Big Oil Blows Off Obama's Clean-Energy Push

It comes down to how you crunch the numbers

(NEWSER) - If you ask Exxon Mobil, the firm will say last year’s taxes exceeded US income—but a Washington think tank will tell you the big oil company didn’t pay a cent the year before that. “It all depends on how you count,” writes Steven Mufson in the Washington Post . Exxon is throwing property, gas, payroll, and state taxes into the mix; the Center for American Progress is just counting federal corporate income taxes. From that angle, the firm’s tax rate last year was 17.2%, or “lower than the average American’s,” says an analyst for the group. More»

It would be the first in the US in 30 years

(NEWSER) - President Obama today pledged to guarantee $8 billion in loans to build a new nuclear power plant in the US—the first in 30 years—as part of his clean energy agenda. To make green power a reality, the president told a gathering of union electrical workers, “we’ll have to build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants” in addition to investments in renewables such as solar and wind power. More»

Low year-over-year pump prices, oil demand drive revenue down

(AP) - Exxon Mobil’s first-quarter profit fell 58% from the previous year to $4.6 billion—its lowest profit in more than 5 years—as the world's largest publicly traded oil company, along with the rest of the industry, saw gas prices deflate dramatically. This time last year crude was in the triple digits, in the midst of a historic run-up to almost $150 a barrel. But prices spent the rest of the year retreating and have hovered around $50 a barrel since March. More»

(NEWSER) - In times like these, everyone’s got problems. Exxon and Chevron? Finding safe places to stash $40 billion they stockpiled while oil prices were stratospheric last summer. “The biggest challenge we’ve had is making sure all the cash is there every morning,” Exxon’s CEO tells Bloomberg, adding of his treasurer, “I tell Don he has to count every dollar before he goes to bed.” More»

(NEWSER) - Howard Dean didn't get the health cabinet post he wanted, and doesn't want the job that's open—surgeon general—but is pushing President Obama's health-care plan just the same, the Washington Times reports. "Democrats can’t cave," says the former doc. Obama’s plan is "perfect," and since it stresses choice it should be "right up the Republicans' alley." If the GOP wants to filibuster, he adds, "be my guest and let’s see how they do in 2010." More»