Hillary Clintons State Department Emails, Mexicos Energy Privatization and
the Revolving Door
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/hillary_clinton_state_department_emails_
mexico_energy_reform_20150813/
Posted on Aug 13, 2015
By Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Ash Carter / CC BY
2.0)
This piece originated with DeSmogBlog.
Emails released on July 31 by the U.S. State Department reveal more about
the origins of energy reform efforts in Mexico. The State Department
released them as part of the once-a-month rolling release schedule for
emails generated by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now a
Democratic presidential candidate.
Originally stored on a private server, with Clinton and her closest advisors
using the server and private accounts, the emails confirm Clintons State
Department helped to break state-owned company Pemexs (Petroleos Mexicanos)
oil and gas industry monopoly in Mexico, opening up the country to
international oil and gas companies. And two of the Coordinators helping to
make it happen, both of whom worked for Clinton, now work in the private
sector and stand to gain financially from the energy reforms they helped
create.
The appearance of the emails also offers a chance to tell the deeper story
of the role the Clinton-led State Department and other powerful actors
played in opening up Mexico for international business in the oil and gas
sphere. That story begins with a trio.
The Trio
David Goldwyn, who was the first International Energy Coordinator named by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009, sits at the center of the story.
As revealed by DeSmog, the State Department redacted the entire job
description document for the Coordinator role.
Goldwyn now runs an oil and gas industry consulting firm called Goldwyn
Global Strategies, works of counsel as an industry attorney at the law firm
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, and works as a fellow at the industry-funded
think tanks Atlantic Council and Brookings Institution.
David Goldwyn; (U.S. Department of State)
The emails show that, on at least one instance, Goldwyn also used his
private [email protected] (Goldwyn Global Strategies) email address for
State Department business.
It remains unclear if he used his private or State Department email address
on other instances, as only his name appears on the other emails. But Cheryl
Mills, a top aide to Secretary Clinton at the time, initiated the email that
he responded to on his private account.
U.S. Department of State
Carlos Pascual, Goldwyns successor as International Energy Coordinator, who
oversaw the creation of the State Departments Bureau of Energy Resources as
mandated by the Departments 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development
Review, serves as another key character.
Carlos Pascual announcing the creation of the Bureau of Energy Resources;
(U.S. Department of State)
So too does Neil Brown, a former top-level staffer for Sen. Richard Lugar
(R-IN) who now works at the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
(KKR).
Brown now works with former CIA Director David Petraeus at the KKR Global
Institute, where he serves as Director of Policy and Research, and formerly
served as senior-level staff for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations. He also still serves as a senior advisor for Goldwyn Global
Strategies, according to the firms website.
Energy Dipomacy and Security Act
A May 2009 email written by top Clinton advisor Cheryl Mills, in which she
shared an early draft of the job description for International Energy
Coordinator (redacted in the email), points to the origins of the idea
behind the job. That is, it actually came from Lugar and Mills wrote that it
would continue to fulfill the mission outlined by the legislation he
introduced.
Mills was referring to the Energy Diplomacy and Security Act of 2006 and
2007, bills introduced by Lugar and co-sponsored by then-Senators Barack
Obama, Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel, among others. Defense Secretary Hagel
formerly served as Chairman for the Atlantic Council and sat on the Board
for Chevron, one of Atlantic Councils top funders.
That bill called for the creation of the International Energy Coordinator
position.
Image Credit: U.S. Government Printing Office
Neither of those bills passed. Instead, the measure was inserted into the
broader Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 as Section 931.
Lobbying records show Marathon Oil, ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs all lobbied
for both the original bill and the omnibus bill, with scores of other oil
and gas companies also lobbying for the latter.
Lugar announced the bill for the first time at a Brookings Institution event
in March 2006 at an convening moderated by Carlos Pascual, then Vice
President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies for Brookings.
In October 2006, Gregory Manuel who now works at MNL Partners, a clean
energy project development and finance shop focused on China became the
first ever International Energy Coordinator for the Bush Administration
State Department. The Manuel announcement occurred the same month as the
powerful Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), heavily funded by the oil and
gas industry, published a report advocating for the creation of a similar
position within the White Houses National Security Council.
David Goldwyn, future International Energy Coordinator, sat on the task
force (with current Secreatry of Energy Ernest Moniz) that authored the
report and called for creation of the job.
