Today, the US Chamber demonstrated yet again how it represents the interests of wealthy oil companies instead of the priorities of the American public.
In the wake of the devastating financial crisis, Congress is undertaking an effort to create a new set of rules under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to better protect consumers and avoid future economic disasters.
One of the proposed rule changes would require extraction issuers, like oil and coal companies, to disclose “certain payments made for projects relating to the commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals, including payments to various governments in connection with such projects.”
From the Ecuadorian Amazon to the oil fields of Nigeria, “extraction issuers” have been involved in all sorts of shady dealings, including human rights abuses, environmental disasters, and government corruption. Additional transparency would help the public understand the true cost of our ongoing addiction to oil and reign in the corporate abuses of wealthy fossil fuel companies.
So why is the US Chamber, which claims to represent the “interests of more than 3 million businesses” (they added that “interests of” after Mother Jones exposed them as falsely claiming to actually represent those businesses), deploying their lobbyists to fight the new rules?
As the saying goes, “Follow the money.” The Chamber of Commerce doesn’t have to say where it gets its money, but last year a group called U.S. ChamberWatch used one of the last disclosure laws still in existence to uncover a single pertinent fact. They went to the headquarters of the chamber and asked to see its IRS 990 form. It showed that 55 percent of its funding came from just 16 companies, each of which gave more than a million dollars. It doesn’t have to say which companies, but the Chamber’s consistent, virulent opposition to rules like the ones for extraction industries make it pretty clear.
Karen Harbert, head of the Chamber’s energy front group, the Orwellian sounding Institute for 21st Century Energy, issued the following statement today: “Given the hostile environment for exploration here at home, which has driven companies out of the U.S. and into overseas markets, one must begin to wonder exactly where American companies are supposed to turn to obtain the oil and gas that we currently rely on for more than 95% of our transportation fuel.”
The answer, of course, is that we can’t continue to rely on oil and gas to power our economy. Every President since Richard Nixon has declared the need to end our addiction to oil, but thanks to the dirty lobbying of wealthy corporate front groups like the Chamber of Commerce we’re still addicted. And until we show that groups like the Chamber are the true threat to our energy security, we’re going to remain victim to the price hikes (and carbon emissions) that come with that addiction.
Thankfully, America is ready for change. In the last week, over 1,000 businesses have stood up and said “The US Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me.” Let’s go out and get the next 1,000 to help build this growing wave!
