The West’s leading trade group for the oil industry has collaborated with, and in some cases funded, an array of groups to combat what it calls “aggressive anti-oil initiatives,” according to a presentation obtained by climate activists and shared with this newspaper.
The 32-page document lists 16 groups that the Western States Petroleum Association is working with to influence public opinion and public policy in California, Oregon and Washington, including groups such as Californians Against Higher Oil Taxes, Oregonians for Sound Fuel Policy and Washington Consumers for Sound Fuel Policy.
To climate activists, the PowerPoint presentation lays bare, in the starkest of terms, the industry’s efforts to scuttle the West’s groundbreaking global warming laws.
“WSPA’s metastasizing colony of anti-clean energy front groups is a startling reminder of the length to which the oil industry will go to protect their market share,” wrote Merrian Borgeson of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
To WSPA, the PowerPoint presentation is no big secret — and neither is the fact that it is involved in several business and consumer coalitions, some of which it supports financially.
“I find it fascinating that a handful of gullible news reporters have been convinced this was a ‘leaked’ document that reveals WSPA’s secret formula for world domination,” WSPA President Cathy Reheis-Boyd wrote in a blog post Nov. 25. “WSPA has always recognized the urgent need to address climate change, including the role that fossil fuels play in global warming. But that, of course, has never been the question. The question is what to do about it — how to transition to a lower-carbon energy future without unnecessarily harming our economies, our businesses and our citizens.”
California, Washington and Oregon are charging forward on a host of climate change regulations that impact the oil industry.
One key issue is California’s expanding cap-and-trade program, a cornerstone of the state’s landmark global warming law, known as AB 32, that was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Under the program, the state sets an overall emissions “cap” for individual California companies that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. Those that reduce emissions below their cap can sell or trade their unused allowances to companies that exceed their limits. If the system works as designed, the most efficient companies will be financially rewarded, polluters will pay and greenhouse gases will be dramatically reduced.
On Jan. 1, the program will expand to include diesel, gasoline and other transportation fuels, which the California Air Resources Board estimates are responsible for roughly 40 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
Legal efforts to delay bringing fuels under the cap have largely stalled, so the oil industry and its allies are taking their campaign to the public, warning that the regulations will cost jobs and raise prices at the pump. A group called the California Drivers Alliance is urging state officials to “put the brakes on the hidden gas tax”; the alliance is one of the groups funded by WSPA.
On Monday, Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, and Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford, introduced the Affordable Gas for California Families Act, which would exempt transportation fuels, including natural gas, from the cap-and-trade program.
Gasoline prices are the lowest they’ve been in five years, averaging of $2.82 a gallon nationwide the week before Thanksgiving — 47 cents lower than a year ago. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says falling crude oil prices, robust U.S. and Libyan production and weakening expectations for the global economy have reduced oil prices. But global oil markets are notoriously volatile.
“Gasoline prices are low because internationally supply exceeds demand,” said Dave Clegern of the California Air Resources Board. “History shows that this situation is temporary, and world oil prices will climb once again. The only way to keep our costs low over the long term is to reduce our dependence on petroleum.”
Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.
WSPA campaigns and coalitions
1. Californians for Energy Independence
2. Californians Against Higher Oil Taxes
3. Concerned Mineral Owners of California
4. Kern Citizens for Energy
5. Fueling California
6. California Fuel Facts
7. Californians for Affordable & Reliable Energy
8. Oregonians for Sound Fuel Policy
9. Tank the Tax
10. AB 32 Implementation Group
11. Save Our Jobs
12. Fed Up at the Pump
13. Washington Consumers for Sound Fuel Policy
14. Californians Against Higher Taxes
15. California Drivers Alliance
16. Local hydraulic fracturing campaigns
Source: WSPA Priority Isssues PowerPoint presentation from Nov. 11
