Senator Whitehouse Has Profited from Ownership in Global Warming Companies
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the United States Senator who has now delivered more than 80 floor speeches about the adverse impact of global warming, has himself benefited financially from ownership in the public companies that are among the leading producers of greenhouses gases. One company that he has had substantial stock ownership, Exxon, is second largest public company producer of greenhouse in the world.
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The 80 plus speeches given by the Senator was reported in Huffington Post.
According to a GoLocal examination of the Senator’s financial disclosure reports, Whitehouse owned Exxon stock both personally and realized benefits from a separate family trust that also owned stock in the mega-oil company. He was required to file RI Ethics Commission Financial Disclosure Reports in the late 1990s and early 2000s when he served as a top level staffer to then-Governor Bruce Sundlun and as Attorney General.
Whitehouse has had a distinguished career in government serving as a top gubernatorial aid, state attorney general, US. attorney and now U.S. Senator. He is widely recognized as a leading voice in Washington in the effort to curtail greenhouse gases.
Beyond his Exxon stock ownership, Whitehouse has owned tens of thousands of dollars in Duke Energy Stock, according to his 2013 filed United States Senate disclosure forms. Duke energy is a company still pushing for expansion of coal power plants. Duke Energy reported in its most recent annual report (2013), “In June, we put our $3.5 billion Edwardsport plant in Indiana into commercial service. This power station is the world’s largest of its kind and one of the cleanest coal plants ever built. It gasifies coal, strips out pollutants and burns the synthetic gas to produce electricity. After rigorous testing and tuning, Edwardsport should reach its full capabilities later this year.”
Whitehouse's economic interests over the past fifteen-plus years seem in conflict with some of his environmental pronouncements.
In December of 2012, as Whitehouse held stock in a company championing a new “world’s largest” clean coal plant, he was delivering a floor speech which challenged his Senate colleagues to take action and pushed for divestiture from fossil fuel investment by colleges and universities.
According to this report, Exxon is the 2nd largest producer of greenhouse gases of all public companies
Whitehouse's spokesperson said the Senator has been divesting himself of stocks tied to fossil fuels. However, his office has refused to say what stocks the Senator has sold. "The Senator divested his investments from fossil fuels during the past couple of years. He feels strongly about his work on environmental issues,” said Seth Larson, Communications Director for Senator Whitehouse.
In June of 2013, Whitehouse received the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s Leadership Award for his work to protect oceans and combat climate change. Just one of a number of environmental awards the Senator has received.
Exxon Stock Ownership Personally and Via Trust
Whitehouse's holdings in energy company and petroleum company can be tracked as far back 1998 through to his most recent U.S. Senate economic disclosure filings.
According to RI Financial Disclosure forms for the years 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001, Whitehouse reported stock holdings in leading petroleum companies Exxon, Phillips Petroleum, and Royal Dutch (Shell). These holdings were in addition to oil company stocks held by family trusts - specifically the Helen Chase Rand Residual Trust, which reported ownership of Exxon stock.
Whitehouse’s slow divestiture comes more than two decades after U.S. Senator John Chafee (R-RI) had divested in the 1980s from ownership in oil company stocks citing environmental issues. Exxon more than almost any other company is tied to the production of carbon emissions.
A 2013 report on Climate Change Study found that 90 companies around the globe were responsible for producing two-thirds of all man made carbon emissions. The greenhouse gas producers fell into three categories in the study and Exxon was second only to Chevron in the category of investor owned and state-owned companies. Exxon is responsible for producing 3.2% of all the CO2 and CH4 emissions from the year 1750 up through 2010.
According to financial records, beyond Whitehouse's holding in Exxon and other petroleum company stocks, he also realized investment interest income of greater than $5,000 from his Exxon stock. The financial disclosure reports only required disclosure of interest income above $5,000. It is unknown how much in interest income in total Whitehouse realized from his stock ownership while he has served in public office.
Whitehouse’s United State Senate Financial Disclosure Report for 2012 (filed in 2013) no longer lists Exxon as a stock that he personally owns, but it is unclear if the Helen Chase Rand Residual Trust that the Senator continues to benefit from has Exxon as a holding.
"I couldn't tell you about the status of the family trust, as I don't have that information at this time,” said Larson in a phone interview with GoLocal.
Editor's Note: A spokesperson for Senator Whitehouse provided an official financial disclosure form that includes the sale of Senator Whitehouse's Duke Energy stock in February 2013. As reported in the story, he held the stock through 2012.
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