MEMO: Gas Prices Are High Thanks To Big Oil’s Greed & Extreme Weather

The greed of Big Oil CEOs and climate-fueled extreme weather events are once again leading to high gas prices. If you plan on covering gas prices, the facts speak for themselves: Big Oil CEOs continue to work to protect their bottom line, even if it means price-gouging families in Pennsylvania.

• Instead of increasing their production or developing on the thousands of unused leases they already have from the government, oil and gas CEOs use their record profits for stock buybacks for wealthy shareholders and executive bonuses for themselves. 
• Earlier this month, the former CEO of shale oil company Pioneer Natural Resources was accused of conspiring to collude with OPEC to raise oil prices.
• BP CEO Murray Auchincloss has refocused the company on high returns, leaning on its oil and gas assets to boost profits. 
• Chevron CEO Mike Wirth has ruled out investments in renewables, saying he would prefer the money “go back to our shareholders and let them plant trees.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are wrongly blaming President Biden for high prices, even as oil production is hitting record highs. The GOP refuses to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for its price gouging—maybe because many of them have personally benefited from higher profits. 

• According to a Washington Post exposé, Donald Trump offered to enact Big Oil’s agenda of crushing clean energy jobs in exchange for $1 billion to return him to the White House.
• Trump even said the $1 billion price tag was a “deal” because executives would make a lot of money avoiding taxes and regulations.
• Donald Trump and his allied groups have already raised $7.3 million from the oil and gas industry so far in the 2024 cycle. They received nearly $15 million from the oil and gas industry in the 2020 election.
• Big Oil is banking on Trump winning in 2024 — and industry executives are already writing orders for Trump to sign if he gets elected. 
• In Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick, who is running for U.S. Senate, has touted his ties to Exxon and taken $248,902 from Big Oil and Gas. 
• Also in Pennsylvania, Rep. Glenn Thompson (PA-15) has taken $670,035 from Big Oil and Gas, Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-16) $489,938, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) $279,444, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14) $247,627, Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10) $208,576, Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) $193,006, Rep. John Joyce (PA-13) $164,400, and Rep. Daniel Meuser (PA-09) $89,250.

At the same time, Pennsylvania families have already dealt with severe flooding this year. While families across the country are watching their energy costs rise due to extreme heat caused by burning fossil fuels, Big Oil continues to turn a blind eye to the implications of the climate disasters they’ve caused.

• Shell CEO Wael Sawan has focused on improving Shell’s profitability by leaning more heavily on oil and gas operations. Meanwhile, here in Pennsylvania, Shell’s Beaver County petrochemical plant has been a “shockingly bad neighbor” since starting operations about two years ago and has been hit with more than $12 million in fines for repeated air pollution violations. 
• A study found that four of the world’s largest oil companies aren’t meeting their promises to tackle climate change with actual investments. Instead, they are proactively backing away from them.
  • BP announced less ambitious targets for emission cuts.
  • Shell said it wouldn’t increase spending on renewable energy this year, saying their investor returns are more important.
  • Exxon announced its “retreat” from one of its largest climate solutions, making biofuels from algae. 

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