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scott sheffield
Scalise Took $40K in Campaign Cash From PAC of CEO Accused of Oil Price Rigging
"Big Oil CEOs are out for themselves and the politicians who support their quest to drill for profit at the expense of the American people," said a spokesperson for Accountable.US, which highlighted the donation.
Jun 03, 2024
U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise received a $40,000 campaign donation from the political action committee of a Big Oil CEO who allegedly colluded with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to drive up energy prices, the watchdog Accountable.US noted Monday.
Scalise (R-La.)—who has made opposing efforts to protect public lands from fossil fuel drilling a top legislative priority—took the money from the Williams Companies PAC, whose board includes Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield, who was accused last month by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of holding private conversations with the OPEC cartel in which he allegedly assured members that his company would throttle production, creating an artificial scarcity in a bid to boost oil prices.
The majority leader ranks fourth among all House lawmakers in 2023-24 campaign contributions from oil and gas interests, according to the watchdog OpenSecrets. His $325,833 in Big Oil contributions trails only Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), who took $572,421; former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who received $335,399; and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who got $328,019.
"If Congressman Scalise wants to protect American consumers he should start by holding accountable Big Oil price gougers."
"Big Oil CEOs are out for themselves and the politicians who support their quest to drill for profit at the expense of the American people," Accountable.US spokesperson Chris Marshall said in a statement Monday. "So if Congressman Scalise wants to protect American consumers he should start by holding accountable Big Oil price gougers."
The FTC alleges in a complaint that "Sheffield has, through public statements and private communications, attempted to collude with the representatives of [OPEC] and a related cartel of other oil-producing countries known as OPEC+ to reduce output of oil and gas, which would result in Americans paying higher prices at the pump, to inflate profits for his company."
The regulator subsequently barred Sheffield from joining the board of ExxonMobil, which bought Pioneer, over the alleged collusion.
"Mr. Sheffield's past conduct makes it crystal clear that he should be nowhere near Exxon's boardroom," FTC Bureau of Competition Deputy Director Kyle Mach said in a statement last month. "American consumers shouldn't pay unfair prices at the pump simply to pad a corporate executive's pocketbook."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the upper chamber's floor Monday to reiterate his call for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Big Oil collusion and price fixing.
"It's not hard to feel the frustration—the sheer exasperation—felt by millions when America's biggest oil companies rake in record profits but still raise prices at the pump. It is deeply, deeply unfair—and now we have reason to believe that in some cases it may be unlawful," the senator said.
Schumer called the FTC allegations against Sheffield "very, very troubling."
"This is what frustrates Americans so much about Big Oil: Even when they're making money hand over fist they'll keep raising prices on us, they will keep squeezing us for everything we've got," he said. "And now they may—may—have crossed the line into unlawful behavior."
"So the DOJ needs to step in and determine if any laws against collusion or price-fixing have been broken," Schumer added. "At minimum, the American people deserve to know if Big Oil executives are conspiring with each other or with OPEC behind our backs to illegally raise prices at the pump."
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How Trump’s Tax Cuts Fueled Greedflation
Higher corporate taxes are both crucial for accountability and for ensuring that there’s far less incentive for executives to squeeze as much as they can from their customers.
May 16, 2024
Next year, when key provisions of President Trump’s 2017 tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations expire, we have an opportunity to get our money back.
I’m not just talking about all the foregone tax revenue we’ve lost because the rich have paid so little since 2017—though we should get that back, too. I’m talking about the money families have lost to corporate price gouging.
Let me explain.
In 2017, Republicans slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, giving massive corporations their biggest tax windfall since Ronald Reagan was president. A few years later, as Americans emerged from a global pandemic, these same corporations drove up prices for families.
Congress raising the corporate tax rate in 2025 is an opportunity to recoup some of the truly obscene profits corporate America raked in during this period of economic upheaval for American families.
While inflation hamstrung workers and families, it didn’t make a dent in corporate profits. In fact, as many CEOs boasted themselves, it’s been a boon. Companies simply passed rising costs along to consumers—and then some, bringing in record profits as a result.
