Bush and Cheney's Energy Task Force

On Tuesday, April 26, 2004, the Supreme Court heard the case of "in re: Richard B. Cheney." Although the conservative-dominated Supreme Court found in favor of Cheney, questions remain about Cheney's activities on the Energy Task Force. Cheney refused to reveal who he met with while he was formulating the national energy policy. While Cheney fought calls to reveal who he met with, it was clear from the small number of documents that had already been released that he granted energy industry insiders their greatest wishes when crafting the national energy policy.

CHENEY FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL AGAINST DISCLOSURE

Bush Created Energy Task Force Nine Days After Inauguration. On January 29th, 2001, President Bush created an energy task force and appointed Vice President Dick Cheney as its chair. Other members include Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Interior Secretary Gale Norton. [New York Times, 1/30/01]

Cheney Chaired Nine Cabinet Level Meetings on Energy Task Force. Vice President Dick Cheney chaired nine meetings of the Cabinet-level Energy Task Force that he chaired between January and May 2001, eventually disbanding in September 2001. Each of the meetings lasted 90 minutes. In May 2001, Bush directed Cheney to direct a government-wide task force on managing the consequences of a domestic terrorist attack. The task force never met. [Washington Post, 1/20/02, 5/17/01]

GAO Unsuccessfully Sued Cheney Over Energy Task Force's Secrecy. In May 2001, the General Accounting Office contacted the Vice President's counsel and requested a list of people who met with the Cheney energy task force, but the White House refused to comply. In February 2002, the GAO filed suit against Cheney in an effort to obtain the information they requested. The Bush administration eventually won its legal battle with the General Accounting Office. It marked the first time in its 80-year history that the GAO has filed suit against a vice president. [Editorial, Washington Post, 1/31/02; New York Times, 2/23/02]

Two Watchdog Groups Sued Cheney for Energy Task Force Documents. Following the example of the GAO, two non-profit organizations, the environmental group Sierra Club and conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch sued Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2002 for access to energy task force documents, which the administration met immediately with a motion for dismissal. [Energy Daily, 7/16/02]

Lower Court Ruled That Cheney Must Turn Over Documents... In 2002, the U.S. District Court ruled that Cheney must turn over the documents detailing who met with his task force. [Financial Times, 8/2/02; Los Angeles Times, 1/17/04; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), 2/23/04]

...But Cheney Took Case to The Supreme Court. On December 15, 2003, the Supreme Court announced it would hear his appeal. The justices are due to hear arguments in April in the case of "in re Richard B. Cheney." [Los Angeles Times, 1/17/04; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), 2/23/04]

Cheney And Scalia Went Hunting Together AFTER Supreme Court Agreed To Hear Cheney Case. Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of the week of January 5, 2004 duck hunting together at a private camp in southern Louisiana, just three weeks after the court agreed to take up Cheney's appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration's energy task force. Several experts in legal ethics said it raised doubts about Scalia's ability to judge the case impartially. The trip was sponsored by an oil services company, Diamond Services. In a 21-page memo, Scalia refused calls to recuse himself from the Cheney case. [Los Angeles Times, 1/17/04; New York Times, 2/6/04; USA Today, 4/11/04] Scalia Would Skip Cheney Duck Hunt "If He Had To Do It Over Again." According to Newsweek, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has said privately that if he had it to do over again, he'd skip the duck hunt with Vic President Dick Cheney that lead many to call for Scalia's to recuse himself from the Cheney Energy Task Force case before the Supreme Court. [Newsweek, 5/3/04 Issue]

ENERGY TASK FORCE DOMINATED BY SPECIAL INTERESTS

Energy Task Force Headed By Officials With Ties to Energy Industry. Bush stacked the energy task force with a number of officials with ties to the oil and energy industry. The head of the task force was Vice President Dick Cheney, who was the former chief executive officer of Halliburton, the oil services giant. Members include Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a former executive at Texas oil company Tom Brown; Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham who received almost half a million dollars in contributions from the oil and energy industry during his 2000 campaign for the U.S. Senate in Michigan; Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who received nearly $28,570 from the oil and gas companies for her 1996 run for U.S. Senate, the second largest total from any industry. [www.crp.org; New York Times, 1/30/01]

Released Records Show Heavy Industry Influence. A number of the documents initially released regarding the energy task force, though heavily redacted, show that the Bush administration relied heavily on industry input while crafting the national energy policy. According to the Washington Post, "A first review of the 11,000 pages of documents bolsters the contention of Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups that the Bush administration relied almost exclusively on the advice of executives from utilities and producers of oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy...." [Washington Post, 3/26/02]

