For Immediate Release:
November 16, 2005
Contact:
David
Willett, 202-675-6698
White House Document Shows Oil Companies/Bush
Administration Misled
Public
and Congress
statement
of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director
In response to a newly
disclosed White House document that proves that the
Bush administration
misled the American public when they tried to cover up
whom they met with to
craft energy policy and that oil executives lied
about their participation in
the Cheney Energy Task Force, Sierra Club
issued the following statement by
Carl Pope, Executive Director, and will
be sending the following letters to
the White House, Congress and the Oil
Companies involved:
"A White
House document obtained by the Washington Post clearly shows that
the Bush
administration and oil companies have tried to cover up their
back-room
development of energy policy as recently as last week. The
records
reported in the Washington Post show that despite earlier claims,
executives
of ExxonMobil, Shell, BP America and Conoco met with Vice
President Cheney's
Energy Task Force in early 2001.
"Now that it is clear that the White
House and Oil Industry misled the
public, they key question is what were they
trying so hard to hide? The
American people deserve to know who really
crafted the failed energy
policies of the Bush administration..
"The
Bush administration fought all efforts to find out who wrote their
energy
policy. In fact, they took the fight all the way to the
Supreme
Court.
"While Sierra Club does not object to consulting
industry on energy policy,
we strongly objected to consulting only with
industry to the exclusion of
all other voices and to keeping the workings
secret from the American
people.
"Sierra Club believes that the leaked
document was prepared in response to
the Sierra Club's lawsuit against Vice
President Cheney. In light of this
new information, it is now more
important than ever that the Bush
administration come clean on who
recommended what regarding energy policy.
"On January 29, 2001 President
Bush established the National Energy Policy
Development Group, better known
as the "Cheney Energy Task Force."
Formally, the Energy Task Force included
the Vice President and a handful
of Cabinet Secretaries. On May 16,
2001 the Task Force issued its
recommendations for a "National Energy
Policy". This policy has been the
basis for the energy bills the Bush
administration has pushed since then,
including the Energy Bill passed in
August 2005 which was larded with
polluter giveaways
"While the oil
companies are reaping record profits, American consumers who
are paying these
companies billions of dollars deserve to know how much of
the oil industry's
wish list is making its way into federal law.
"The oil companies need to
explain to Congress why they lied about their
participation in the Cheney
Energy Task Force. The White House needs to
explain why they continue
to fight so hard to hide the truth. Congress
needs to demand answers so
the American people can learn what happened and
hold those who misled them
accountable. What are they trying to hide?"
Background Information
about Sierra Club's lawsuit against the Cheney
Energy Task Force can be found
at:
http://www.sierraclub.org/environmentallaw/lawsuits/viewCase.asp?id=173###
The
Sierra Club will be issuing the following letters to the White House
and the
relevant Oil Company Executives:
1. Letter to White
House
Dear President Bush and Vice President Cheney,
It is now
clear that your administration misled the American people about
the degree to
which energy industry executives were involved with the
Cheney Energy Task
Force.
America needs a responsible energy policy that cuts the
country’s
dependence on oil, curbs global warming, and lowers consumer energy
bills.
Unfortunately, the Bush-Cheney energy policy fails to achieve any of
these
goals. The American people deserve to know the names of the
energy
officials who met with the White House staff, the proposals they made,
and
the degree to which these proposals became part of the
administration’s
official energy policy.
Since the task force
concluded in 2001, many of their policy proposals have
been adopted as
administration policy, including:
· Opening up the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Outer Continental
Shelf to oil and
natural gas drilling
· Tax breaks and subsidies that
encourage the construction of more
filthy coal plants and dangerous nuclear
power plants
· Giving automakers a break by not
requiring current technology that
would increase the fuel economy of our cars
and light trucks, saving
consumers billions of dollars at the gas
pump.
· Adopting a rule which would alter the system
by which we measure and
enforce fuel economy for light trucks, which recently
was proposed by the
National Highway and Transportation Safety
Administration
· Deregulating the electricity market
and weakening rules that protect
consumers from price
gouging.
· Subsidizing and requiring "alternative"
fuels in a renewable fuel
standard.
Some of these proposals became law
in the energy bill that the President
signed in August of this year.
Others are still being debated in Congress,
such as drilling the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. The American people
deserve to know the true
source of these policies that have left Americans
with high gasoline
policies, dangerous oil dependence, more global warming
and air pollution,
while generating record profits for oil companies.
These policies have hurt
America’s environment, economy, and national
security.
Americans are
paying the price for the Bush-Cheney energy policy. Some
Americans by
putting themselves in harm's way in Iraq, some with their
health in polluted
cities and some with dollars at the gas pump.
We urge you to be fully
open with the public and answer all of these
questions completely and
truthfully.
Sincerely,
Carl Pope
Executive Director
Sierra
Club
2. Letter to Oil Companies
Dear [CEO of ExxonMobil,
Conoco, Shell, or BP America],
It is now clear that you lied to Congress
and the American people, as
recently as last week, when you denied that
executives from your company
met with the Cheney Energy Task Force regarding
America’s energy policy.
The American people, paying high prices for energy,
deserve to know the
details of your company’s meetings with members of the
administration,
including who you met with, what you discussed, and whether
any promises
were made in exchange for adopting your
recommendations.
Since the task force concluded in 2001, many of their
policy proposals have
been adopted as administration policy,
including:
· Opening up the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge and Outer Continental
Shelf to oil and natural gas
drilling
· Tax breaks and subsidies that encourage
the construction of more
filthy coal plants and dangerous nuclear power
plants
· Giving automakers a break by not requiring
current technology that
would increase the fuel economy of our cars and light
trucks, saving
consumers billions of dollars at the gas
pump.
· Adopting a rule which would alter the system
by which we measure and
enforce fuel economy for light trucks, which recently
was proposed by the
National Highway and Transportation Safety
Administration
· Deregulating the electricity market
and weakening rules that protect
consumers from price
gouging.
· Subsidizing and requiring "alternative"
fuels in a renewable fuel
standard.
Some of these suggestions have
become law in the energy bill that the
President signed in August of this
year. Some of these proposals are still
being debated in Congress, such
as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. These policies have
hurt America’s environment, economy, and
national security, while benefiting
your company financially. The American
people deserve to know the role
you played in the Energy Task Force.
We urge you to promptly and fully
disclose the facts behind your
involvement in the Cheney Energy Task
Force.
Sincerely,
Carl Pope
###