Huge money from oil and coal coming into Republican coffers
Oil refiners, railroads and would-be coal port developers have quietly poured thousands of dollars into Republicans’ coffers in this year’s mid-election battle for control of the Washington Legislature.
The biggest giver is Tesoro, which operates a refinery in Anacortes and is proposing to locate a large oil-train terminal and shipment facility at Vancouver along the Columbia River.
The oil company has given $22,500 contributions to a pair of committees doing soft money and independent expenditures on behalf of Republican candidates — the Leadership Council and Enterprise Washington — plus $1,900 contributions to GOP candidates in five hotly contested Washington State Senate races.
The contributions come as debate heats on over increased use of trains to transport flammable Bakken crude oil from North Dakota to refineries on northern Puget Sound.
The Tesoro refinery in Anacortes. The company increasingly relies on oil trains from North Dakota for its supply of crude oil. Tesoro wants to build an oil train terminal on the Columbia River.
The state has experienced two years of controversy over giant coal-export terminals proposed for Cherry Point north of Bellingham, and Longview on the Columbia River. Trains from Wyoming and Montana, each a mile to a mile-and-a-half long, would provide coal for export to China.
Despite an infusion of industry cash, some channeled through the state Republican Party, pro-development forces were outspent and outhustled in a key local election last fall.
Four conservationist-backed candidates won seats on the Whatcom County Council, which will help decide the fate of the proposed Gateway Pacific terminal at Cherry Point.
The carbon industry donations this year are as follows:
–The Leadership Council, a soft money arm of State Senate Republicans, has taken $22,500 from Tesoro, $4,500 from the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF), and $1,000 from Pacific International Terminals.
•The Senate Republican Campaign Committee has received $950 from Tesoro and $950 from Pacific International Terminals.
•-Enterprise Washington, a business political action committee that does independent expenditures for Republicans, has received $22,500 from Tesoro.
•Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-42, a Whatcom County Republican and outspoken critic of Gov. Jay Inslee’s carbon-reduction plan, has received both petro and coal dollars. Inslee was recently in Bellingham to raise money for challenger Seth Fleetwood. The Ericksen campaign coffers have taken $1,900 from BNSF, $1,900 from Phillips66, $1,900 from Tesoro, $950 from BP, $950 from Chevron, $950 from the Washington Oil Marketers Association, and $1,400 from Pacific International Terminals.
•State Sen. Andy Hill, R-45, an Eastside lawmaker and chief Republican budget-writer, has pretty much the same set of carbon economy donors. Hill faces a stiff challenge in November from Democrat Matt Isenhower. Hill has taken in $1,450 from the Washington Oil Marketers Association, $1,500 from Pacific International Terminals, $1,900 from BNSF, $1,900 from BP, $1,900 from Phillips66, $1,900 from Tesoro, with $950 coming from Chevron.
•State Sen. Steve O’Ban, R-28, has received similar help in seeking to hold his Pierce County seat against the challenge of Democratic Rep. Tami Green.Donations of $1,900 to O’Ban have come from BNSF, Tesoro, and Phillips66, with BP and Chevron kicking in $950, Pacific International Terminals giving $1,000 and the Washington Oil Marketers Association donating $1,450.
•-Ex-Rep. Mark Miloscia, a Democrat-turned-Republican, is getting similar big donations as he tries to flip the 30th District in South King County into the Republican column. He faces Democrat Shari Song in November. The BNSF has given $1,900 to Miloscia, as have Tesoro and Phillips66. The Washington Oil Marketers Association has domated $950, as have Chevron and Pacific International Terminals.•State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-6th, lost big in 2012 to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, but is getting big donations to keep his Spokane-area legislative seat. Baumgartner and Ericksen recently staged a joint fund-raiser on the Eastside. Tesoro, Phillips66, and the BSNF have each given $1,900 to Baumgartner, with the Washington Oil Marketers Association donating $1,450, BP $950 and Chevron $900. Oil and coal trains pass through a narrow corridor in Spokane, with the city’s business district on one side and hospitals just uphill.
The oil industry has targeted its clout before.
In the spring of 2012 — months before Washington saw its first refinery-bound oil trains — the state’s refiners paid bills for the signature gathering campaign that put Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1185 on the ballot.
The initiative provided the requirement — later ruled unconstitutional by the Washington State Supreme Court — that any new revenue measure by passed with a two-thirds “super-majority” in each house of the Washington Legislature. Two years earlier, lawmakers had come close to enacting a small per-barrel oil tax to pay for spill cleanup.
Election 2014 has been a snoozer so far. But donations and endorsement indicate it is turning into a proxy war over oil trains and coal trains and carbon emissions.
In each of five Senate races where the carbon industry has come in for Republicans, for instance, Washington Conservation Voters is backing their Democratic opponents.
It is supporting Rich Cowan against Baumgartner in the 6th District, Tami Green in the 28th, Shari Song in the 30th, Seth Fleetwood in the 42nd and Matt Isenhower in the 45th.
Elections do have consequences.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Here's a transcript from NPR's All Things Considered, detailing how Tesoro has ducked paying any penalty for a 2010 refinery explosion killing 7 people. The reporter on this story is investigative reporter, John Ryan, from KUOW, Seattle.
He won a national award for investigative journalism for nailing Shell Oil a couple of years back and his reporting triggered a congressional investigation.
http://kuow.org/post/sea-trial-leaves-shells-arctic-oil-spill-gear-crushed-beer-can
I suggest you send him the information from your post, along with your sources.
and now as a staff reporter, including the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi awards for Public Service in Radio Journalism and for Investigative Reporting. He believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions. He says he's happy to have one of the few investigative reporting jobs in public radio and to get to explore new ways of telling investigative stories at KUOW.org.
John welcomes story ideas and feedback from listeners.``
http://kuow.org/people/john-ryan
Years After Tragedy, Tesoro Ducks Penalties For Refinery Deaths
by John Ryan
August 13, 2014 4:34 PM ET
from
4 min 34 sec
Workers at American oil refineries die on the job about three times as often as their counterparts in Europe. As John Ryan of KUOW reports, when accidents do kill American workers, the companies they work for rarely pay a heavy price. Case in point: Tesoro, which hasn't incurred a significant penalty since its Washington state refinery exploded in 2010, killing seven people.
Also:http://kuow.org/post/four-years-after-deadly-blast-tesoro-mostly-unscathed
