Using their large purses and incredible political strength in the California legislature, lobbyists for the oil industry have succeeded in killing any legislation they have deemed a serious threat to profits.
"With time running out on the current two-year session, oil company lobbyists have helped tie up or kill almost a dozen bills considered hostile to the industry, including a plan to tax windfall profits and a proposal to regulate refineries as public utilities.
'I cannot believe how many legislators don't have the courage to stand up to (oil company lobbyists),' said Assemblyman Johan Klehs, D-San Leandro, whose legislation to levy a 2 percent surtax on oil company profits of more than $10 million never made it out of the Democrat-controlled Assembly."
"Oil industry representatives said failed legislation is the result of bad ideas, not their political clout.
'There's a common thread that links (legislation opposed by oil industry) -- they all carry the risk of seriously disrupting a delicate and sensitive transportation fuel market,' said Tupper Hull, spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association."
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