Oil Executives Could
Face Probe Of
Their Testimony to
Congress
By JOHN J. FIALKA,
WSJ.com Online, November 17, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Frank R.
Lautenberg called on the Justice Department to launch an "immediate criminal
investigation" into whether executives at five major oil companies lied to
Congress.
In hearings last week before the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, Sen.
Lautenberg (D., N.J.) had asked the executives whether their companies or any
representatives of their companies had participated in Vice President Dick
Cheney's energy task force in 2001. Most of the executives responded that
they hadn't participated in the task force, which drew up the Bush
administration's energy policy.
Sen. Lautenberg's Justice Department request came after the Washington Post
reported that a secret list compiled in the White House showed that executives
from the five companies met with the task force.
"What went on at these secret White House meetings that may be motivating oil
company executives to deny their participation?" Mr. Lautenberg asked in a
statement yesterday.
Sen. Lautenberg asked the Justice agency to investigate the testimony by top
officials of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell
PLC and BP America, BP PLC's U.S. subsidiary.
Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cheney, said yesterday, "I am not
familiar with such a list." Andrew D. Lundquist, executive director of the
14-member task force, said he held individual meetings with "many oil companies"
as well as leaders of major environmental and consumer groups.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, which unsuccessfully sued the White
House to get the records of the task force, said the issue was not a matter of
meetings. "We wanted to get into discovery to find out the extent of their
[the oil companies'] involvement." The Supreme Court rejected the
lawsuit, saying the discovery effort by outside groups would intrude into the
deliberative process of the executive branch.
The task force, known as the National Energy Policy Development Group, produced
a detailed list of proposed energy policies in May 2001, many of which were
included in the 1,700-page energy bill that passed last summer.
To some extent, the responses during the hearing revolve around a technical
definition of "participation." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia concluded in May that none of the oil companies or other
nongovernment groups participated in the task force's deliberations to the
extent that they had a vote on or veto over its decisions.
Exxon Mobil spokesman Mark Boudreaux said Lee R. Raymond, chief executive, was
accurate in telling the Senate hearing last week that company officials didn't
meet with the task force itself. But he noted that Exxon previously
confirmed, in response to questions from the New York Times, that Mr. Raymond
met with Mr. Cheney and that other Exxon officials met with a task-force staff
member, both in February 2001. Mr. Boudreaux confirmed yesterday that
staffer was Mr. Lundquist.
There was "nothing sinister or secret" about the Lundquist or Cheney meetings,
Mr. Boudreaux said. He noted that on the same day that Exxon officials met
with Mr. Lundquist, they also met with officials of the General Accounting
Office, now called the Government Accountability Office, and with a group of
Capitol Hill staffers from both parties; the following day they met with the
Washington Post. The purpose of all of the meetings, Mr. Boudreaux said,
was for Exxon to present its annual energy outlook, a document the company
updates yearly and makes available to the public.
A ConocoPhillips spokesman said James Mulva, chairman and CEO of Phillips
Petroleum in 2001, was "correct in stating that no one from his company
participated in the vice president's task force. He was not aware that
Archie Dunham and Alan Huffman of Conoco reportedly appeared at task force
meetings." Conoco and Phillips Petroleum merged in 2002.
Don Campbell, a spokesman for Chevron, said his company didn't participate in
the task force or attend its meetings. He added, however, that "as a
matter of course, Chevron's Washington office has ongoing discussions with
officials in the administration and the Congress on U.S. energy policy."
Ross J. Pillari, president of BP's American subsidiary, told Sen. Lautenberg at
the hearing that he didn't know whether any BP America officials met with
task-force members because he wasn't at that level in the company at the time.
BP America spokesman Ronnie Chappell said yesterday that BP doesn't comment on
its meetings with government officials as a matter of policy, "but I can tell
you that meeting with state, local and government officials on energy issues is
something that occurs almost daily."
Jeffrey Ball contributed to this article.
Write to John J. Fialka at
john.fialka@wsj.com
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