Goldwyn also co-wrote a two-page Additional View section, which reads We
subscribe to the reports analysis and recommendations, but the report
understates the gravity of the threat that energy dependence poses to U.S.
national security
All told, an incremental approach to the challengeas
advocated in this reportwill not be adequate.
At her 2009 confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, then-Committee Chair Lugar asked Clinton if she intended to
continue funding the position. She confirmed she did, and not long
thereafter followed through on the promise by hiring Goldwyn.
Both Clinton and Goldwyn did not respond to repeated requests for comment
for this story.
Mexico Rising
An October 2009 email written by Mills mentions engaging with
Mexico as
among Goldwyns top energy security priorities. Congressional testimony he
delivered in April 2013 confirmed Goldwyn initiated energy reform efforts in
Mexico while at the State Department, as did a story published a couple
weeks later by Reuters.
A State Department diplomatic cable unearthed by Wikileaks sheds further
light on Goldwyns efforts in Mexico.
Mexico officials remain extremely sensitive about any public - especially
US - comments regarding energy reform and production, reads a February 2010
scenesetter cable written by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico for Goldwyns
upcoming trip to Mexico. We should retain the [U.S. governments]
long-standing policy of not commenting publicly on these issues while
quietly offering to provide assistance in areas of interest to the [Mexican
government].
At the time that cable was published, Carlos Pascual served as U.S.
Ambassador to Mexico, a job he would eventually leave to become Goldwyns
successor as International Energy Coordinator. After leaving the State
Department, Goldwyn continued that effort to provide assistance for energy
reform alongside Neil Brown in the private sector.
Carlos Pascual. (U.S. Department of State)
One of the last things Brown did in the Senate before getting a job with
Goldwyn was to co-author a December 21, 2012 U.S. Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations report on the then-proposed and since-passed U.S. Mexico
Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement.
That agreement served as the first step of Mexicos energy reform efforts,
which opened up offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico to international oil and
gas companies, and was lobbied for by the likes of ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP,
the American Petroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Producers of America
and others.
Brown worked on the [Mexico energy reform] issue
as lead Republican
international energy aide in the Senate, according to Reuters and also went
on a taxpayer-funded trip to Mexico during his last few months as a Foreign
Relations Committee staffer.
Pascual also worked on the Transboundary issue when he was Ambassador,
another Wikileaks cable reveals.
Publicly, the [government of Mexico] will emphasize that the negotiations
allow Mexico to defend its natural resources, reads the Pascual-authored
cable titled, Transboundary Reservoirs - A Window of Opportunity. [M]any
Mexicans consider oil a part of the countrys DNA. A treaty would address
these concerns and avoid any unnecessary irritants between the two
countries.
Pascual then stated that, while the government of Mexico would posture one
way to the people of Mexico, it intends to act in an entirely different way
in terms of the policy it would push.
[While the government of Mexico] will portray negotiations on
trans-boundary reservoirs to the Mexican public as an effort to defend the
countrys natural resources, the government sees a treaty as an important
opportunity for PEMEX to work with IOCs and gain expertise in deepwater
drilling, he wrote. For the first time in decades, the door to the USGs
constructive engagement with Mexico on oil has opened a crack. It would be
in our interests to take advantage of this opportunity.
Not long after Brown left his Foreign Relations Committee job, Goldwyn and
Brown co-authored a report for the Brookings Institution in August 2013,
Time to Implement the U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement
Congress: Drop the Poison Pill. The bill would pass months later and be
signed into law by President Obama.
They also co-authored a report a year later for the Atlantic Council,
Mexicos Energy Reforms: Ready to Launch. Goldwyn also published a
December 2013 Atlantic Council report, Mexico Rising: Comprehensive Energy
Reform At Last?, which came out just one week after Mexicos legislature
passed constitutional reforms opening up its oil and gas spigot to
international drillers.
Cashing In
Goldwyn, Pascual and Brown now stand to gain financially from the Mexico
energy reform architecture they helped envision and construct.
Goldwyn
Goldwyn works of-counsel for Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, a firm that helped
the Enterprise Product Partners become the first company to get a permit to
export processed oil condensate from the U.S. Department of Commerce in June
2014. In a biography appearing at the end of a September 2014 presentation
he delivered to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Sutherland
partner Jacob Dweck disclosed he is presently assisting clients looking to
export crude oil as part of an exchange or swap.
