Today, as Congress debated our energy future inside the hallowed halls of Capitol Hill, Oil Change International and members of Code Pink gathered outside to stage a visual representation of relationship between government and Big Oil: In bed, together. And very naughty.
Last week, scandal broke over illicit activities in the division of the Department of the Interior responsible for, among other things, royalties to oil companies. Executives were exchanging sexual favors, drugs and lavish gifts in what officials say was “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity.” Turns out that our government is, literally, in bed with Big Oil.
So why hide it? This time, activists took the rendezvous out of the hotel room and put it right out in the open on Capitol Hill. Clad in disheveled suits and bathrobes, “Congress” and “Big Oil” cavorted on a bed and showered each other with dollar bills, exposing for all to see the uncomfortably close relationship between the two.
Of course, this exchanging of favors has been going on for a long time and extends far beyond the office in Denver where the scandal went down. Members of Congress who vote in the interest of oil companies–and against clean energy–receive about three times as much money from those companies in campaign contributions as members who vote against those special interests. Now, at this crucial juncture of intense elections, the climate crisis and a hotly contested bill that bridges the two, the intimate ties between the Bush administration and Big Oil are laid bare. We have a chance to expose the corruption for what it really is–let’s not let it pass us by.
Drill, baby, drill!
