During the Republican National Convention, delegates repeatedly demonstrated their obsession with offshore oil drilling by chanting "drill, baby, drill!" It turns out they were literally describing the relationship between Department of Interior royalty collectors and the oil industry.
Multiplereportsreleased on September 10 by the Department of Interior Inspector General found that the Mineral Management Service officials responsible for collecting royalties from oil and gas producers are accused of accepting gifts, trips, and special favors from producers. The report described "A culture of ethical failure... [and] a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity." These government overseers also abused alcohol and cocaine with officials from energy companies that they were supposed to collect royalties from, and "had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives."
This is the same agency that would oversee the expansion of offshore oil drilling into protected ocean areas - the areas Republicans like Walberg, McCotter and McCain continue to push.
They're all in bed with Big Oil, and electing McCain won't change that, as Matthew Yglesias astutely notes:
But I'm sure that electing a new chief executive from the same political party as the current one, who shares the same close ties to the same oil and gas companies that make the donations that allow them to hire the same political operatives, will be just the thing to turn this kind of problem around. You know what they say - if it first you don't succeed, try again with a different guy who has the same ideas and associates.
McCain and Republicans: Definitely not the change we need.
McCain was against offshore drilling before he was for it. From the Concord Monitor [emphasis added]:
Politicians need a host of skills, but there was one that the old John McCain was proud not to possess: the ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth.
On Tuesday, while perched on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, McCain proved that he's mastered that trick.
"It is time for America to get serious about energy independence, and that means we need to start drilling offshore at advanced oil rigs like this,'' McCain said, from the giant, 10,000-barrel-per-day structure owned by Chevron and Exxon Mobil. Barack Obama has said that offshore drilling "won't solve our problem. . . . He's wrong, and the American people know it," McCain said.
Unfortunately, although many Americans believe that offshore drilling will provide real relief from high energy prices, it's the new McCain who's wrong. Before he switched positions, McCain opposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling and had this to say: "Those resources, which would take years to develop, would only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels." That's still true.
Oops! That statement from McCain's straight-talking days contradicts what McCotter, Walberg, Hoekstra, etc., have been saying.
So how green is McCain? Not very according to the Concord Monitor who judged his Senate career.
Last year McCain received a zero rating from the League of Conservation Voters - an organization whose members aren't given to chaining themselves to trees. His lifetime score from the group is just 24 percent. That's less than one-third the ratings given to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Earlier this summer, McCain backed a gas tax holiday. That's another bad idea. It would have helped to keep demand high and deprived the nation of money needed to repair collapsing roads and bridges. He has opposed moves to eliminate subsidies for oil companies and, until recently, opposed tax incentives to stimulate production of alternative energy sources.
In an issue that will hit home hard in New Hampshire this winter, McCain has also opposed additional funding for the national low-income fuel assistance program because he didn't like how its cost would be borne. Now, however, he says he will support "whatever is necessary to help people meet literally incredible challenges this winter." But what about next year?
Big oil is spending more than $2 million dollars a day to influence public policy and opinion - including $12.2 million dollars spent in the past six months by Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future "Drill Here, Drill Now" campaign - and McCain received nearly $1 million dollars since he announced his support for offshore drilling. It appears McCain had an incentive that helped him change his mind. It's amazing what one million dollars can buy.
What do we know about the Republicans drill, drill, drill plan? We know that new offshore drilling won't have a significant impact on domestic crude oil production or prices for almost 20 years, and the amount we'd save at the pump would be less than 6 cents by 2025.
So, what's the point? Who's really going to benefit from opening up our coastal shores to oil drilling? Bill Scher says we should "follow the money."
While coastal drilling amounts to nothing in regards to lower energy costs for you and me, it does amount to a fat giveaway to Big Oil.
How so? More domestic oil=more exports for U.S. oil companies. A recent Reuters-UK article had some figures showing just where the oil goes. (Hint. It doesn't stay in our country.)
While the U.S. oil industry wants access to more federal lands to help reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, American-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries.
A record 1.6 million barrels a day in U.S. refined petroleum products were exported during the first four months of this year, up 33 percent from 1.2 million barrels a day over the same period in 2007. Shipments this February topped 1.8 million barrels a day for the first time during any month, according to final numbers from the Energy Department.
The surge in exports appears to contradict the pleas from the U.S. oil industry and the Bush administration for Congress to open more offshore waters and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Mexico, Canada, Chile, Singapore and Brazil get the lion's share of exported U.S. oil products, yet Republicans continue to blame tight supplies for our record prices.
While the administration argues that more supplies would help to bring down prices, U.S exports of diesel fuel in April averaged 387,000 barrels per day, up almost seven-fold from 59,000 barrels a day in the same month a year earlier.
To recap, Republicans want to open more land to drilling so oil companies can export more oil out of the country, which will keep supplies tight here at home and keep prices high. Who wins? Big oil and the Republicans who benefit from their donations. Who loses? Everyone else.
You'd think Republicans would learn to do a little fact-checking before pulling a stunt like this.
Sarah Lenti, a spokeswoman for Victory '08, a branch of the Republican National Committee, based out of Farmington Hills, was handing out tire gauges to Obama supporters outside the Lansing Center.
Lenti said the gauges were in response to a suggestion Obama made last week that people could save energy by keeping their tires properly inflated.
Lenti said, "It's probably one one-hundredth of what has to happen to fix the $4 a gallon situation."
She said her candidate has a more comprehensive energy policy.
Yeah, we know McCain's plan. Drill, drill, drill, and lower the corporate tax rate on oil companies from 35 percent to 25 percent, giving the six largest companies nearly $4 billion in tax breaks. McCain's plan doesn't conserve a drop of oil. On the other hand, Obama's suggestion does, and the government agrees.
