States Archives - Page 22 of 34 - Checks and Balances Project

2012-12-7

Grover Norquist, founder of the right wing, anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform, recently spoke out about the folly of spending tax dollars on pink unicorns, since they don’t exist. Following his logic, government shouldn’t create handouts for oil shale, since it doesn’t exist as an energy source. We want to see if Mr. Norquist… Read more »

2012-10-30

The industry front group, Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale (ECCOS) deliberately misled the public and trumped up support for a radical plan that puts our water and communities at risk from oil shale speculation. The group’s Executive Director Brad McCloud purposefully misrepresented stakeholder comments submitted on the Interior Department’s draft proposals for the research… Read more »

2012-10-18

With less than three weeks to go before Election Day, the rhetoric around gas prices and drilling is heating up at campaign events around the country. The issue was also front and center in Tuesday night’s presidential debate. Predictably, data about oil production on federal lands and its effects on gas prices is being spun… Read more »

2012-10-18

Note: This post is a write up of a poll done by Latino Decisions Colorado has become one of the most contested states in 2012, and Michael Bennet’s 2010 Senate win came by less than 30,000 votes. Latino voters – at an estimated 12% of the electorate – have become one of the most crucial… Read more »

2012-10-10

Note: This blog first appeared on From the Styx During my four years as Garfield County Colorado’s oil and gas liaison, I spoke with hundreds of people all over the county. I never heard anyone say anything different from this: “We need oil and gas. I just think they should do it right.” Doing it… Read more »

2012-09-26

Plurality of voters disagree with the county commissioners’ closed-door meeting in Utah According to a new bipartisan poll, Garfield County voters are deeply divided over their county commissioners’ recent actions on several oil and gas drilling and oil shale issues. The poll examined three controversial decisions made by the county commissioners, whether voters believe the… Read more »

2012-08-29

Today, the Checks & Balances Project joined a coalition of democracy advocates calling on Jim Rogers, Chairman, President and CEO of Duke Energy Corporation, to drop his company’s affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC serves as a conduit to feed big business-sponsored legislation to members of state legislatures across the country. ALEC’s… Read more »

The story behind The Road to Nowhere

2012-08-23

Jeff Hartley, a lobbyist for oil shale company Red Leaf Resources, interviewed with Utah-based NPR affiliate KCPW in early August. Mr. Hartley used the interview to try to spin the facts and deny that the Seep Ridge Road project is a taxpayer-funded subsidy for Red Leaf. The project, dubbed the “Road to Nowhere” in the… Read more »

Oil and gas welfare queen parking only

2012-08-2

Remember back when Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said he would have EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in front of Congress so often she’d need her own parking space? Maybe he should have made the same offer to oil and gas welfare queen Kathleen Sgamma. Today’s Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing marks the… Read more »

2012-07-31

Overall, this seems to be a reflection of WEA’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge improvements in the onshore leasing program and to continue to blame the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the state of the worldwide economy and business decisions its members are making. WEA’s report: Fails to explain what “enough” oil production might be,… Read more »