Doing a swap means exporting U.S.-produced crude oil to Mexico and trading
it with Mexican-produced oil, serving as a way to wedge open the door on the
current ban on U.S. oil exports.
Dweck and his Sutherland colleague Shelley Wong both sat on the Brookings
Institution Crude Oil Task Force co-chaired by Goldwyn. All three of them
contributed to a September 2014 Brookings report calling for increased
exports of U.S.-produced crude oil, which was written in reaction to another
report they funded and released simultaneously written by National Economic
Research Associates (NERA).
Just months later, Columbia Universitys Adrián Lajous released a 13-page
white paper calling for U.S. crude oil exchanges with Mexico. In the
acknowledgements for the paper, he thanked Dweck for comments and
suggestions that helped improve it.
Pascual
Pascual now sits as a Fellow at an outfit many believe is industry-funded,
but which does not disclose its funding on its website: Columbia
Universitys Center on Global Energy Policy. The Center does, however,
disclose it welcomes support from corporations. Both officials at Columbia
and its spokesperson at BerlinRosin did not respond to repeated requests for
comment on funding sent by DeSmog.
Besides Columbia, Pascual also works as Senior Vice President of Global
Energy Affairs at IHS Inc., a for-profit consultancy business that provides
analysis on behalf of corporate clients.
IHS has a unit devoted to evaluating future options in Mexico with a
scenarios-based approach built on quantitative and qualitative data to help
shape a successful upstream entry strategy for Mexico that centers on the
clients specific needs, its website explains. A variety of foreign
companies ranging from the Majors to Independents to service sector firms
are expressing interest in capitalizing on Mexicos largely untapped
resource potential in six major plays, including: deepwater, offshore gas,
shale and marginal PUDs in conventional areas.
The Center on Global Energy Policy has also proven a friendly forum to
promote energy reform efforts, which has both published pro-reform reports
and also housed panels on the topic. Adrián Lajous, another Fellow at the
center, formerly served as CEO for Pemex and wrote his own pro-reform paper
in June 2014 bankrolled by none other than Goldman Sachs.
Pascual recently testified in front of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs
Committee in support of energy reform efforts in Mexico wearing his IHS Inc.
hat, with his placard referring to him as Ambassador Pascual.
Carlos Pascual; (U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee)
He had previously done the same thing on multiple occasions as head of the
State Departments Bureau of Energy Resources when he was officially serving
as an Ambassador.
Pascual denied comment for this story. But Jeff Marn, energy and natural
resources spokesman for IHS, told DeSmog We do research on several topics
around the world, energy among them. But we dont have a stake in any
development or outcome.
IHS, though, does take huge batches of industry funding for its reports. A
case in point: its two recent studies on U.S. oil exports, both of which
were funded by companies ranging from ExxonMobil, Chesapeake Energy,
ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Halliburton and many other companies.
Brown
KKR, where Brown now works, has already put its feet on the ground to profit
from energy reform efforts in Mexico. This may explain why Brown and
Petraeus co-wrote a July 2014 opinion piece published by the Houston
Chronicle titled, Mexicos miracle: Political productivity.
Neil Brown; Photo Credit: Twitter
In December 2014, Petraeus and colleagues from KKR took a trip to Mexico and
expressed excitement over the promise that the financial community sees in
this country.
Obviously were looking very closely at the energy space, upstream and
downstream production, the entire gamut of that, Petraeus told Bloomberg at
the time.
His trip to Mexico came just two months after he co-authored a CFR report
with Robert Zoellick (former head of the World Bank, now a chairman of
international advisors at Goldman Sachs) calling for the integration of
North Americas energy markets.
Just months later, KKR announced the launch of a joint venture with Monterra
Energy, a new start-up created in the aftermath of Mexicos energy reforms.
KKR will serve as financier for the development of midstream oil and gas
assets (like pipelines and related delivery infrastructure) owned by
Monterra in Mexico.
Brown and KKR did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Integration
Integration is where the story comes full circle. In March 2009, Lugar
introduced legislation that would create a Western Hemisphere Energy
Cooperation Forum, a concept recycled from section six of the initial
Energy Diplomacy and Security Act.