The Department of Energy estimates that (based on gas costing $3.96/gallon), "you can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure" which would ultimately save "up to $0.12/gallon" or, nearly the amount of the federal gas tax ($0.18/gallon)... Moreover, the auto industry agrees with DoE's assessment.
But more importantly, Obama is correct to suggest that inflating tires properly and getting regular tune-ups "could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling" - and by a long shot. According to the Energy Information Administration, if Congress lifted the moratorium on offshore drilling, by 2030, oil crude production in the "lower-48? outer continental shelf will increase by about 200,000 barrels per day. By contrast, the production offset based on Obama's proposal will likely approach 800,000 barrels per day, immediately.
Too bad Republicans would rather pull stunts than come up with real ideas that work.
I just received the following e-mail from Brent Colburn, Barack Obama's Michigan Communications Director, that addressed Exxon's record profit in the last quarter. [I edited the link to make it fit better.] Note Obama's statement. He hits it out of the park with that one and shows where McCain's loyalty lies (with big oil).
In the wake of Exxon's announcement this morning of a record setting $12 billion profit, the Obama campaign is releasing a report today highlighting the real impact of this on Michigan. From April to June, while Exxon's was reaping these profits, a typical Michigan family paid $522 more for gas than they paid in the same three months of 2001, when President Bush took office. The report also compares Senator Obama's plan to provide middle class families with tax relief with Senator McCain's plan to offer Big Oil companies another $4 billion in tax breaks
Below is a Statement from Senator Barack Obama on Record Exxon Mobil Profits While Americans Pay Skyrocketing Gas Prices at the Pump
"Perhaps the only thing more outrageous than Exxon Mobil making record profits while Americans are paying record prices at the pump is the fact that Senator McCain has proposed giving them an additional $1.2 billion tax break. While Senator McCain's plan has succeeded in helping his campaign raise over $1 million from oil and gas company executives and employees just last month, it won't lower gas prices or end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Instead of an energy policy that reads like an oil-company wish list, it's time to create a new American energy economy by investing in alternative energy, creating millions of new jobs, increasing fuel efficiency standards, and ending the tyranny of oil once and for all," said Senator Barack Obama.
Brent also noted that the campaign will be holding voter registration events at gas stations throughout the state tomorrow. Great move. While drivers are dumping dollars they don't have into the gas tank, Obama's campaigners will be reminding them that oil companies continue to rake in record profits.
The company pulled in $11.68 billion in the second quarter, the highest quarterly profit ever recorded by a U.S. company.
Exxon earned over $128 million a day, or nearly $1,500 a second during the quarter.
Exxon's quarterly earnings were slightly larger than the annual gross domestic product of Afghanistan, which was $11.63 billion in 2007, according to the World Bank
With Exxon's quarterly profit, one could buy Gap Inc
Exxon's quarterly earnings translate to roughly $38.33 per American
If we total all of Big Oils profits for 2007, they've made $236 from every single person with a drivers license in America. To add insult to injury, Big Oil then turned around and donated a large chunk of those profits to McCain.
The only way to end the tyranny of oil once and for all is to vote for Obama. McCain is just more of the same.
The Senate is expected to vote today on whether to consider a windfall profits tax against the five largest U.S. oil companies. The bill would also roll back $17 billion in tax breaks the companies expect to receive over the next decade. The bill needs 60 votes to proceed in the face of a threatened GOP filibuster. Minority Leader Harry Reid said if he doesn't get 60 votes, he'll pull the bill from the floor.
Good luck, Harry. Republicans aren't about to stand up to Big Oil now that they've done so much to help McCain's campaign.
McCain Has Received Almost Twice as Much in Donations from Oil and Gas Industry PACs and Employees as Obama or Clinton. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, John McCain's campaign has received $723,777 in donations from oil industry political action committees and employees during his 2008 presidential campaign, almost twice as much as Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. (Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 5/31/08)
Besides, Big Oil has done well for itself thanks to Republicans voting along party lines: The five largest oil companies made $525.3 billion in profits under the Bush administration - $123.3 billion in 2007 alone and an additional $36 billion during the first three months of this year.
Where does Barack Obama stand on windfill profits?
"I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills."
McCain's Tax Plan Gives $3.8 Billion in Tax Cuts to the Top Five Oil Companies. McCain's current plan would deliver $3.8 billion in tax cuts to the five largest American oil companies. ("The McCain Plan to Cut Oil Company Taxes by Nearly $4 Billion," Center for American Progress Action Fund, 3/27/08)
McCAIN VOTES TO PROTECT BIG OIL'S PROFITS McCain Skipped a Vote to Repeal Tax Breaks for Oil Companies. In 2007, McCain was the only senator to miss a vote on the energy bill repealing tax subsidies for oil companies. (H.R. 6, Vote 425, 12/13/07)
McCain Voted Against Curtailing Oil Companies' Windfall Profits to Give a Tax Rebate to Working Families. In 2005, McCain voted against imposing a temporary windfall profits tax on oil companies and using the proceeds to provide nonrefundable tax credits to working families. (S.Amdt. 2635, Vote 341, 11/17/05; S.Amdt. 2587, Vote 331, 11/17/05)
McCain Voted to Protect Tax Breaks for Big Oil. Earlier, McCain opposed eliminating tax breaks for oil and natural gas companies related to depletion and drilling costs. (S.Amdt. 2782/H.R. 776, Vote 159, 7/29/92)
The comparison is clear: Obama cares about working families, McCain only cares about Big Oil.
UPDATE: Not surprisingly, the Democrats failed, 51-43, to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster and bring the energy package up for consideration.
