Nader Challenges Groups to Stand up for Low-Income Families
Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Marc Abizeid, 831-818-7736, marcabizeid@votenader.org
RALPH NADER CHALLENGES BLACK AND HISPANIC CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUSES TO URGE BIG OIL TO HELP WARM LOW INCOME HOMES THIS WINTER
Ralph Nader yesterday sent letters to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and the American Petroleum Institute urging members to press the multi-billion dollar oil industry to donate $5 billion to the grossly underfunded Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps millions of low-income families keep from freezing during winter. The price for heating oil is projected to be at an all-time high this winter, $4.34/gallon, which is a 31% increase over last winter. In the past, these groups have ignored similar requests.
The Nader/Gonzalez campaign calls on reporters to recognize and fulfill their responsibilities to serve the public interest by exposing what our leaders and big business are doing, and not doing, to address poverty-related issues especially in minority neighborhoods where unemployment and poverty rates are most stark. Below are the two letters sent yeserday to the Black and Hispanic Caucuses, and to the President of the American Petroleum Institute (API). There is also a letter attached written to the API by Senator Charles Grassley in 2005.
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Sept. 17, 2008
To:
Elsie L. Scott, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.
1720 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Chair, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.
2264 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Esther Aguilera
President and CEO
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
911 2nd St. NE
Washington, DC 20002
Rep. Joe Baca
Chair, The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
1527 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Leaders,
Enclosed is a letter I sent to the American Petroleum Institute requesting it to urge its members to collectively contribute $5 billion dollars to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help keep low-income families from freezing this Winter.
This urgent request comes at at time when the price for heating oil is forecast to cost $4.34/gallon during the wintry season -- a 31 percent increase over last Winter. And as you may know, the super-wealthy oil industry is rolling in record profits. The top five oil companies -- ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron and ConcoPhillips -- took in net profits of $123 billion dollars last year and are on track to significantly break that profit record this year.
I am writing to your Caucus, as I did last year, to encourage you to raise the profiles of these requests in the court of public opinion and with your voters back at home. If Republican Senator Charles Grassley, then chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 2005, can make such a request to the API (see attached), then many members of the House should strive to make a more insistent demand of big oil to supplement taxpayer monies.
Several follow up requests to you for a response last year elicited only silence. Given that some of your constituents in need during a freezing winter deserve more assistance than is in the LIHEAP budget, I am releasing these two letters to local media and community groups.
I look forward to receiving an encouraging stand.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
PO Box 34103
Washington, DC 20043
202-471-5833
Cc: Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain, Senator Charles Grassley, and other interested parties.
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Sept. 17, 2008
Mr. Red Cavaney
President and CEO
American Petroleum Institute
1220 L Street, NW, #900
Washington, DC 20005
Dear Mr. Cavaney,
I'm writing to you with the urgent recommendation that you press the members of your association to make a vital contribution to help keep this country's poor from freezing during the coming winter.
The price of heating oil and natural gas is increasing dramatically. The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration calculates that the 2008/2009 price for heating oil will cost $4.34/gallon -- a 31 percent increase over the previous year, and 125 percent higher than the average cost between 2002 - 2007. Similarly, the price of natural gas is expected to spike sharply this winter.
To manage skyrocketing energy bills, millions of Americans rely on aid provided through government programs like the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), whose appropriations amounted to less than $2 billion last year -- not nearly enough to pay for what your industry charges.
Meanwhile, your oil industry is setting record profits. Last year, the top five oil companies -- ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron and ConcoPhillips -- took in net profits of $123 billion dollars and according to a report by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, those companies are on track to set a new record this year of about $160 billion.
I ask you to communicate with the members of your association, and especially urge those major companies to make a combined donation this year of $5 billion -- a modest 4 percent of last year's top five profits -- to LIHEAP where the funds are urgently needed. U.S. oil companies should do far more than Venezuelan-owned CITGO has done for low income people in this country.
When Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, then chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote you in 2005 (see attached) making a similar request, you ignored him and proceeded to count your mounting profits. That was a demonstration of the "arrogance of power," and should not
be repeated. You can do better than that for sure.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
PO Box 34103
Washington, DC 20043
202-471-5833
Cc: Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain, Senator Charles Grassley, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the CEOs of ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron and ConcoPhillips, and other interested parties.
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November 1, 2005
Mr. Red Cavaney
President and CEO
American Petroleum Institute
1220 L Street, NW, #900
Washington, D.C. 20005
Dear Mr. Cavaney:
I'm writing to urge the members of your association to do their part to assist America's seniors and low-income households by providing contributions to energy assistance programs like fuel funds to supplement the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. As record 3rd quarter profits are announced across the oil and gas industry, your members have an opportunity to demonstrate that they're good corporate citizens by giving a fraction of their profits to help the less fortunate.
Millions of families across the country are going to see sharply higher home heating costs this winter. Midwestern households that use natural gas can expect a nearly 50 percent increase from last year. Propane users can expect an increase of 30 percent over last winter, and heating oil users can expect an increase of 32 percent. Many low-income and elderly families across the country won't have the ability to absorb these costs. I know you'll agree that no one should have to choose between paying their heating bill and buying food or medicine.
Industry analysts have estimated that the 29 major oil and gas companies in the Standard & Poor's stock index are expected to earn $96 billion this year. That's up from $68 billion in 2004 and $43 billion in 2003. In fact, those companies that have reported 3rd quarter profits so far have earned more than $20 billion, up more than 50 percent from last year.
You have a responsibility to use these record profits to invest in more exploration, production and refining capacity to increase supply of petroleum products. Beyond that, you have a responsibility to help less fortunate Americans cope with the high cost of heating fuels. It's not unreasonable to expect corporations with 50, 75 or 100 percent growth in earnings this quarter to contribute a mere 10 percent of those profits to fuel fund programs that supplement LIHEAP. This is especially true in the case of some of the largest integrated oil and gas companies that currently have tens of billions of dollars in cash on hand.
Please relay my request to each one of your members. I look forward to hearing from you with an update and a status report on your association members' charitable contributions.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
United States Senator
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