That Forum, had the bill passed, would have served to strengthen
integration among countries in the Western Hemisphere through closer
cooperation. It was lobbied for by Marathon Oil, one of only 26 companies
approved to bid for shallow water oil and gas reserves in Mexico during its
recent July auction.
Lugar introduced the concept of the Forum, like the International Energy
Coordinator idea, during his 2006 Brookings address moderated by Pascual.
Image Credit: U.S. Department of Energy
Although it never became a piece of congressional legislation, it did become
the de facto law of the land as a chapter in the U.S. Department of Energys
recently-released Quadrenial Energy Review (QER).
Most recently, Goldwyn, Pascual and Brown all sat on Atlantic Councils Task
Force on the U.S. Energy Boom and National Security. That Task Force,
co-directed by Godlwyn, released a report pointing to the QER to advocate
for infrastructure and policy integration with Mexico.
Climate of Profit
view this map on LittleSis
Hillary Clinton recently released her energy and climate plans for her
presidential campaign, lauded by some.
But to date, she has not commented on the energy reform efforts in Mexico
her State Department helped spearhead, which will usher in more deepwater
offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore fracking in Mexicos
portion of the Eagle Ford Shale basin. It will also flood the electricity
grid with fracked gas emanating from the U.S., a fact proudly proclaimed by
Goldwyn and the U.S. Department of Energy.
[A]s secretary of state, we know that there was quite a revolving door
between the oil and gas lobby and her people at State and on her previous
campaign staff, Naomi Klein, author of the book This Changes Everything:
Capitalism vs. the Climate, said in a recent appearance on Democracy Now!
And I think theres real reason for concern about whether or not she would
be willing to stand up to the oil and gas lobby on Keystone, on Arctic
drilling, [or] on any
other issues.
One thing appears certain: those who laid the groundwork for energy reforms
in Mexico have created a perfect climate to profit from the fruits of their
labor.
http://www.truthdig.com/ http://www.truthdig.com/
Hillary Clintons State Department Emails, Mexicos Energy Privatization and
the Revolving Door
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/hillary_clinton_state_department_emails_
mexico_energy_reform_20150813/
Posted on Aug 13, 2015
By Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Ash Carter / CC BY 2.0)
This piece originated with DeSmogBlog.
Emails released on July 31 by the U.S. State Department reveal more about
the origins of energy reform efforts in Mexico. The State Department
released them as part of the once-a-month rolling release schedule for
emails generated by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now a
Democratic presidential candidate.
Originally stored on a private server, with Clinton and her closest advisors
using the server and private accounts, the emails confirm Clintons State
Department helped to break state-owned company Pemexs (Petroleos Mexicanos)
oil and gas industry monopoly in Mexico, opening up the country to
international oil and gas companies. And two of the Coordinators helping to
make it happen, both of whom worked for Clinton, now work in the private
sector and stand to gain financially from the energy reforms they helped
create.
The appearance of the emails also offers a chance to tell the deeper story
of the role the Clinton-led State Department and other powerful actors
played in opening up Mexico for international business in the oil and gas
sphere. That story begins with a trio.
The Trio
David Goldwyn, who was the first International Energy Coordinator named by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009, sits at the center of the story.
As revealed by DeSmog, the State Department redacted the entire job
description document for the Coordinator role.
Goldwyn now runs an oil and gas industry consulting firm called Goldwyn
Global Strategies, works of counsel as an industry attorney at the law firm
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, and works as a fellow at the industry-funded
think tanks Atlantic Council and Brookings Institution.
David Goldwyn; (U.S. Department of State)
The emails show that, on at least one instance, Goldwyn also used his
private [email protected] (Goldwyn Global Strategies) email address for
State Department business.
It remains unclear if he used his private or State Department email address
on other instances, as only his name appears on the other emails. But Cheryl
Mills, a top aide to Secretary Clinton at the time, initiated the email that
he responded to on his private account.
U.S. Department of State
Carlos Pascual, Goldwyns successor as International Energy Coordinator, who
oversaw the creation of the State Departments Bureau of Energy Resources as
mandated by the Departments 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development
Review, serves as another key character.
