[Mb-civic] Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

By Dana Milbank and Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A01

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met 
with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long 
suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by 
industry officials testifying before Congress.

The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that 
officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with 
Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House 
complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy 
policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being 
debated.

In a joint hearing last week of the Senate Energy and Commerce 
committees, the chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and 
ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the 2001 task 
force. The president of Shell Oil said his company did not participate 
"to my knowledge," and the chief of BP America Inc. said he did not know.

Chevron was not named in the White House document, but the Government 
Accountability Office has found that Chevron was one of several 
companies that "gave detailed energy policy recommendations" to the task 
force. In addition, Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP's 
chief executive, according to a person familiar with the task force's 
work; that meeting is not noted in the document.

The task force's activities attracted complaints from environmentalists, 
who said they were shut out of the task force discussions while 
corporate interests were present. The meetings were held in secret and 
the White House refused to release a list of participants. The task 
force was made up primarily of Cabinet-level officials. Judicial Watch 
and the Sierra Club unsuccessfully sued to obtain the records.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who posed the question about the task 
force, said he will ask the Justice Department today to investigate. 
"The White House went to great lengths to keep these meetings secret, 
and now oil executives may be lying to Congress about their role in the 
Cheney task force," Lautenberg said.

Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on the 
document. She said that the courts have upheld "the constitutional right 
of the president and vice president to obtain information in 
confidentiality."

The executives were not under oath when they testified, so they are not 
vulnerable to charges of perjury; committee Democrats had protested the 
decision by Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) not to swear in the 
executives. But a person can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years 
for making "any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or 
representation" to Congress.

Alan Huffman, who was a Conoco manager until the 2002 merger with 
Phillips, confirmed meeting with the task force staff. "We met in the 
Executive Office Building, if I remember correctly," he said.

A spokesman for ConocoPhillips said the chief executive, James J. Mulva, 
had been unaware that Conoco officials met with task force staff when he 
testified at the hearing. The spokesman said that Mulva was chief 
executive of Phillips in 2001 before the merger and that nobody from 
Phillips met with the task force.

Exxon spokesman Russ Roberts said the company stood by chief executive 
Lee R. Raymond's statement in the hearing. In a brief phone interview, 
former Exxon vice president James Rouse, the official named in the White 
House document, denied the meeting took place. "That must be inaccurate 
and I don't have any comment beyond that," said Rouse, now retired.

Ronnie Chappell, a spokesman for BP, declined to comment on the task 
force meetings. Darci Sinclair, a spokeswoman for Shell, said she did 
not know whether Shell officials met with the task force, but they often 
meet members of the administration. Chevron said its executives did not 
meet with the task force but confirmed that it sent President Bush 
recommendations in a letter.

The person familiar with the task force's work, who requested anonymity 
out of concern about retribution, said the document was based on records 
kept by the Secret Service of people admitted to the White House 
complex. This person said most meetings were with Andrew Lundquist, the 
task force's executive director, and Cheney aide Karen Y. Knutson.

According to the White House document, Rouse met with task force staff 
members on Feb. 14, 2001. On March 21, they met with Archie Dunham, who 
was chairman of Conoco. On April 12, according to the document, task 
force staff members met with Conoco official Huffman and two officials 
from the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, Wayne Gibbens and Alby Modiano.

On April 17, task force staff members met with Royal Dutch/Shell Group's 
chairman, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Shell Oil chairman Steven Miller and 
two others. On March 22, staff members met with BP regional president 
Bob Malone, chief economist Peter Davies and company employees Graham 
Barr and Deb Beaubien.

Toward the end of the hearing, Lautenberg asked the five executives: 
"Did your company or any representatives of your companies participate 
in Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001?" When there was no 
response, Lautenberg added: "The meeting . . . "

"No," said Raymond.

"No," said Chevron Chairman David J. O'Reilly.

"We did not, no," Mulva said.

"To be honest, I don't know," said BP America chief executive Ross 
Pillari, who came to the job in August 2001. "I wasn't here then."

"But your company was here," Lautenberg replied.

"Yes," Pillari said.

Shell Oil president John Hofmeister, who has held his job since earlier 
this year, answered last. "Not to my knowledge," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842.html
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