Hightower Lowdown

A terrific watchdog group, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), is in the fight of its life against Big Oil and two of Big Oil's snarling Republican guard dogs in Congress. Don Young, chair of the powerful House Resources Committee, and Barbara Cubin, chair of the energy subcommittee, have pocketed beaucoup bucks from the oil giants, and both have loyally sided with the industry to help it get whatever it wants.

One thing Big Oil dearly wants is for POGO to go away. Working with whistleblowers inside the industry and government, POGO has unveiled a massive scheme by which oil companies have swindled taxpayers. For years, the industry has been grossly underpaying on royalties that it owes for being allowed to pump publicly owned oil from beneath state and federal public lands. POGO and the states have successfully sued the likes of Shell and Exxon/Mobil to force repayment of nearly half a billion dollars owed to us.

You might think that Congress would want to go after the cheats, but Young and Cubin have instead been frothing at the mouth going after POGO! They are demanding that POGO turn over all of its phone records going back as far as seven years— records that would reveal to the oil companies the names of courageous whistleblowers who've been working with POGO.

To find out how to help stop this outrageous abuse of congressional power, contact POGO: 202-347-1122, or see their website: www.pogo.org.