Focus Area

Holding Big Oil Accountable

Big Oil and its relatives want to keep us hooked on fossil fuels and handing over our wallets. They consistently buy and lie to keep it that way.

Consumer Watchdog's OilWatchdog.org exposes the industry's corporate influence and misdeeds. It highlights a path to energy that is cleaner and cheaper than the true cost of oil and coal.

Oil Watchdog exposed the profit motive of major Texas-based oil refiner Valero when it poured $5 million into a ballot initiative that aimed at stopping California's green energy industries in their tracks. Our report showed the initiative's "Save Jobs" motif was a lie--it was all about keeping gasoline prices high and preventing competition.

Our campaign to expose Koch Industries included running an ad in Times Square [see ad at right] that introduced the little-known, but extremely powerful company to the public, revealing its gross track record of law-breaking, Tea Party funding, and climate change denial.

Deapite what the oil companies and their captive politicians say about the cost of clean energy, OilWatchdog's Cleaner and Cheaper Energy report sketched a path to a transportation future that is practical and affordable, giving technologies from electric cars to hydrogen fuel grades from "A" to "F".

From BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill to natural gas that's not so safe after all, OilWatchdog looks for the spin, the influence, and the ethical misconduct that keep these companies wallowing in profit. It welcomes courageous whistleblowers. Knowing how how corporate influence works is the first step to changing it.