Carlos Pascual announcing the creation of the Bureau of Energy Resources;
(U.S. Department of State)
So too does Neil Brown, a former top-level staffer for Sen. Richard Lugar
(R-IN) who now works at the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
(KKR).
Brown now works with former CIA Director David Petraeus at the KKR Global
Institute, where he serves as Director of Policy and Research, and formerly
served as senior-level staff for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations. He also still serves as a senior advisor for Goldwyn Global
Strategies, according to the firms website.
Energy Dipomacy and Security Act
A May 2009 email written by top Clinton advisor Cheryl Mills, in which she
shared an early draft of the job description for International Energy
Coordinator (redacted in the email), points to the origins of the idea
behind the job. That is, it actually came from Lugar and Mills wrote that it
would continue to fulfill the mission outlined by the legislation he
introduced.
Mills was referring to the Energy Diplomacy and Security Act of 2006 and
2007, bills introduced by Lugar and co-sponsored by then-Senators Barack
Obama, Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel, among others. Defense Secretary Hagel
formerly served as Chairman for the Atlantic Council and sat on the Board
for Chevron, one of Atlantic Councils top funders.
That bill called for the creation of the International Energy Coordinator
position.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-110s193is/pdf/BILLS-110s193is.pdf
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-110s193is/pdf/BILLS-110s193is.pdf
Image Credit: U.S. Government Printing Office
Neither of those bills passed. Instead, the measure was inserted into the
broader Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 as Section 931.
Lobbying records show Marathon Oil, ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs all lobbied
for both the original bill and the omnibus bill, with scores of other oil
and gas companies also lobbying for the latter.
Lugar announced the bill for the first time at a Brookings Institution event
in March 2006 at an convening moderated by Carlos Pascual, then Vice
President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies for Brookings.
In October 2006, Gregory Manuel who now works at MNL Partners, a clean
energy project development and finance shop focused on China became the
first ever International Energy Coordinator for the Bush Administration
State Department. The Manuel announcement occurred the same month as the
powerful Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), heavily funded by the oil and
gas industry, published a report advocating for the creation of a similar
position within the White Houses National Security Council.
David Goldwyn, future International Energy Coordinator, sat on the task
force (with current Secreatry of Energy Ernest Moniz) that authored the
report and called for creation of the job.
Goldwyn also co-wrote a two-page Additional View section, which reads We
subscribe to the reports analysis and recommendations, but the report
understates the gravity of the threat that energy dependence poses to U.S.
national security
All told, an incremental approach to the challengeas
advocated in this reportwill not be adequate.
At her 2009 confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, then-Committee Chair Lugar asked Clinton if she intended to
continue funding the position. She confirmed she did, and not long
thereafter followed through on the promise by hiring Goldwyn.
Both Clinton and Goldwyn did not respond to repeated requests for comment
for this story.
Mexico Rising
An October 2009 email written by Mills mentions engaging with
Mexico as
among Goldwyns top energy security priorities. Congressional testimony he
delivered in April 2013 confirmed Goldwyn initiated energy reform efforts in
Mexico while at the State Department, as did a story published a couple
weeks later by Reuters.
A State Department diplomatic cable unearthed by Wikileaks sheds further
light on Goldwyns efforts in Mexico.
Mexico officials remain extremely sensitive about any public - especially
US - comments regarding energy reform and production, reads a February 2010
scenesetter cable written by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico for Goldwyns
upcoming trip to Mexico. We should retain the [U.S. governments]
long-standing policy of not commenting publicly on these issues while
quietly offering to provide assistance in areas of interest to the [Mexican
government].
At the time that cable was published, Carlos Pascual served as U.S.
Ambassador to Mexico, a job he would eventually leave to become Goldwyns
successor as International Energy Coordinator. After leaving the State
Department, Goldwyn continued that effort to provide assistance for energy
reform alongside Neil Brown in the private sector.
Carlos Pascual. (U.S. Department of State)
One of the last things Brown did in the Senate before getting a job with
Goldwyn was to co-author a December 21, 2012 U.S. Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations report on the then-proposed and since-passed U.S. Mexico
Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement.
That agreement served as the first step of Mexicos energy reform efforts,
which opened up offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico to international oil and
gas companies, and was lobbied for by the likes of ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP,
the American Petroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Producers of America
and others.