All told, corporate profit margins skyrocketed to 70 year-highs. And by the end of 2023, when Americans were beyond fed up, after-tax corporate profits hit an all-time record high of $2.8 trillion. My organization, Groundwork Collaborative, recently found that corporate profits drove over 50% of inflation in the second and third quarters of last year.
But why would a change in the corporate tax rate unleash the kind of rampant corporate profiteering we saw in the aftermath of the pandemic? Simple: It’s a lot more fun to gouge customers when you get to keep more of what you pull in.
Look at Procter & Gamble, which has raised the price of everything from toothpaste to diapers. Last year, the company pulled in more than $39 billion in profit.
If they had to pay the 35% statutory tax rate, they would have sent nearly $14 billion to Uncle Sam. Instead, they paid a 21% rate and, using loopholes, got to keep an extra $10 billion—which helped with their combined $16.4 billion worth of dividends and stock buybacks for shareholders.
Corporations did well from Trump’s corporate tax cuts, with executives getting big raises and shareholders receiving big buybacks. But the real bonus came when inflation hit. Corporations used the cover of supply chain issues and broader inflation to hike prices more than their higher input costs justified—and they didn’t have to worry about their tax bill.
Our tax code is exacerbating some of the worst corporate excesses, effectively “subsidizing corporate price gouging,” as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) described it recently. But it’s not only that low tax rates incentivize companies to overcharge. Rock-bottom tax rates also make collusion more profitable, as we saw with Pioneer Oil.
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission barred former Pioneer Oil CEO Scott Sheffield from joining the board of ExxonMobil following their merger, because Sheffield allegedly colluded with OPEC to raise oil prices. As families struggled with higher energy costs, the oil and gas industry banded together to keep prices high, which according to one analyst accounted for 27% of inflation in 2021.
When the reward is higher with lower corporate taxes, executives like Sheffield are more willing to take the risk. Higher corporate taxes are both crucial for accountability and for ensuring that there’s far less incentive for executives to squeeze as much as they can from their customers.
Wall Street tycoons and CEOs didn’t take the heat of inflation—they fanned its flames and families got burned. It’s no wonder people overwhelmingly favor a tax code that’s no longer rigged for corporations, especially as they struggle with high prices.
Congress raising the corporate tax rate in 2025 is an opportunity to recoup some of the truly obscene profits corporate America raked in during this period of economic upheaval for American families. It’s time Americans got their money back.
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Big Oil's Un-American Scheme to Price-Gouge Consumers
From ExxonMobil's long-running climate denial to Pioneer's recent price-fixing, it's clear this rogue industry's business model is deny, deceit, and delay.
May 09, 2024
You know how the oil industry is always saying the U.S needs to drill more to lower gas prices and protect energy independence? Well it turns out they've actually been scheming behind the scenes with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to do the exact opposite.
A bombshell complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week reveals that Scott Sheffield, the former CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources—one of the largest oil producers in the Permian Basin—colluded with OPEC officials in an attempt to artificially limit supply and jack up prices.
The FTC's complaint alleges that Sheffield exchanged private WhatsApp messages with leaders at OPEC, assuring them that Pioneer and other Permian companies would pump the brakes on output in order to keep prices high. He even threatened to "punish" any companies that dared to ramp up production. I don't know about you, but to me it's hard to imagine anything more un-American and anti-competitive than that.
The FTC complaint is the latest proof: The fossil fuel industry will always put their greed above American consumers and fair competition.
This private coordination with OPEC glaringly contrasts with Big Oil's public rhetoric blaming the Biden administration for constraining U.S. production and raising energy costs—a bogus talking point that Republicans have been parroting for months now. The bad faith has been laid bare: Oil executives themselves are colluding with a foreign cartel to throttle supply and price-gouge American consumers to pad their own pockets.
These revelations fit into a broader pattern of the fossil fuel industry's deception and abuse. Just one day before the FTC filing, the Senate Budget Committee held an explosive hearing detailing how oil giants have waged a decades-long, industry-wide disinformation campaign to downplay the catastrophic climate damage that they knew their products would cause, all while raking in record profits. From ExxonMobil's long-running climate denial to Pioneer's recent price-fixing, it's clear this rogue industry's business model is deny, deceit, and delay.
