Enron,
Halliburton, Bechtel, Dynegy, Reliant making U.S. Policy! |
Enron,
Halliburton, Bechtel, Dynegy, Reliant making U.S. Policy! |
| President
Bush’s First 100 Days: A Look at How the Special Interests Have Fared Energy If there were any doubt that President Bush and Vice President Cheney, two former oil executives, would be sympathetic to the interests of energy companies, it has been put to rest in the first 100 days of the new administration. Bush has delighted oil and gas companies, and infuriated environmentalists, with repeated calls to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on other federal lands. He did a big favor for major electricity wholesalers by keeping the federal government largely out of the California energy crisis, which has produced major profits for energy companies including Dynegy Inc., Enron Corp. and Reliant Energy Inc., all of which are based in Bush’s home state of Texas. And he sided with the coal mining and electricity industries when he reversed a campaign pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at combating global warming. Bush’s allegiance to the energy sector is based on more than past experience or even a pro-business ideology. Energy interests gave more than $48.3 million (75 percent of their total contributions) to Republican candidates and party committees in 1999-2000, including $2.9 million to Bush. By contrast, Al Gore received a relatively paltry $325,000. The oil and gas industry strongly favored Bush over Gore, giving the Texas governor $13 for every $1 they gave to the vice president. Electric utilities supported Bush over Gore by a factor of nearly 7 to 1, as did the coal industry. Now all eyes are on Bush’s national energy policy, the details of which are being negotiated behind closed doors in a style reminiscent of that used by the Clintons in formulating their ill-fated health care plan in 1993. Led by Vice President Cheney, the administration’s energy-policy task force won’t be making its recommendations public until mid-May. But media reports have said the plan will place a renewed emphasis on nuclear power, call for increased natural gas exploration and make more land available for electricity plants. Source: Center for Responsive Politics |
Bush
Uses Solar Energy Budget for Printing Costs! Cheney
still receives up to $1,000,000 a year in "deferred compenstation"
from Halliburton. |
| Halliburton's contract to
restart Iraq's oil production has doubled in cost over the past month, and
the no-bid work may last longer than expected, the Army says. The expanded role awarded to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company cost taxpayers $184.7 million as of last week, up from $76.7 million a month ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed this week. Source: Associated Press |
"The
White House is asserting its right to seek confidential advice in battling
a string of lawsuits and congressional requests for information on the task
force and its contacts with now-bankrupt energy giant Enron Corp., a top
Bush campaign donor." Source: Reuters "Halliburton is the first of many U.S. corporations that will surely be asked to help, and profit from, the rebuilding of Iraq. It is an especially auspicious first awardee, however, because Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton until 2000. Upon entering the vice president's office, Cheney divested himself of his holdings, although he reportedly still receives about $1 million a year in compensation from the company." Source: The Motley Fool |
