MR_GRUMPY
11-16-2005, 10:01 AM
Cheney never had a secret meeting with oil co, executives......
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House document shows oil executives met with Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy task force which critics say secretly formed energy policy favourable to the industry, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The document, obtained this week by the newspaper, shows that officials from four major oil companies met in the White House complex with Cheney aides who were formulating the Bush administration's energy policy, the report said.
The newspaper said the document shows that officials from Exxon, MobilCorp., Conoco , Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met with the Cheney aides.
The White House refused to divulge information about the task force.
Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride declined to comment on the document but told the newspaper that the courts have upheld "the constitutional right of the president and vice president to obtain information in confidentiality."
The Sierra Club environmental group and the watchdog group Judicial Watch sued unsuccessfully to find out the names and positions of the task force members and to learn about their contacts with industry executives.
They claimed that Cheney, the former chief executive of energy and construction company Halliburton Co., drafted a policy that favoured the industry by consulting oil industry executives.
The task force produced a policy paper calling for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program.
According to The Washington Post, a person familiar with the task force's work said the document obtained by the paper was based on records kept by the Secret Service. The source requested anonymity out of concern about retribution, the Post said.
During a Senate hearing last week, chief executives of the major oil companies either denied that their firms participated in the task force or that they did not know, the newspaper said.
Chevron was not named in the White House document, but the Government Accountability Office has found that Chevron was one of several companies that gave recommendations to the task force, the Post reported.
According to the person familiar with the task force's work, Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP's chief executive. That meeting is not noted in the document, the newspaper said.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House document shows oil executives met with Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy task force which critics say secretly formed energy policy favourable to the industry, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The document, obtained this week by the newspaper, shows that officials from four major oil companies met in the White House complex with Cheney aides who were formulating the Bush administration's energy policy, the report said.
The newspaper said the document shows that officials from Exxon, MobilCorp., Conoco , Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met with the Cheney aides.
The White House refused to divulge information about the task force.
Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride declined to comment on the document but told the newspaper that the courts have upheld "the constitutional right of the president and vice president to obtain information in confidentiality."
The Sierra Club environmental group and the watchdog group Judicial Watch sued unsuccessfully to find out the names and positions of the task force members and to learn about their contacts with industry executives.
They claimed that Cheney, the former chief executive of energy and construction company Halliburton Co., drafted a policy that favoured the industry by consulting oil industry executives.
The task force produced a policy paper calling for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program.
According to The Washington Post, a person familiar with the task force's work said the document obtained by the paper was based on records kept by the Secret Service. The source requested anonymity out of concern about retribution, the Post said.
During a Senate hearing last week, chief executives of the major oil companies either denied that their firms participated in the task force or that they did not know, the newspaper said.
Chevron was not named in the White House document, but the Government Accountability Office has found that Chevron was one of several companies that gave recommendations to the task force, the Post reported.
According to the person familiar with the task force's work, Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP's chief executive. That meeting is not noted in the document, the newspaper said.