George W. Bush, President

With a mixed bag of business ventures in his background, Bush's best move was to sell a small company he started in the 1970s called Bush Exploration/Arbusto to Spectrum 7, which was later acquired by Harken Energy. In return he received US$600,000 worth of stock, a US$120,000 contract per year and a lot of friends in the Texas oil scene. His presence helped Harken score contracts in the Middle East when the company's management mentioned to the government of Bahrain that President Bush's kid "is on our Board". No doubt Bush's background with Harken will help them in their current struggle against well-organized social movements in Costa Rica, trying to stop this company from offshore oil drilling and exploration. During Bush's campaign for President, oil money gushed into his campaign coffers: US$2.8 billion from energy companies and another US$2.3 million from the auto sector. Enron alone donated more than a million dollars to the Republican National Committee. Bush owns stock in General Electric, BP, Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, Newmont Gold Mining Corporation, Pennzoil and Tom Brown, Inc.

Dick Cheney, Vice President

Whether or not Dick Cheney is calling all the shots in the new administration or just most of them he clearly brings oil interests to the White House. After serving as Secretary of Defense under George Bush Sr., Dick left "public service" and settled in Dallas, Texas to head up the world's biggest oil-services company, Halliburton (market value US$18.2 billion). Since 1992, Halliburton has contributed US$1.6 billion to the campaigns of Washington-bound politicians. Cheney's record as a Wyoming Congressman from 1978 to 1989 hints at what's to come. He co-sponsored a measure to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and voted against the Clean Water Act which required industries to release their toxic emission records. Cheney is a member of a group called COMPASS (Committee to Preserve American Security and Sovereignty).

Spencer Abraham, Secretary of Energy

Abraham lost his race for re-election as Senator in his home state of Michigan, but that didn't disqualify him from the directing the Department of Energy whose mission is to "foster a secure and reliable energy system" for the US. Coming from Michigan, the state most identified with the car industry and home to "Motown" (aka Detroit) and to most major automobile manufacturers in the US. It is no wonder General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler are on his list of campaign contributors from his days as an elected official. Given that this new Energy Secretary will be deciding on the thorny issue of fuel economy regulations, which have been the subject of a major environmental pressure campaign in order to reduce the number of gas-guzzling "Sport Utility Vehicles" (SUVs) on America's roads. Abraham personally fought to limit fuel-efficiency in SUV's, as well as to cut research into renewable energy and to wipe out the federal gasoline tax. The car industry should now be confident they have nothing to fear. His connections to Lear, the maker of private jets, probably also eschews any hope of taxing aviation gas in the United States in this term.

Gale Norton, Secretary of Interior

A former corporate lawyer and passionate believer in 'free-market environmentalism'. She is a longtime supporter of wide-open drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and in the Rocky Mountains. As Secretary of the Interior she will inform the President on issues of management of "public" or federally controlled land. When she was Attorney General of Colorado, British Petroleum and Ford were amongst her contributors. An example of her attitude toward Corporate Criminals was set when she settled a case with Robert Friedland, the mining magnate who caused the largest cyanide spill in Colorado history at the Summitville mine in 1992. The settlement was for a paltry sum despite the fact that the government has spent nearly US$200 million to date trying to reclaim it and will spend another 100 years trying to repair the damage. On her appointment, staffers at the Interior Department building to down pictures celebrating US national parks and replaced them with pictures of the Trapper Mining Company in Craig, Colorado and its reclamation, where grass was planted after mining operations were done. Other pictures mounted where of an oil derrick off the US coast somewhere. A third is of a dam with a US flag on top and another is of the Rosebud Mine in Montana.

Condaleeza Rice, National Security Adviser

Rice is so conservative, she puts Ronald Regan to a newer shame. Her doctrine is to support only US national interests, and not that of the "international community" which she considers to be a myth. She has deep ties to the oil industry and right-wing think tanks like the Hoover Institute who are happy to know she now has the ear of the Commander in Chief on foreign policy and security issues. She spent a decade on the Board of oil giant Chevron Corporation, a service that earned her the honor of having one of its supertankers named "Condaleeza". Chevron is a big player in Nigeria where there is increasing US military involvement, including training of Nigerian military to police the oil fields and secure pipelines. Before her appointment as Security Advisor, she declared environmental and human rights organizations "The Enemy."

Don Evans, Secretary of Commerce

One of Evan's greatest qualifications for running this agency which is responsible for promoting job creation, economic growth and sustainable development is that he was George W. Bush's campaign manager and chief fundraiser in three separate elections. Other than that he has been CEO and Chairman of a relatively lackluster oil company called Tom Brown Inc. with interests in the inner Western states of the US. Evans was also a Board member of Sharp Drilling, an oil industry contractor. As the Secretary of Commerce he will also be overseeing the National Oceans and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), the lead agency for regulating US oceans and air. This will likely torpedo any worthwhile research, science or policy recommendations on the issue of climate change. And since 25 percent of America's domestic oil and natural gas production comes from offshore drilling the industry must be glad to have a friend on the inside.

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SOURCES: Project Underground and Wayne Ellwood of The New Internationalist, March 2001, Also published in a slightly different format in The New Internationalist, June 2001, www.newint.org; Special thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics and their great website www.opensecrets.org; "Give Alaska to the environmentalists: The Bush administration wants to open up public lands to the oil and gas industry," by Jerry Taylor, The Financial Post, Canada, January 31, 2001.