Here's the kicker: Big Oil is about to get a whole lot more powerful. With it looking like the Exxon-Pioneer merger is going to move forward (without Scott Sheffield), and Chevron pursuing a $50 billion takeover of Hess, a few mega-corporations are rapidly consolidating to control our energy grid. Studies show that mergers like these are pretty certain to squash competition, send prices soaring, and concentrate massive political influence to block necessary climate action.
That's the grim future we face if we let them get away with it: A world where a handful of greedy oil oligarchs collude with OPEC to bleed us dry at the pump while knowingly burning our planet. Fortunately, cities and states are fighting back with lawsuits and legislation to make polluters pay for their lies and damages.
Last year, California joined the fight, suing Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, and their lobbying arm for deliberately deceiving the public about fossil fuels' climate impacts, aiming to force them to cough up billions for disaster recovery. And right now, states like Vermont are advancing bills to create climate "superfunds" funded by Big Oil's ill-gotten gains. In fact, New York just passed their polluter pay bill in the Senate this week, bringing New Yorkers and the nation one step closer to accountability for Big Oil.
But in order to truly rein in this reckless industry, we need help at the federal level. At a minimum, Congress should eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and strengthen antitrust laws. At the Department of Justice, leaders must investigate the industry's long history of spreading disinformation. And in the White House, President Joe Biden should declare a climate emergency and wield his powers to rapidly increase the production of clean energy resources.
For decades, Big Oil has ransacked our wallets, ravaged our environment, and rigged our democracy. The FTC complaint is the latest proof: The fossil fuel industry will always put their greed above American consumers and fair competition. It's time to make polluters pay.
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Congress Urged to Tax Big Oil for Price Fixing and 'Issue Every American a Refund'
The Groundwork Collaborative's leader also said that "the Department of Justice should criminally prosecute Scott Sheffield," the former Pioneer CEO whom the FTC blocked from joining ExxonMobil's board.
May 07, 2024
Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens on Tuesday responded to U.S. government allegations of fossil fuel industry price fixing with calls for federal prosecution and congressional action to return money to the American public.
"Americans have been working harder and harder to cover rising energy costs, with the understanding that supply chain snags and geopolitical forces were keeping prices high," Owens said. "Now the Federal Trade Commission has uncovered the real source behind the price at the pump: collusion."
"The Department of Justice should criminally prosecute Scott Sheffield and Congress should tax back the industry's windfall profits and issue every American a refund," she added, referring to Pioneer Natural Resources' founder and longtime CEO.
Owens' statement came after members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) declined to contest ExxonMobil's controversial $64.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer—which was completed Friday—but approved a consent order barring Sheffield from serving on Exxon's board of directors or as an adviser to the fossil fuel giant.
"This complaint is a wake-up call about the dangerous consolidation of Big Oil's economic and political power."
The FTC voted 3-2 to accept the order and place related documents on the record for public comment. Citing communications including in-person meetings, public statements, text messages, and WhatsApp conversations, a commission complaint accuses Sheffield of trying to collude with the representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC+.
"Mr. Sheffield's past conduct makes it crystal clear that he should be nowhere near Exxon's boardroom. American consumers shouldn't pay unfair prices at the pump simply to pad a corporate executive's pocketbook," said Kyle Mach, deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. "The FTC will remain vigilant in its enforcement efforts to protect competition in these vital markets."
Pioneer told Fortune that the company and its founder "believe that the FTC's complaint reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the U.S. and global oil markets and misreads the nature and intent of Mr. Sheffield's actions," but neither party would take "any steps to prevent the merger from closing."
ExxonMobil "learned of the FTC's allegations regarding Sheffield from the agency and said in a statement that they are 'entirely inconsistent with how we do business,'" according to Fortune. "Exxon has agreed to the terms of the consent decree," which also "prohibits the oil giant from appointing any Pioneer employee or director to its board for five years."
Still, since the FTC's allegations were initially reported by The Wall Street Journal last week and then confirmed with the complaint's release, demands for additional action by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Congress have mounted.