Brown worked on the [Mexico energy reform] issue
as lead Republican
international energy aide in the Senate, according to Reuters and also went
on a taxpayer-funded trip to Mexico during his last few months as a Foreign
Relations Committee staffer.
Pascual also worked on the Transboundary issue when he was Ambassador,
another Wikileaks cable reveals.
Publicly, the [government of Mexico] will emphasize that the negotiations
allow Mexico to defend its natural resources, reads the Pascual-authored
cable titled, Transboundary Reservoirs - A Window of Opportunity. [M]any
Mexicans consider oil a part of the countrys DNA. A treaty would address
these concerns and avoid any unnecessary irritants between the two
countries.
Pascual then stated that, while the government of Mexico would posture one
way to the people of Mexico, it intends to act in an entirely different way
in terms of the policy it would push.
[While the government of Mexico] will portray negotiations on
trans-boundary reservoirs to the Mexican public as an effort to defend the
countrys natural resources, the government sees a treaty as an important
opportunity for PEMEX to work with IOCs and gain expertise in deepwater
drilling, he wrote. For the first time in decades, the door to the USGs
constructive engagement with Mexico on oil has opened a crack. It would be
in our interests to take advantage of this opportunity.
Not long after Brown left his Foreign Relations Committee job, Goldwyn and
Brown co-authored a report for the Brookings Institution in August 2013,
Time to Implement the U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement
Congress: Drop the Poison Pill. The bill would pass months later and be
signed into law by President Obama.
They also co-authored a report a year later for the Atlantic Council,
Mexicos Energy Reforms: Ready to Launch. Goldwyn also published a
December 2013 Atlantic Council report, Mexico Rising: Comprehensive Energy
Reform At Last?, which came out just one week after Mexicos legislature
passed constitutional reforms opening up its oil and gas spigot to
international drillers.
Cashing In
Goldwyn, Pascual and Brown now stand to gain financially from the Mexico
energy reform architecture they helped envision and construct.
Goldwyn
Goldwyn works of-counsel for Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, a firm that helped
the Enterprise Product Partners become the first company to get a permit to
export processed oil condensate from the U.S. Department of Commerce in June
2014. In a biography appearing at the end of a September 2014 presentation
he delivered to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Sutherland
partner Jacob Dweck disclosed he is presently assisting clients looking to
export crude oil as part of an exchange or swap.
Doing a swap means exporting U.S.-produced crude oil to Mexico and trading
it with Mexican-produced oil, serving as a way to wedge open the door on the
current ban on U.S. oil exports.
Dweck and his Sutherland colleague Shelley Wong both sat on the Brookings
Institution Crude Oil Task Force co-chaired by Goldwyn. All three of them
contributed to a September 2014 Brookings report calling for increased
exports of U.S.-produced crude oil, which was written in reaction to another
report they funded and released simultaneously written by National Economic
Research Associates (NERA).
Just months later, Columbia Universitys Adrián Lajous released a 13-page
white paper calling for U.S. crude oil exchanges with Mexico. In the
acknowledgements for the paper, he thanked Dweck for comments and
suggestions that helped improve it.
Pascual
Pascual now sits as a Fellow at an outfit many believe is industry-funded,
but which does not disclose its funding on its website: Columbia
Universitys Center on Global Energy Policy. The Center does, however,
disclose it welcomes support from corporations. Both officials at Columbia
and its spokesperson at BerlinRosin did not respond to repeated requests for
comment on funding sent by DeSmog.
Besides Columbia, Pascual also works as Senior Vice President of Global
Energy Affairs at IHS Inc., a for-profit consultancy business that provides
analysis on behalf of corporate clients.
IHS has a unit devoted to evaluating future options in Mexico with a
scenarios-based approach built on quantitative and qualitative data to help
shape a successful upstream entry strategy for Mexico that centers on the
clients specific needs, its website explains. A variety of foreign
companies ranging from the Majors to Independents to service sector firms
are expressing interest in capitalizing on Mexicos largely untapped
resource potential in six major plays, including: deepwater, offshore gas,
shale and marginal PUDs in conventional areas.
