API stands for The American Petroleum Institute and it is Big Oil’s most prominent and well-financed lobbyist. They have been spreading canards about everything from climate change to deleterious influence of alternative energy a/o the idea of this country moving towards a blended and more diverse energy portfolio. In a recent article in The Times by David Kocieniewski, their president Jack N. Gerard offered up one of the most amazing misrepresentations of the facts I have seen since that fateful night in April when the Gulf disaster was initiated. He noted in responding to accusations of tax law exploitation, avoidance, and off-shore relocation to facilitate the latter that, “These companies evaluate costs, risks and opportunities across the globe. So if the U.S. makes changes in the tax code that discourage drilling in gulf waters, they will go elsewhere and take their jobs with them.” First off the companies Mr. Gerard refers to are not simply “these companies” they are his peeps, the men and women he is obligated to defend, which means this disassociated language is awfully tricky because he is acting as if he and API are an objective and trustworthy third-party. Read the rest of this entry »