Cassidy DiPaola, Fossil Free Media's director of communications, on Monday called the complaint "explosive" and said that Democrats "must respond with bold action to hold this rogue industry accountable," including:
- Aggressive congressional and DOJ investigations into the full extent of Big Oil's price fixing;
- A windfall profits tax to claw back ill-gotten gains; and
- End taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas.
"But accountability is just the first step. This complaint is a wake-up call about the dangerous consolidation of Big Oil's economic and political power. We can't let them use megamergers to entrench their control and crush clean energy competition," she stressed. "Ultimately, this is about the future we choose: One where we remain at the mercy of Big Oil's greed and destruction, or one where clean, democratically controlled energy powers our communities. It's time to make the right choice."
In response to the Journal's reporting, Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, similarly said that "Congress must immediately hold hearings on Big Oil's alleged collusion with OPEC to raise gasoline prices for Americans."
"Congress must not only investigate Pioneer's alleged role in conspiring with OPEC, but whether there existed a broader conspiracy by U.S. oil companies to collude with OPEC nations," he argued. "Big Oil must be held accountable for any conspiracy by or among American oil companies and OPEC members."
The reporting was notably published on the same day as the U.S. Senate Budget Committee's hearing about a nearly three-year investigation into fossil fuel companies and trade groups' decadeslong "campaign of deception and distraction," which has evolved from denying the planet-heating impact of their products to pretending to be part of the solution to the climate emergency.
"The joint report and documents we discovered show how, time and again, the biggest oil and gas corporations say one thing for the purposes of public consumption but do something completely different to protect their profits," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, testified during the hearing. "Company officials will admit the terrifying reality of their business model behind closed doors but say something entirely different, false, and soothing to the public."
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WATCH LIVE: Big Oil Execs to Face Charges of Price-Gouging at House Hearing
"These executives are exploiting the pandemic and war in Ukraine to pad their bottom lines."
Apr 06, 2022
Top executives from some of the largest and most profitable oil and gas companies are expected to face tough questions Wednesday as they testify before a House subcommittee about price-gouging U.S. consumers even as their companies haul in record-setting profits.
"They should be ashamed."
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, chaired by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), will begin the hearing at 10:30 am EST as part of an effort to discover any dirty dealings by the energy companies that have been widely accused of exploiting the war in Ukraine and false inflation narratives to jack up energy prices, especially at the gasoline pump.
"Though crude oil prices have fallen from their highs in early March, the price Americans pay at the pump remains elevated," notes a memo put out by the office of Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, ahead of the hearing.
"Persistently high gasoline prices are a financial challenge for many Americans and disproportionately impact lower-earning Americans, who are more likely to spend a greater share of their annual income on gasoline," the memo continues. "Oil companies, on the other hand, are making significant profits, with the six companies testifying at this hearing collectively generating more than $76 billion in profit in 2021."
Watch Live:
The executives testifying at the hearing include David Lawler, chairman and president of BP America; Michael K. Wirth, chairman and CEO of Chevron; Richard E. Muncrief, president and CEO of Devon Energy; Darren W. Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil; Scott D. Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources; and Gretchen Watkins, president Shell USA.
Corporate watchdogs and climate advocacy groups have railed against the oil companies over recent months for attempting to mislead the American public about the reasons for soaring gas prices.
According to briefing documents put out by Greenpeace USA ahead of the testimony, the companies testifying Wednesday are projected to see windfall profits between $28 to $57 billion in 2022 alone.
Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said in a Wednesday morning statement ahead of the hearing that oil companies are inexcusably ripping off U.S. consumers at a time of booming profits.
"The oil giants testifying at today's hearing raked in an eye-popping $71.2 billion in profits last year, but rather than use that money to lower gas prices for American consumers struggling to fill their tanks, they showered wealthy executives and shareholders with billions in dividends and stock buybacks. They should be ashamed," Herrig said.
"These executives are exploiting the pandemic and war in Ukraine to pad their bottom lines," he continued. "They are gouging consumers at the pump and rigging the system to avoid paying their fair share in drilling royalties on public lands, shortchanging taxpayers, public schools, and critical infrastructure like roads and hospitals."
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