Friday, Nov. 4, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Although gas prices are down from their peak as Nevada enters the final days of the 2022 midterms, they’re still unreasonably high.
Who’s to blame for higher prices? I agree with most voters that a major source of the blame resides with Big Oil and its windfall profits. After all, the evidence hides in plain sight as large oil and gas companies announce, starting this week, another quarter of jaw-dropping multibillion-dollar profits.
It only took the first six months of 2022 for their profits to skyrocket to an obscene $210 billion, and $116 billion for the second quarter alone. Did they invest that money into lower prices for American consumers getting squeezed at the pumps? No, out of that $116 billion, more than $66 billion got funneled back to wealthy oil executives and shareholders’ through stock buybacks.
Just last week, we learned that Shell’s third-quarter profits were $9.45 billion, more than doubling last year’s Q3 haul, with $6.8 billion going to wealthy oil executives and shareholders. Other eye-popping numbers include Halliburton more than doubling its third-quarter profits over Q3 last year, Hess profits rising by 578%, and EQT by 1,142%.
So why is it that only one candidate — Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. — in a race that’s likely to dictate control of the U.S. Senate, is speaking out about holding greedy oil companies accountable for raising consumer prices to maximize profits?
It’s because the other candidate — a longtime oil industry apologist, Adam Laxalt, relies on Big Oil’s financial support to win elections. Laxalt has taken nearly $234,000 from the oil and gas industry for his campaign and personally invests tens of thousands of dollars in Chevron, which made an astronomical $11.6 billion in profits in the second quarter alone. In other words, Nevadans were forced to pay sky-high prices at the pumps while Big Oil makes billions in profits that get handed back to wealthy executives and shareholders like Laxalt.
No wonder Laxalt constantly spends his time on the campaign trail defending Big Oil from any culpability, even in the face of surging gas prices. As if that weren’t shady enough, as attorney general, Laxalt also got caught abusing his position to block a fraud investigation into Big Oil. He then made $3.7 million at a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm that works for Big Oil.
New reporting last week revealed that oil and gas companies have funneled millions to Republican Super PACs on behalf of industry-friendly candidates like Laxalt to help Republicans take back control of Congress and block bills to limit price-gouging and other popular climate and clean-energy legislation.
Cortez Masto has been one of oil and gas companies’ harshest critics in the Senate, calling out the industry’s practice of using record profits to reward shareholders instead of lowering consumer prices. She also introduced legislation to help stop the oil and gas industry from gouging consumers at the pumps. She’s championed renewable energy and clean transportation efforts that will create jobs and lower energy prices for Nevadans, and fights for environmental justice for communities hardest hit by the climate crisis. Most recently, she helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in our nation’s history, which includes funding Cortez Masto helped secure to combat drought and increase solar and geothermal energy production.
As the youngest woman serving in the Nevada Legislature and chair of the Nevada Hispanic Legislative Caucus, I also have deep concerns about the preeminent issue of our time: climate change. From rising extreme temperatures to toxic air pollution to paying higher energy costs, climate change takes a disproportionate toll on Latinos in Nevada.
Unfortunately, rather than acknowledge these factors, Laxalt is a climate change denier who stands with Big Oil in opposing efforts to grow Nevada’s clean energy economy.
The choice for voters on Election Day is simple. Either Nevada reelects Cortez Masto, a leader unafraid to stand up to Big Oil, or like Laxalt, who is beholden to the industry. We owe it to future generations to get this right.
Assemblywoman Selena Torres was elected to represent District 3 in Clark County in 2018, and is up for reelection this month.
