerstones on which to build this new world.  We cannot do this alone.  Corporations, governments, and every citizen of this planet must be part of the solution as surely as they are part of the problem.”  [1]

We couldn’t agree more. 

Join us and our friends at Yes on 87 in calling on Chevron to walk their talk and support Prop. 87, instead of bankrolling the campaign to kill it:

  The Yes on 87 Website

Chevron and the other oil companies can easily afford the cost of Prop. 87.  They posted record-setting profits in the past year: $78 billion in 2005, and $20 billion in the first quarter of 2006 alone.  And they just discovered a giant new oil field in the Gulf of Mexico.

California is a major oil-producing state (America’s 3rd biggest), but we’re the only one where the oil companies don’t pay their fair share to drill for oil, like they do in Alaska, Louisiana, and Texas.  Meanwhile, the oil companies are charging Californians the highest pump prices in the nation for gas.

It’s time for a change, and Chevron knows it.  Here’s more of what their own PR ads are saying:

  “Technological improvements are needed so that wind, solar and hydrogen can be more viable parts of the energy equation.  Governments need to create energy policies that promote economically and environmentally sound development.”  [2]  And…

  “How do we accelerate our conservation efforts?  Whatever actions we take, we must look not just to next year, but to the next 50 years.” [3]

It’s time for Prop. 87. 

We’re calling Chevron out, and calling on them to join us in supporting Prop 87, instead of trying to kill it. 

The Yes on 87 campaign will deliver this petition, including your signature and comments, in person, to Chevron later this week.

Sign on now, at:

  The Yes on 87 Website

  “Now more than ever we need to work together.”  – Chevron [4]

Please sign on today.  Your help will really make a difference in this fight.

Thank you.

– Peter

Citations:

The sources quoted above and details on how much Chevron and other oil companies are spending on their campaign to kill Prop. 87 are available at the Yes on 87 website, linked above.