[env-trinity] Western States Petroleum Association Wins The Prestigious "Scummy" Award

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/6/18/1540197/-Western-States-Petroleum-Association-Wins-The-Prestigious-Scummy-Award?





Western States Petroleum Association Wins The Prestigious "Scummy" Award

by Dan Bacher

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the lobbying  
organization for Big Oil in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and  
Washington, received the prestigious “Scummy Award” from the  
environmental group “Stop Fooling California” (stopfoolingca.org) on  
June 17 for “fighting for the oil industry’s right to pollute.”


In every edition of Stop Fooling California’s “The Crude Truth”  
newsletter, the group gives the “Scummy Award” for “who’s the best at  
being the worst.” I love these awards because they offer a creative  
and humorous way to point out the latest transgressions of the oil  
industry.

“Remember that time the Richmond Chevron refinery sent thousands to  
the hospital when it caught fire and covered the community with heavy,  
toxic smoke?,” the group recalled. “ Well, understandably, the local  
air quality management district didn’t like that one bit. So,  
officials set up five rules designed to reduce refinery emissions and  
ensure Big Oil doesn’t poison its neighbors. Seems reasonable, right?”

“Well, not if you’re elite scum bag,” the group said. “The Western  
States Petroleum Association filed a lawsuit, with their lawyers  
calling the rules ‘arbitrary and capricious.’” (www.mercurynews.com/...)

“Meanwhile, climate justice groups like the Asian Pacific  
Environmental Network, support the rules, saying they’re needed to  
protect our climate and health especially for disadvantaged  
communities, who shoulder the brunt of pollution,” the group concluded.

In an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle cited by Stop  
Fooling California, Andres Soto and Sandy Saetern pointed out the  
enormous hazard that oil refinery emissions pose to human health and  
the environment. (www.sfchronicle.com/...)

“East Bay residents know what it’s like to rush, choking, to the  
emergency room when a refinery fire poisons our air because oversight  
is too lax,” Soto and Saetern wrote. “ We know that from Chevron’s  
2012 Richmond refinery fire, which sent 15,000 people to seek medical  
help after a corroded pipe failed and caught fire. The Bay Area knows  
we need air pollution reductions to protect our climate and our health.”

This is not the first time that Stop Fooling California has bestowed  
its “Scummy  Award" upon WSPA or its President, Catherine Reheis-Boyd.  
After hearing that the “Women's Empowerment Summit" was going to honor  
Reheis- Boyd,  with the 2016 "Distinguished Woman and Petroleum  
Advocate of the Year" award on May 7, the group decided to give Reheis- 
Boyd the "Scummy Award.” (www.indybay.org/...)

"Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum  
Association (WSPA), is receiving TWO awards this weekend!," the group  
proclaimed. “She’ll receive the first annual Distinguished Woman and  
Petroleum Advocate of the Year award (because she leads the most  
powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento) AND our prestigious  
Scummy (because she’s an oil industry shill)." (us8.campaign- 
archive2.com/...)

The oil industry, including WSPA, Chevron, Phillips 66, AERA Energy,  
Exxon and Shell, have spent more than $25 million so far in the  
2015-16 legislative session.  WSPA has spent $12.8 million so far in  
the session, making them, as usual, the top California lobbying  
spenders of the session.

In a huge conflict of interest that the mainstream media has refused  
to discuss, Reheis-Boyd chaired the South Coast Marine Life Protection  
Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue) Ribbon Task Force that created the so- 
called “marine protected areas” that went into effect in Southern  
California waters on January 1, 2012. She also served on the MLPA Blue  
Ribbon Task Forces for the North Coast, North Central Coast and  
Central Coast. (www.dfg.ca.gov/...)

The “marine protected areas” created under her leadership fail to  
protect the ocean from fracking, acidizing, other offshore oil  
drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture and all  
human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.

While Reheis-Boyd served on the task forces to "protect" the ocean,  
the same oil industry that the "marine guardian" represents was  
conducting environmentally destructive fracking operations off the  
Southern California coast. Documents obtained under the Freedom of  
Information Act and media investigations by Associated Press and  
truthout.org in 2013 reveal that the ocean has been fracked at least  
203 times in the past 20 years, including the period from 2004 to 2012  
that Reheis-Boyd served as a "marine guardian.”

Besides exerting enormous influence over state regulators, WSPA and  
Big Oil also wield enormous power over federal regulators. Claiming  
that fracking poses “no significant impact” to the environment, Obama  
administration officials on May 27 finalized their plans to allow oil  
companies to resume offshore fracking and acidizing in California’s  
Santa Barbara Channel after a moratorium on fracking was temporarily  
imposed as the result of a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit.  
(theecoreport.com/...)

As expected, Reheis-Boyd applauded the Environmental Assessment (EA)  
report by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of  
Safety and Environmental Enforcement that ended the moratorium on  
offshore hydraulic fracturing in California:

“Today’s final report continues to reaffirm the sound science behind  
our safe energy production practices,” Reheis Boyd said in a statement  
on May 27. “Offshore producers in California will continue to adhere  
to the strictest safety and operational standards in the world while  
delivering affordable and reliable energy to U.S. consumers.”  (www.wspa.org/ 
... )

WSPA and Big Oil wield their power in five major ways: through (1)  
lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) getting appointed to positions on  
and influencing regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups: and  
(5) working in collaboration with media. For my in-depth investigation  
on the five ways WSPA and Big Oil have captured California politics,  
go to: www.dailykos.com/… 
   
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