Oil CEOs Funding Trump While Threatening Health and Hurting Wallets of Pennsylvanians 

Harrisburg, PA— The Washington Post recently reported on former President Trump’s fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where he asked oil and gas executives for $1 billion—a “deal,” according to Trump, because of the billions these executives would save in taxation and regulation benefits. A Guardian piece published last week highlighted that John Catsimatidis, CEO of United Refining Company, and Chesapeake Energy CEO Nick Dell’Osso, some of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest oil and gas executives, stand to benefit the most from Trump’s “deal.”

Catsimatidis, who attended a Manhattan fundraising dinner last Tuesday that cost at least $100,000 to attend, is the chief executive of a company that ran the most dangerous refinery in the country from 2017 to 2023. United Refining Company’s refinery in western Pennsylvania reported ten times the average number of injuries for a refinery—while the county in which the refinery is located, Warren, has the highest gas prices in western Pennsylvania. Dell’Osso, who attended last month’s Mar-a-Lago dinner, is the chief executive of a company that paid $5.3 million in 2021 to Pennsylvania landowners who say they were cheated out of natural gas royalties. After a years-long court battle, the settlement amounted to only $367 or $700 per landowner. 

“Pennsylvania families deserve better than Big Oil CEOs that will sell them out to boost their bottom line,” said Climate Power’s Interim States Managing Director André Crombie. “From Big Tobacco to the opioid crisis, our country has far too many examples of greedy executives who know they’re harming the safety and wellbeing of Americans—and simply don’t care, as long as they’re making money. Big Oil is no different, and the people of Pennsylvania are paying the price. Our leaders should invest in clean energy for everyone’s benefit, not promising Big Oil billionaires tax breaks in exchange for letting them do unmitigated harm to the environment.”

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