Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
From Public Citizen—Dirty Energy Dominates Interior Department Meetings 12-to-1. An analysis finds that the department met 235 times with dirty energy executives and advocates compared with 19 meetings with conservation and renewable energy leaders.
Executives from the oil, gas, electricity, coal and mining industries held 12 times as many meetings with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s top two officials over about two years as with conservation and renewable energy interests, a new report by Public Citizen and Documented Investigations finds.
Public Citizen and Documented Investigations analyzed calendars of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and his top deputy Katharine MacGregor, both of whom are former lobbyists. The analysis identified 361 meetings listed on Bernhardt and MacGregor’s calendars from January 2017 through March 2019.
The results showed 235 meetings with executives from the oil, gas, electricity, coal and mining industries during that time. By contrast, conservation and renewable energy interests had only 19 meetings with the top two officials. Lobbying and law firms, which represented primarily industry interests, had 31 meetings; hunting groups had 21 meetings.
“Clearly, the best way to get on the Trump administration’s radar is to be an oil, gas or a mining company looking for favors,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “As former lobbyists, Bernhardt and MacGregor speak the same language as industry lobbyists and don’t seem to think twice about doing their bidding.”
Major trade groups and companies that met with Bernhardt and MacGregor included the American Petroleum Institute (10 meetings); the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents the offshore drilling industry (nine); meetings with multiple oil industry groups and companies (eight); individual meetings with Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips (six each); the National Petroleum Council (six) and the National Mining Association (five). [...]
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2011—Wisconsin legislator files complaint over Walker's stealthy union-busting vote:
Madison's Cap Times:
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, filed a complaint Thursday morning with the Dane County district attorney charging that the Joint Conference Committee that convened at 6 p.m. Wednesday and passed an amended version of Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill is in violation of the open meetings law.
Earlier, former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, who now represents AFSCME, said it was "clear...on it's face" that the conference committee meeting was violated Wisconsin's open meetings law which requires twenty-four hours public notice. The meeting last night was held after less than two hours of notice, far short of the statutory requirement. Even if courts conclude that the meeting was held in violation of the law, it isn't a guarantee that their action will be voided. But at the very least, it gives opponents of the legislation a cause of action to keep the the fight against the legislation alive even as recall efforts pick up steam.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Self-quarantine for Republicans who last week treated the virus as a joke, thanks to the CPAC Sickness Stalker. Trump considers being careless about viral transmission part of his anti-PC shtick. Meanwhile, he's losing control of his EU trademarks.
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