Pain at the Pump Means Billions in Profits for America’s Biggest Polluters

AUSTIN – With gas prices nearing $4 per gallon across Texas, the top four oil companies in the United States announced today that their first quarter profits total $28 billion – including $7 billion in profits for BP, the company responsible for last year’s Deepwater Horizon disaster.  

Environment Texas Field Organizer Alejandro Savransky issued this statement in response:

“The rapid rise in the price of oil is terrible for Texas’ families, but it is terrific for Big Oil.  After a year in which Big Oil was responsible for the largest oil spill in American history, pumped over 2 billion tons of global warming pollution into our air, and gouged consumers of billions of dollars, oil industry profits continue to rise exponentially.  

“Big Oil conglomerates are some of the most profitable corporations in human history, but that doesn’t stop them from receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer handouts, special loopholes, and tax expenditures.  BP even sent taxpayers a $13 billion bill to cover their costs for cleaning up the Gulf oil catastrophe.  

“Even as Republican leaders propose drastic budget cuts that will have devastating consequences for public health and our environment, the House Republican leadership refuses to take the simple and obvious step of eliminating subsidies for dirty industries that do not need public support.  As President Obama has said, it is time to stop subsidizing the dirty energy sources of the past and invest that money in the clean energy sources of the future. 

“It is time for our leaders to protect Texans from the greed and pollution of Big Oil by getting off oil.  President Obama should take the first step by enacting automobile fuel efficiency standards that reach 60 mpg by 2025.  According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a 60-mpg standard would save Texans over $9.2 billion at the pump by 2030, while protecting our climate and our air.”