big oil

Before 1984, only AT&T could sell long-distance telephone service, making a long-distance call to your great aunt cost $3.00 a minute. That monopoly and unfair pricing ended when a federal judge required AT&T to grant access to any carrier that wanted to sell long-distance services. Here’s a lesson from Economics 101: a monopoly has the power to set the price on a commodity.[read more]

Oil Drilling via Shutterstock

Think about how a new IEA projection  – that our vast shale resources will let the U.S. overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2020 – fits with last week’s decision by the administration to remove more than 1.5 million western acres from oil shale development.Short answer: Not very well.Although we’...[read more]

American Money via Shutterstock

 

A recent analysis by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) summarized the costs of the federal government's various "subsidies" for energy from different sources. This is both useful and timely, since discussions of specific subsidies such as the expiring wind production tax credit inevitably lead to questions about how incentives for renewable energy compare to those for oil, gas, nuclear, and other more traditional sources.[read more]

Big Oil's supporters in Congress have yet to come up with a credible plan to help get America out of the gas price crunch. Their latest effort, the Gasoline Regulations Act, is no exception. The bill merely uses gas prices as a cover to sneak through fundamental changes in longstanding clean air protections.  The bill seeks to...[read more]

Trend would be shifted with California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard NRDC has long supported efforts by companies to invest in cleaner technologies. We have started tracking oil industry investments in renewable fuels such as advanced biofuels, down to the company level. In a new analysis, NRDC compares those investments to traditional...[read more]

Call it a coincidence but there are undeniable linkages. Crude oil has risen once again is flirting with $100 a barrel. Meanwhile, legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens is ratcheting up his push for legislation that would boost the development of U.S. shale natural gas reserves and deploy the cleanest burning fossil fuel to supplant products...[read more]

Just when it seemed like the debate about repealing oil and gas subsidies had faded away, President Obama gave the issue new life. Speaking at the White House yesterday, Obama proposed cutting certain tax credits to profitable oil and gas companies to pay for part of his $467 billion job-creation package.[read more]

In my travels around the globe, I have never been to another country that regards their oil companies as we do here in the U.S. I have actually been in countries where people view their domestic oil companies as a source of national pride. Here in the U.S., the average person on the street views our oil companies as vile, greedy...[read more]

As early as Tuesday, the House will decide whether to rush a ruling over Big Oil's plan to run a pipeline through the American heartland to deliver the dirtiest oil on the planet from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The bill - H.R. 1938 - would fast-track the vital environmental review this perilous pipeline proposal demands....[read more]

As debt negotiations continue in Congress, President Obama appears to be sticking to his guns on repealing the enormous tax breaks enjoyed by the oil and gas industry. The industry takes advantage of tax breaks dating back to the dawn of the oil age – the kind of fiscal encouragement intended to support nascent businesses, not...[read more]

The campaign to avert cataclysmic climate change soldiers on. Despite an aggressive global economic crisis that unequivocally stole some wind from the sails of climate action, the movement lingers, organizing marches and rallies for the coming climate revolution. But action on the climate-energy front will not occur at the grassroots...[read more]

This was a funny week to be in Washington DC. I happened to be in town on Tuesday when the Senate was debating whether to repeal the numerous tax subsidies given to the oil and gas industry. To give you a sense of scale, the subsidies on the block add up to $21 billion over the next 10 years for the top five oil companies alone. Of...[read more]

It is no secret that consumers are suffering from very high gasoline prices. And as a result of these high prices, ExxonMobil just reported a first-quarter profit of $10.7 billion — 69 percent higher than a year ago.  The national level of disgust and anger is approaching record levels as we watch the loss of our hard-earned dollars...[read more]

I admit it. I have been a very good customer to the oil companies over the years. During the 35 years since obtaining that ticket to freedom called a "drivers license", I have averaged about 20,000 - 30,000 miles per year behind the wheel. (The low years were those in which I spent 6 months of the year under water, not buying much at all...[read more]

Sometimes I come across information that isn't publicly known. That occasionally happens because I am digging, and I uncover something newsworthy. I can generally report on those kinds of things. But sometimes it is because someone sends me information that is confidential - or they tell me something they learned in confidence. That has...[read more]