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Web posted March. 30, 2001 |
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The Bush Team By Nathaniel
Heller and Asif
Ismail (Washington, March
30) President Bush's decision to abandon his campaign pledge to limit carbon
dioxide emissions was routed through a key Bush aide who had lobbied for one of
the world's largest manufacturers of automobile exhaust systems. The Bush aide, Nicholas Calio, served as a paid lobbyist and worked
extensively from 1996 through 1997 for Tenneco Automotive, based in Lake Forest,
Ill., one of the world's
largest manufacturers of automobile exhaust systems. Calio had lobbied on Environmental Protection Agency
regulations "regarding ozone and particulate matter." A review of lobbying records conducted by The Public i shows that
Calio and his partners earned $420,000 for lobbying on behalf of Tenneco Automotive.
Calio is Bush's new legislative affairs director -- the White House's top
lobbyist to Congress -- and held the same job under Bush's father, George H.W.
Bush. Calio's top deputy at the White House, Kirsten Ardleigh
Chadwick, was also a registered lobbyist for Tenneco and a partner of Calio
at his lobby shop. Until recently, Calio and Chadwick also lobbied for Atlantic Richfield Co.,
formerly one of the country's largest oil companies and one with strong ties
to the Bush family. BP Amoco bought Atlantic Richfield, known as Arco, last year. BP Amoco is the world's third-largest integrated oil company and has an
interest in the debate over carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is a colorless, odorless, incombustible gas that is a product
of respiration and combustion. It is one of several byproducts generated by
automobiles and is believed to be a leading contributor to the
so-called "greenhouse effect," linked to rising temperatures around
the planet. During the presidential campaign, Bush promised to enact new
emissions standards on carbon dioxide, specifically those from electric
power plants.
Though others now in the administration have consistently voiced opposition
to regulating carbon dioxide emissions, as have several major campaign contributors, the
administration changed course only after Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., sent a letter
to newly appointed Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Hagel's letter
discussed the efforts of leftover Clinton administration staffers apparently to implement an
international treaty on environmental standards and carbon dioxide pollution
levels. The treaty is known as the Kyoto protocol. Hagel got anonymous tip According to news reports, Hagel was tipped off to
the Clinton staffers' activity by an
anonymous letter. Since 1995, Hagel's second-largest campaign contributor has been
electric utility giant Edison International, according to records compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. A Hagel spokeswoman strongly denied that campaign contributions had anything
to do with the senator's decision to raise the emissions issue with the new
administration. "He has been working on the issue of climate change for
four years . . . even before Kyoto" existed. To imply that the letter was
influenced by campaign donations "would be absolutely offending," said
spokeswoman Deb Fiddelke. The White House said on March 28 that the administration has no plans to
implement the Kyoto protocol that the United
States signed with other countries in 1997. "I will explain as clearly as I
can today and every other chance I get, that we will not do anything that harms
our economy, because first things first are the people who live in
America," Bush said at his March 29 news conference. EPA
Administrator Christine Todd Whitman told reporters that while the United
States would continue negotiating environmental provisions, it would not carry
out the agreement because Congress would never ratify it. On March 27, The Washington Post reported that Calio had
received so many complaints from Hagel and others on Capitol Hill that the
carbon dioxide emissions issue was raised at a March 5 domestic policy meeting
with the president. Within two days of the meeting, Bush reversed his campaign
pledge, deciding not to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions. When asked to
discuss his role in the White House's policy reversal, Calio laughed and told The
Public i he had no comment. A review of federal lobbying records shows that from 1996 to 1997, Calio was
a registered lobbyist for Tenneco Automotive, a $3.5 billion company with 23,000
employees that bills itself as a
"leading supplier for exhaust products in North America." Selling
under the brand name of "Walker," Tenneco produces manifolds,
catalytic converters and mufflers for dozens of major auto manufacturers in
North America, Europe, Australia and South America. Tenneco representatives
declined to comment for this report.
Also lobbied for Arco Calio and his Washington-based firm, O�Brien Calio, also lobbied for Arco, one of the leading spenders of "soft money�� and lobbying expenditures in the oil industry. Soft money is, in the broadest sense, money that comes into the political process through state or federal party committees, interest groups, corporations, labor unions or wealthy individuals that is beyond the regulation of the Federal Election Commission. Arco has a long history with the Bush family and benefited from a provision inserted by former President George H.W. Bush into the Clean Air Act that promoted reformulated gasoline. One of the indelible images of the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston was of the senior Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle standing on the caboose of Arco's "Victory Train" at the company's lavish reception. As president, George H.W. Bush had worked hard, though unsuccessfully, to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Though the Clinton administration declared the reserve hands-off to development, George W. Bush has made it clear that he favors his father's policy. The majority of Arco's oil reserves were in Alaska. O�Brien Calio earned roughly $120,000 per year from Arco until BP Amoco purchased the company. Former President Bush also benefited financially from the company's largesse. In February 1998, Bush gave a speech in Japan at a press conference for Global Crossing, a telecommunications company founded by former Arco chairman and Bush friend Lodwrick Cook. Rather than pay the former president in cash, Cook gave Bush shares in the company that within a year were worth more than $14 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. BP Amoco's recent lobbying reports cite "Clean Air Act Implementation," "Ozone Transport Assessment Groups," "National Ambient Air Quality Standards Implementation," "Global Climate Change Legislation" and "Electric Utility Restructuring" as major areas of focus. BP Amoco spent $1.3 million lobbying the federal government in 2010, according to the reports. The company also contributed more than $900,000 in soft money to the two political parties during the 2000 campaign cycle, with close to 70% going to the Republican National Committee and affiliates. BP Amoco representatives did not return repeated calls. Nathaniel Heller and Asif Ismail write for The Public i. To write a letter to the editor for publication, send to letters@publicintegrity.org. Please include a daytime telephone number. Related Link:
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