http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842.htmlA White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.
The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.
In a joint hearing last week of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, the chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the 2001 task force. The president of Shell Oil said his company did not participate "to my knowledge," and the chief of BP America Inc. said he did not know.
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Oil Executives Deny Misleading Congresshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113001800.htmlexcerpt:
John Hofmeister, chairman of Shell Oil Co., said Shell representatives did not meet with the task force but added, "Shell representatives did meet with the administration _ including the vice president and his staff _ on a broad range of energy policy issues."
Exxon Mobil Corp. said its chairman, Lee Raymond, responded accurately when he said no one at the company participated in a task force meeting _ as the question was phrased by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
In its letter, however, Exxon Mobil confirmed that company officials met with a Bush administration official for 45 minutes on Feb. 14, 2001, to discuss the "global energy supply and demand situation." On the same day, the company said, the same information was given to members of Congress and others. The Cheney task force issued its report on energy priorities in May 2001.
Lautenberg called the executives' clarifications "corporate doublespeak that only further demonstrates the need for a criminal investigation" of their Nov. 9 testimony. He said he planned to discuss the issue further with Justice Department officials on Thursday.
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Did oil execs lie to Congress?
Report contradicts big oil execs testimony denying a White House meeting. Democrats seek probe.http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/16/news/fortune500/oil_execs.reut/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats asked the U.S. attorney general Wednesday to investigate whether top executives from big oil companies lied to Congress when they said their companies did not take part in Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
Democrats and environmental groups have fought unsuccessfully to find out which energy industry executives met privately with Cheney's group in 2001 as it prepared a broad plan friendly to oil industry interests. Environmental groups said they were mostly excluded from the discussions.
At a Senate hearing last week on record oil profits, Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey asked five executives, "Did your company or any representatives in your companies participate in Vice President Cheney's energy force in 2001?"
Each executive answered the question in the negative.
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Go Lautenberg! You have these guys by the balls - now squeeze!
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