Oil barrons attended secret 2001 Energy Task Force

A document reveals that Exxon, Mobil, Conoco, Shell, and BP met with Dick Cheney to develop the US energy policy in 2001. Surprised? Not really. WaPo's Dana Milbank & Justin Blum have the front page scoop. I wonder how they cracked the inner-circle of Cheney's energy cabal. Was the password "Fidelio"?

[I stole that joke from Janeane Garofalo]

But what about Chevron, you ask? "Chevron said its executives did not meet with the task force but confirmed that it sent President Bush recommendations in a letter." Ahh. Ok. Here's one of the most damning morsels from today's scoop:

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.

AaaaaHaaaa! So that's why they didn't want to be sworn-in last week, at the Senate hearings! BTW, if you missed last Friday's "NOW" program on PBS, you must listen to it or read the transcript. They really have the goods on how oil companies manipulate prices--completely rigging "shortages" by either witholding supply or exporting "excess" to foreign markets (yep, that includes Canada). They even claim to have lost money at certain refiniries, while they actually rake-in tremendous profits. That surprised me a great deal; I'd always figured they'd want more refiniries. I thought I was cynical about this industry but sweet merciful crap, I had no idea. I think even those Eyes Wide Shut dudes would blush at some of this stuff.