Energy policy formulation remains veiled in secrecy

The stone wall Vice President Dick Cheney erected around his energy task force is so solid that not even congressional investigators have been able to penetrate it. Thus, the American people remain in the dark about the activities of the National Energy Policy Development Group, chaired by Cheney, and lack an answer to this central question: How much influence did the oil industry have in the formulation of the policy?
The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, said this week that it tried to find out but was stymied by the vice president's refusal to provide the pertinent documents relating to the task force's activities. The GAO was also unable to determine how much money -- that's taxpayer dollars, folks -- various agencies spent on creating the national energy policy.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., a candidate for his party's presidential nomination next year, hit the nail on the head when he said: "If the Bush-Cheney team has nothing to hide, then why are they hiding documents? There can be only one answer -- they don't want the American people to know just how much influence the big oil companies have over U.S. energy policy."
Legislative proposals
Given that Congress is considering energy-related legislative proposals contained in the task force's final report issued May 2001, the public has a right to know who was at the table when items such as expanded oil and gas drilling on public land and easing of regulatory barriers to build nuclear power plants were discussed.
How was it that the proposal for drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuge became a centerpiece of President Bush's energy policy?
The GAO contends that the vice president, some Cabinet-level and other senior administration officials and support staff controlled most of development of the task force report, and that they met frequently with energy industry representatives and only on a limited basis with scholars and environmentalists.
Last year, the GAO filed a lawsuit in federal court to force Cheney to turn over the names of the people who met with the task force and the transcripts and other details of those meetings. The suit was prompted by the vice president's refusal to do so, even though other agencies that were part of the task force handed over their documents.
However, a federal judge threw out the lawsuit, saying the GAO had no right to bring such action.
The White House insists that had the suit been upheld, it would have had a chilling effect on the president's ability to formulate "the best policies for the American people."
What's chilling is the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy -- especially when the interests of the American people have been hijacked by oil and energy industry cronies of the president and vice president.