… that one day, corporate executives will tire of being bullied by demagogic politicians. I was reminded of that dream by a press release issued yesterday by Sen. Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and long-time Republican major-domo on energy policy. Sen. Domenici asked the heads of the five largest oil and gas companies in America (BP America, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell America) to promptly send reports to his office “explaining” their individual corporate investment strategies with particular attention to their work in the “clean energy” sector.

In my dream, Senator Domenici would get a reply like this:

Dear Sen. Domenici:

We appreciate your interest in our corporate operations, but we are too busy at the moment to expedite your request as outlined in your letter dated April 30. You write in that letter that you are interested in a compilation of all previously released, publicly available data on this matter. Accordingly, we suggest that you put some staffers on the job and compile those reports for yourself. To help you on your way, you will find enclosed our 2007 Annual Report.

That having been said, Senator, we answer to our stockholders, not to you. Our investment strategy is our business, not yours. While we are happy to discuss our perspective on the energy market and the merits of existing and proposed public policy, we are not interested in encouraging the idea that our investment strategy is a legitimate matter of interest to the United States Senate.

Cordially,
Big Oil CEO

Alas, it is only a dream.