Thread: Trump Scraps Anti-Corruption Rule Opposed by Oil and Gas

Interesting tidbit from Fevruary 14, 2017.

Trump Scraps Anti-Corruption Rule Opposed by Oil and Gas

President Trump signed a resolution rolling back a rule requiring energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments aimed at curbing bribery.

Emily Stewart
Feb 14, 2017 4:15 PM EST

President Trump signed a resolution rolling back a rule requiring energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments aimed at curbing bribery.

Put forth by Republicans Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma in late January, the joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act nullifies the Securities and Exchange Commission resource extraction rule, which was finalized in June. Trump touted the "very important signing" as a pro-jobs maneuver, telling reporters in the Oval Office that "a lot of people [are] going back to work now."

The legislation, House Joint Resolution 41, scraps regulation mandated under section 1504 of Dodd-Frank in 2010. It swept quickly through both houses of Congress earlier this year, passing the House in a 235-187 vote and the Senate 52-47.

"This is a big signing, very important signing," the president said on Tuesday. "This is one of many that we've signed and we have many more left."

Trump said his administration is "bringing back jobs big league" at the "plant level" and at the "mine level" and cited energy jobs as well.

He also touted the stock market. U.S. equities markets have rallied since his election and got a renewed boost of confidence last week when he promised a two to three-week timeframe on tax reform.

"You see what's going on with the stock market. They know that we know what we're doing so it's going up," he said.

The rule, which took effect in September 2016 and required compliance by September 2018, would have required extraction companies -- oil and gas, miners -- traded publicly in the U.S. to disclose payments to foreign governments. Similar rules have been enacted in the U.K., France, Norway and Canada.
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From the outset, the rule widely was opposed by American oil and gas companies, which argued it would put them at a disadvantage against private companies and companies not traded publicly in the United States. They said compliance would cost them millions of dollars. (SEC estimated compliance could cost $55 million to $575 million for the more than 400 companies affected.)

The American Petroleum Institute successfully sued to overturn an original version of the rule in 2012, forcing an SEC rewrite. The lobbying group's membership includes ExxonMobil (XOM) , Chevron (CVX) , Phillips 66 (PSX) , ConocoPhillips (COP) and Apache (APA) .

Nonprofit group Oxfam America subsequently sued the SEC over its delay in finalizing the rule.

Huizenga, who appeared alongside Trump in the Oval office at the moment of the signing, said in a statement that the resolution "removes a burdensome regulation that puts U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage on the global stage."

Isabel Munilla, senior policy adviser for extractive industries at Oxfam America, slammed Trump's signing of the bill in a statement as a maneuver aimed at making it "easier to get away with corruption."

"President Trump is turning his back on people all around the world who have clamored for American leadership to stand up for democratic values, transparency and good governance. Signing this bill is a stain on America's reputation around the world," she said.

Huizenga noted the legislation instructs the SEC to go back to the drawing board yet again on the rule to create one that "doesn't negatively impact American job creators and American workers."

Six Republican senators -- Bob Corker, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Johnny Isakson and Todd Young -- in a February 2 letter to acting SEC Chairman Michael Piwowar explaining their opposition to the rule and encouraging it to consider "anti-competitiveness concerns" when it revisits the regulation for a rewrite.

An SEC spokesman declined to comment on the matter.

https://www.thestreet.com/story/1400...l-and-gas.html

President Trump signed a resolution rolling back a rule requiring energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments aimed at curbing bribery.

As a supporter for the transparency of corporations working out of the United States, I had no problem with this rule.

Drill Baby Drill!!

If an oil company wants to pay off a foreign government I guess that's OK.

I would prefer the oil company pay the graft, rather than our government pay it, and euphemistically call it 'foreign aid'.

A question - What can/should our government do about corporations that do bad things in other countries?

Do we have an jurisdiction over them?

That's a real question, I don't have an answer.

It's the way the rule was written, it was designed to put our companies at a big disadvantage. No one is supporting "corruption", it's the way the rules were written to try to stop it. The oil industry asked for a change in the rules, so new rules need to be written. It's like Obamacare, no one is opposed to affordable health insurance, it's the rules of how you achieve it.

But in these other countries, they do business in many cases differently than we do. Here we pay off politicians to get what we want. Oh wait .... there is no difference. Ask the drug cartels behind illegal immigration, they'll explain how it works here.

Nonprofit group Oxfam America subsequently sued the SEC over its delay in finalizing the rule.

About Oxfam

Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty. With 70 years of experience in more than 90 countries, Oxfam takes on the big issues that keep people poor: inequality, discrimination, and unequal access to resources including food, water, and land. We help people save lives in disasters, build stronger futures for themselves, and hold the powerful accountable.

Our vision: A just world without poverty.

Our mission: To create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice.

How do we fix the injustice of poverty?

Oxfam’s approach is about tackling the conditions that cause poverty in the first place, rather than the distribution of material goods. We start by asking questions and challenging assumptions. What are the root causes of poverty? What can we do to change the power dynamics that keep people poor? These questions inform the four categories into which our work falls:

• Saving lives: Oxfam assists the poorest communities when disaster strikes, but is also working to ensure greater local resilience and the capacity of local responders and governments to deliver disaster response.
• Programs to overcome poverty and injustice: Oxfam invests in programs to help people assert their rights so that they can improve their lives.
• Campaigning for social justice: Oxfam works to change the laws and practices that keep people trapped in poverty.
• Public education: As part of our efforts to overcome poverty, Oxfam works to change the way people think about poverty and its causes.

https://www.oxfam.org/en/about

Oxfam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Named after	Oxford Committee for Famine Relief
Founded	1942
Founded at	Oxford, England
Type	International non-governmental organization
Focus	Poverty eradication, disaster relief, advocacy, policy research
Headquarters	Oxford, United Kingdom
Area served	Worldwide
Director	Winnie Byanyima
Key people	William Payne
Mission	"Working with thousands of local partner organizations, we work with people living in poverty striving to exercise their human rights, assert their dignity as full citizens and take control of their lives"
Website	www.oxfam.org

xfam is an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty. Oxfam was founded at 17 Broad Street in Oxford, Oxfordshire, in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief by a group of Quakers, social activists, and Oxford academics; this is now Oxfam Great Britain, still based in Oxford. It was one of several local committees formed in support of the National Famine Relief Committee. Their mission was to persuade the British government to allow food relief through the Allied blockade for the starving citizens of occupied Greece. The first overseas Oxfam was founded in Canada in 1963. The organization changed its name to its telegraph address, OXFAM, in 1965.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxfam

Yes, I laugh when people speak of Mexico as being 'corrupt'. Bit of the pot and kettle????

It isn't just the drug cartels that are paying our politicians to keep the illegals - it's the people making a profit from the drug business here in this country. That's goes all the way up the food chain. We are constantly presented with the idea of the the street corner dealer, or the small drug pusher. That's just another bit of brainwashing by our news media and entertainment media. It never shows the ones benefitting that are sitting on board rooms of large corporations, in our very government, and the Amen corner on Sunday morning.

That's the drug business. Think about it - it's probably the largest industry in this country.
Given that, does anyone really think the big boys aren't going to be involved?

The ones hurting are the American people and our country.

So great to see you posting with us again, nntrixie!! Missed you!

Originally Posted by Judy

So great to see you posting with us again, nntrixie!! Missed you!

Thank you,Judy