The Center on Global Energy Policy has also proven a friendly forum to
promote energy reform efforts, which has both published pro-reform reports
and also housed panels on the topic. Adrián Lajous, another Fellow at the
center, formerly served as CEO for Pemex and wrote his own pro-reform paper
in June 2014 bankrolled by none other than Goldman Sachs.
Pascual recently testified in front of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs
Committee in support of energy reform efforts in Mexico wearing his IHS Inc.
hat, with his placard referring to him as Ambassador Pascual.
Carlos Pascual; (U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee)
He had previously done the same thing on multiple occasions as head of the
State Departments Bureau of Energy Resources when he was officially serving
as an Ambassador.
Pascual denied comment for this story. But Jeff Marn, energy and natural
resources spokesman for IHS, told DeSmog We do research on several topics
around the world, energy among them. But we dont have a stake in any
development or outcome.
IHS, though, does take huge batches of industry funding for its reports. A
case in point: its two recent studies on U.S. oil exports, both of which
were funded by companies ranging from ExxonMobil, Chesapeake Energy,
ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Halliburton and many other companies.
Brown
KKR, where Brown now works, has already put its feet on the ground to profit
from energy reform efforts in Mexico. This may explain why Brown and
Petraeus co-wrote a July 2014 opinion piece published by the Houston
Chronicle titled, Mexicos miracle: Political productivity.
Neil Brown; Photo Credit: Twitter
In December 2014, Petraeus and colleagues from KKR took a trip to Mexico and
expressed excitement over the promise that the financial community sees in
this country.
Obviously were looking very closely at the energy space, upstream and
downstream production, the entire gamut of that, Petraeus told Bloomberg at
the time.
His trip to Mexico came just two months after he co-authored a CFR report
with Robert Zoellick (former head of the World Bank, now a chairman of
international advisors at Goldman Sachs) calling for the integration of
North Americas energy markets.
Just months later, KKR announced the launch of a joint venture with Monterra
Energy, a new start-up created in the aftermath of Mexicos energy reforms.
KKR will serve as financier for the development of midstream oil and gas
assets (like pipelines and related delivery infrastructure) owned by
Monterra in Mexico.
Brown and KKR did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Integration
Integration is where the story comes full circle. In March 2009, Lugar
introduced legislation that would create a Western Hemisphere Energy
Cooperation Forum, a concept recycled from section six of the initial
Energy Diplomacy and Security Act.
That Forum, had the bill passed, would have served to strengthen
integration among countries in the Western Hemisphere through closer
cooperation. It was lobbied for by Marathon Oil, one of only 26 companies
approved to bid for shallow water oil and gas reserves in Mexico during its
recent July auction.
Lugar introduced the concept of the Forum, like the International Energy
Coordinator idea, during his 2006 Brookings address moderated by Pascual.
energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/04/f22/QER_Ch6.pdf
energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/04/f22/QER_Ch6.pdf
Image Credit: U.S. Department of Energy
Although it never became a piece of congressional legislation, it did become
the de facto law of the land as a chapter in the U.S. Department of Energys
recently-released Quadrenial Energy Review (QER).
Most recently, Goldwyn, Pascual and Brown all sat on Atlantic Councils Task
Force on the U.S. Energy Boom and National Security. That Task Force,
co-directed by Godlwyn, released a report pointing to the QER to advocate
for infrastructure and policy integration with Mexico.
Climate of Profit
view this map on LittleSis
Hillary Clinton recently released her energy and climate plans for her
presidential campaign, lauded by some.
But to date, she has not commented on the energy reform efforts in Mexico
her State Department helped spearhead, which will usher in more deepwater
offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore fracking in Mexicos
portion of the Eagle Ford Shale basin. It will also flood the electricity
grid with fracked gas emanating from the U.S., a fact proudly proclaimed by
Goldwyn and the U.S. Department of Energy.
[A]s secretary of state, we know that there was quite a revolving door
between the oil and gas lobby and her people at State and on her previous
campaign staff, Naomi Klein, author of the book This Changes Everything:
Capitalism vs. the Climate, said in a recent appearance on Democracy Now!
And I think theres real reason for concern about whether or not she would
be willing to stand up to the oil and gas lobby on Keystone, on Arctic
drilling, [or] on any
other issues.
One thing appears certain: those who laid the groundwork for energy reforms
in Mexico have created a perfect climate to profit from the fruits of their
labor.
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