SENATOR LENA GONZALEZ AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR A SAFE AND HEALTHY CALIFORNIA CALL ON LEGISLATURE TO INVESTIGATE POTENTIAL TAX AND LEGAL LOOPHOLES EXPLOITED BY BIG OIL

Big Oil's Campaign of Deception Reported Receiving Loans of $14.4 Million from 14 Oil Companies; Possibly to Shield Public Disclosure and Avoid Paying Taxes

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As Big Oil continues to spend more than $60 million on a misinformation campaign, lying to voters about the public health benefits of keeping a law (SB 1137 - Senator Lena Gonzalez) that protects communities from toxic oil and gas drilling, the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California and Senator Lena Gonzalez are calling on the State Legislature to investigate a shady tactic Big Oil is employing to fund their campaign of deception.

Despite record breaking profits, fourteen oil companies avoided making direct contributions to their campaign to overturn Senator Gonzalez's law to keep California schools and neighborhoods safe from toxic drilling (SB 1137). Instead, these fourteen oil companies gave "loans" to their deceptive referendum campaign - a curious move that may be allowing oil companies to avoid paying taxes and delaying disclosure of certain campaign funders until after the election when donors can give to help Big Oil pay back these loans. Even more than a year after the "loans" were made, not a single payment has been made on these "loans," nor have any interest charges been reported.

"Not only is Big Oil trying to overturn California's common-sense law to prevent them from poisoning California schools and neighborhoods with their toxic oil drills, it looks like they may have found a tax and campaign finance loophole that may be allowing them to deceive voters about the true nature of their contributions while avoiding taxes," said Senator Lena Gonzalez, the author of SB 1137. "I am calling on my colleagues in the Legislature to investigate this practice and close any loopholes we find." 

Big Oil has a history of obfuscating how and where they are spending money on political campaigns. Just last year, while spending tens of millions of dollars on a signature gathering campaign, Big Oil was caught blatantly lying to voters and tricking them into signing a petition to stall and delay implementation of SB 1137.

Following that, lobbying reports showed that oil companies like Chevron, Valero, ExxonMobil, BP, Phillips66, Tesoro and Marathon Petroleum funded ad campaigns fronted by groups that masqueraded as coalitions.

Chevron is also a known tax avoider: in 2015, a U.S. Senate investigation found the giant multinational had been hiding $31 billion in profit in 13 different offshore tax havens.

Three years later in 2018, Dutch and international unions filed a complaint alleging that Chevron funneled billions through Dutch subsidiaries to tax haven countries.

"We know that Big Oil will stop at nothing to try and protect their billions in profits at the expense of the health and safety of our communities," said Mabel Tsang, Political Director for California Environmental Justice Alliance and CEJA Action, and Board Member of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California. "We're calling on the legislature to close loopholes that allow these bad actors to play a shell game with their funding in order to deceive voters, and potentially benefit from tax breaks as a result."

Here is the letter being sent to: Assemblymember Jaqui Irwin
Chair, Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation; Senator Steven M. Glazer
Chair, Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation; Assemblymember Gail Pellerin
Chair, Assembly Committee on Elections; and Senator Catherine Blakespear
Chair, Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments.

Nearly 30,000 oil and gas wells in California sit within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, hospitals and other public areas, exposing nearly 3 million people, disproportionately communities of color, to emissions that can cause birth defects, respiratory illnesses and cancer. An independent scientific advisory panel in 2021 advised California officials that a 3,200-foot setback between oil wells and sensitive receptors is the minimum distance to protect public health. 

"KEEP THE LAW" Campaign endorsers include public health groups, community and faith organizations, and environmental justice leaders from across California, working to hold oil companies accountable for creating a public health crisis, especially for communities of color.

For more information about our campaign, please visit our website at: www.CAvsBigOil.com

Paid for by Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, sponsored by nonprofit environmental and health organizations. Committee Top Funders: Advocacy Action Fund, Inc, Wendy Schmidt, Federated Indians of Graton
Rancheria

SOURCE Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California