• Cheney Met With Many Industry Groups, Few Environmental and Consumer Groups. Cheney's energy task force officials met with 118 energy industry or corporate groups, 13 environmental groups and 1 consumer group during meetings of the energy task force. [Washington Post, 3/26/02, 5/17/01; New York Times, 5/10/01; 5/20/01]
• Abraham Met with Over 100 Energy Industry Representatives and Zero Environmental Groups. In February 2001, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham cited his "busy schedule" and declined a request from 30 environmental groups to meet concerning the energy task force. Instead, Secretary Abraham met with 109 energy industry executives and zero environmental groups over the 81 work-day period that the energy task force lasted. [New York Times, 3/27/02]
• Abraham Met with Numerous GOP Donors. Documents show that while drafting the White House's energy policy, Secretary Abraham met with industry representatives who were significant Republican donors. The Washington Post said, "Of the corporations that met with Abraham, all but a few were large contributors of unregulated soft money to the Republican Party during the 2000 election cycle. A dozen of the companies that had meetings with Abraham contributed $1.2 million to the GOP, mainly for Bush's election." [Washington Post, 3/26/02]
• Energy Industry Forwarding Wish List to Bush Task Force. Nine days before President Bush's inauguration, energy industry lobbyists gathered in the American Petroleum Institute's offices to make a "wish list" for the Bush energy plan. The list was forwarded to the Bush energy transition team, and eventually to the energy task force. Numerous energy industry representatives attended a 2001 GOP Presidential Gala fundraiser and a 2001 reception at the Vice President's Naval Observatory residence. [Newsweek, 5/10/01; New York Times, 5/10/01; 5/20/01; USA Today, 5/14/01; ABC News, World News Tonight, 5/22/01; Washington Post, 5/17/01]
• Cheney Met With Enron Executives Six Times. Cheney has acknowledged that "he or his aides" met at least six times with executives of Enron, as the energy policy was being formed. Cheney personally met with Ken Lay, then Enron's chief executive, who handed the vice president a three-page memo with several suggestions that ended up in the final plan. Enron's memo argued for further deregulation of the energy market. [Emphasis Added, Houston Chronicle, 4/26/04]

ENERGY TASK FORCE GAVE INDUSTRY WHAT THEY WISHED

Energy Industry Lobbyists Recommended That Task Force "Reform" New Source Review. In March 2001, Joseph Kelliher, a top assistant to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, e-mailed a number of energy-industry lobbyists to ask for their input on a national energy policy. A great number of the e-mailed replies, obtained by the New York Times, dealt with the energy industry's wish to reform the new source review provision of the Clean Air Act. In March 2001, a Southern Company lobbyist emailed Kelliher, suggesting "another issue" for inclusion in the energy plan: so-called reform of the Clean Air Act. The suggestion was incorporated into the energy plan. In August 2003, the Bush Administration eased the new source review provision. The changes allowed older coal fired power plants and other facilities to avoid installing pollution controls when they expand or repair. [New York Times, 8/15/01; New York Times Magazine, 4/4/04; NRDC, 3/27/02]

Nuclear Power Industry Had Meeting With Energy Task Force. In mid-March 2001, a cadre of seven nuclear power executives sought and won an hour-long White House meeting with Karl Rove and other officials to speak about the importance of nuclear power. Recalling the meeting, Christian H. Poindexter, chairman of the Constellation Energy Group said the next night, Cheney "was being interviewed on television, he began to talk about nuclear power for the first time...In my wildest dreams, when I was over at the White House in March, I couldn't imagine them getting so behind us," Poindexter said. On July 23, 2002, Bush signed a bill which formally adopted storing nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, a move the nuclear industry strongly lobbied for. [Time, 2/11/02; New York Times, 5/23/01; Los Angeles Times, 7/24/02]

Two Bush Executive Orders From May 2001 Resembled Energy Industry Recommendation. Two executive orders signed by Bush closely resemble written recommendations given to the administration by the energy industry during meetings of the energy task force:

• On May 18, 2001 Bush issued an executive order calling for the creation of an interagency energy task force to accelerate the time it takes for government agencies to review applications for permits for energy-related projects, like oil and gas exploration on public lands. The language in the executive order is similar to a passage in a proposed energy bill sent in March 2001 to the Energy Department by officials at the American Gas Association, the trade group that represents large natural gas companies.[New York Times, 4/4/02]
• A March 20, 2001, message from Jim Ford, lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, a powerful oil-and-gas-industry trade group, to Joseph Kelliher, a top assistant to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, included an attachment with a "suggested executive order." An executive order signed by Bush on May 18, 2001 was similar to an industry document. [New York Times Magazine, 4/4/04; New York Times, 4/4/02; Washington Post, 3/28/02]

Bush Administration Implemented Energy Policies Requested by Chevron Corporation. According to documents obtained by the NRDC, the Chevron Corporation provided several recommendations, ranging from easing federal permitting rules for energy projects to relaxing standards fuel supply requirements, which ultimately were included in the president's national energy plan. In a February 5, 2002, letter to President Bush and copied to Energy Secretary Abraham, Chevron CEO David J. O'Reilly recommends four short-term actions the administration should take to "eliminate federal barriers to increased energy supplies." Cheney's energy task force included all of Chevron's recommendations in its report to President Bush on May 17, 2001. [NRDC, 5/21/02]

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN THE ENERGY TASK FORCE

Cheney Aide During Energy Task Force Now An Energy Lobbyist. According to the Boston Globe, "the executive director of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, whose closed-door meetings with industry executives enraged environmentalists and prompted a Supreme Court showdown this week, became an energy lobbyist just months after leaving the White House." Andrew Lundquist served as the energy task force executive director from Feb. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2001, and then stayed on as Cheney's director of energy policy from Oct. 1, 2001, to March 26, 2002. Then, a day after leaving government service, he opened a consulting business. Nine months later, Lundquist was a registered lobbyist for companies that stood to benefit from the energy policy he helped craft. [Boston Globe, 4/25/04]

Lundquist Lobbied For Energy Companies. As of Jan. 1, 2003, according to the records, Lundquist was representing five energy-related companies. In addition to Toshiba and Duke Energy of Charlotte, N.C., they were Ion America Corp., a fuel cell technology company, and Real Energy Inc., a combined heat and power company, both based in California; and TXU Corp., an energy company headquartered in Dallas. Lundquist stopped representing Duke and Real Energy later in 2003, the records show. Later that year, he picked up Kennecott, BP, and the state of Alaska. [Boston Globe, 4/25/04]