BREAKING: Hess’ Q2 Earnings Show Unprecedented Profiteering While Wisconsinites Suffer

Today, Hess reported a Q2 profit margin higher than any in its history. The profits, which totalled $667 million, were collected over at a time of skyrocketing gas and energy prices, while Wisconsinites’ still pay nearly $4 per gallon of gas, on average.

The new earnings report shows without a shadow of a doubt that as Americans struggled under the crushing weight of historic gas prices: 

• Hess gouged consumers at the pump and shoveled the money to their wealthy shareholders. In Q2 alone, Hess paid out $190 million in stock buybacks and $116 million in dividends.
• Meanwhile, Hess spent $480,000 lobbying Congress thus far this year to help ensure they can continue to reap massive profits from consumers.

This profiteering is a problem for Republicans, who have spent months attempting to pin the blame for high energy prices on Joe Biden while being mouthpieces for the fossil fuel industry talking points. In the 2022 electoral cycle alone, the oil and gas industry gave more than $13.2 million to federal Republican candidates, which represents 77% of their giving. 

One of the biggest recipients of Big Oil’s greed is Senator Ron Johnson, who has received more than $165,000 in campaign contributions from the industry since 2017. Johnson, despite claiming he’s not a climate denier, is a notorious mouthpiece for Big Oil — just last year, he was caught on tape calling climate change ‘bulls—.’

Johnson, like many of his fellow Republicans, has not offered any meaningful solutions to stop the price-gouging or lower costs for Wisconsin families. Wisconsin voters have noticed. The majority of Wisconsin voters view climate change as a problem. Recent polling shows strong support for clean energy, and a majority of voters blaming high energy prices on price gouging by fossil fuel companies. 

It’s time to hold these fossil fuel-bought Republicans allies accountable for doing nothing to protect consumers or lower costs for families.