Oil Group Plans ‘Citizen’ Rallies in 5 States to Oppose Measures
The American Petroleum Institute will sponsor rallies in five states next month aimed at linking the oil and gas industry to the health of the U.S. economy and blunting legislation it opposes in Congress.
API, the industry’s largest trade group, plans events with oil-company employees starting Sept. 1 in three Texas cities to oppose repealing tax breaks and increasing liability on companies for oil spills. Supporters say the legislation will help ensure offshore drillers are more cautious after the blowout of a BP Plc well spilled an estimated at 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
The outdoor events are designed to be “a big-way call on Congress to focus on one thing on everybody’s mind, putting unemployed Americas back to work,” API President Jack Gerard said today on a conference call with reporters.
The group based in Washington is targeting legislation that has stalled in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has pledged to try again after the congressional recess.
Oil and gas companies create 9.2 million U.S. jobs and account for 7.5 percent of the nation’s economy, Gerard said. Higher tax rates will hurt the recovery and “erode” U.S. energy security by discouraging domestic production, he said.
Rallies will be held in the Texas cities of Houston, Beaumont and Corpus Cristi on Sept 1. Meetings are planned in Canton, Ohio; Peoria, Illinois; Grand Junction, Colorado; and Farmington, New Mexico, through Sept. 11, Gerard said.
The cities were selected because they have diverse economies that help show the effect on energy companies.
Lobbying Expenses
API has spent $3.6 million this year lobbying Congress and the administration, according to federal records. It also paid an undisclosed sum for advertising in 19 states that promoted the industry’s role in the economy. Gerard declined to say how much the group is spending on the rallies.
Congressional committees held at least 69 hearings on issues tied to the BP spill, according to the Washington-based Pew Charitable Trusts. Lawmakers introduced bills that would raise liability for spills and increase fees on companies to fund inspections. Legislation hasn’t reached the president.
Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace, an environmental advocacy group based in San Francisco, said the likelihood that Congress would adopt “meaningful legislation is a long shot.”
“Maybe they just want to drive a stake through that,” Davies said of the API rallies.
Greenpeace released an API memo last year that the advocacy group said showed the industry group sought to hide its role in staging similar rallies.
API released a study yesterday by Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting company, that projected domestic oil and natural gas production may decline 10 percent by 2017 if Congress passes proposals to raise the industry’s taxes.
Natural-gas production may be “severely disadvantaged” by proposals to repeal a tax break to encourage development of riskier fields and a manufacturing tax credit, according to the study.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Snyder in Washington at jsnyder24@bloomberg.net.
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page