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George W Bush has ushered the oil industry into the heart of Washington.
Here is a breakdown of the industry interests of six of Bush's 'Big Oil'
cabinet,
including the President himself. As the Oil & Gas Journal said:
'From industry's
perspective, the casting of the lead roles couldn't
be better.'
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George W Bush, President
Mr Bush’s best business move was to sell a small oil company he had started in the 1970s called Bush Exploration/Arbusto to Spectrum 7 which was later acquired by Harken Energy. In return he received $600,000 in stock, a $120,000 yearly contract and a lot of friends in the Texas oil scene. With Bush senior occupying the White House at the time, Harken then won contracts in the Middle East by mentioning that President Bush’s kid ‘is on our Board’.
Oil money gushed into the President’s campaign coffers: $2.8 million from energy companies and another $2.3 million from the auto sector during the 2000 Bush/Cheney campaign. Enron alone donated more than a million dollars to the Republican National Committee. Bush owns stock in General Electric, BP, Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, Pennzoil and Tom Brown, Inc.
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Spencer Abraham,
Energy Secretary
Mr Abraham lost his re-election bid in Michigan but that didn’t disqualify him from the Energy Department job. Luckily, he didn’t get his wish of two years earlier when as a Senator he had called for abolition of the agency. Senator Abraham also fought to limit fuel-efficiency in gas-guzzling Sport Utility Vehicles, to cut research into renewable energy and to wipe out the federal gasoline tax. In Michigan, the home of ‘motown’ and the US car industry, General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler were among his biggest campaign contributors. Fuel economy regulations are up for debate again soon but the auto industry is confident their man will be there to support them. |
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Don Evans,
Commerce Secretary
Evans was George W Bush’s campaign manager in the last three elections and his chief fundraiser, pulling in millions from cronies in the oil patch. Before that he was CEO and Chairman of the Colorado-based oil company, Tom Brown Inc. Evans was also a Board member of Sharp Drilling, an oil industry contractor. As Commerce Secretary he will oversee the National Oceans and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), the lead agency for US oceans and air. This will likely torpedo any worthwhile research or policy recommendations on climate change. And since 25 per cent of America’s domestic oil and natural gas production comes from offshore drilling the industry must be glad to have a friend on the inside. |
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Dick Cheney, Vice-President
Whether or not Dick Cheney is calling the shots in the new administration he brings oil interests to the heart of the DC. After serving as Defense Secretary under George W’s dad, he settled in Dallas to head up the world’s biggest oil-services company, Halliburton (market value $18.2 billion). Since 1992 Halliburton has contributed $1.6 billion to the campaigns of Washington-bound politicians. Cheney’s record as a Wyoming Congressman from 1978 to 1989 hints at what’s to come. He co-sponsored a measure to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and voted against the Clean Water Act which required industries to release their toxic emissions records. Cheney is a member of a group called COMPASS (Committee to Preserve American Security and Sovereignty). In 1998 the group wrote to President Clinton to protest against the Kyoto climate change treaty, dismissing it as a ‘feel-good public relations ploy’. |
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Gale Norton,
Interior Secretary
Ms Norton is a former corporate lawyer and passionate believer in ‘free-market environmentalism’. She is a longtime supporter of wide-open oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the Rocky Mountains. As Attorney General of Colorado from 1991-98 she was keen on property rights, by which she meant that corporations whose profits suffered from environmental regulations should be paid back from the public purse. She was also co-chair of the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates whose members included lobbyists from the auto, coal and mining industries. On checking into her new Washington office on the fifth floor of the Interior Department building she promptly removed pictures celebrating the nation’s parks system. Instead there are now these photos: a mining land ‘reclamation’ project in Craig, Colorado; an offshore oil derrick; a dam with a US flag on top; and a shot of the Rosebud Mine in Montana. |
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Condoleezza Rice,
National Security
Adviser
Ms Rice is so conservative she makes Colin Powell look like Jesse Jackson. She is an extreme nationalist and considers the 'international community' to be a myth. She has deep ties to the oil industry and right-wing think tanks like the Hoover Institute who are delighted that she has the ear of the Commander-in-Chief on foreign policy and security issues. She spent a decade on the Board of oil giant Chevron Petroleum. As a parting gesture they named one of their supertankers 'Condoleezza'. Chevron is a big player in Nigeria where there is increasing US military involvement, including training of the Nigerian military to police the oil fields and secure pipelines. So watch for the outspoken Ms Rice to jump into the fray if activists begin to highlight the overlap between Chevron's corporate interests and US foreign policy in this African hotspot. |
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Research by Catherine Baldi and Danny Kennedy, both at Project Underground
in Berkeley, California (www.moles.org) and by the DataCenter in Oakland,
California (www:igc.apc.org/datacenter/ir/index.html) |
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New
Internationalist 335
