U.S. Energy Policy…Brought to You by ExxonMobil

[FBaggins]

Every time oil and gas prices jump, as they have in the past year, a great cry goes up: If only America had an energy policy. Well, we do have an "energy policy," it's just being directed by ExxonMobil (XOM), not Washington, D.C., according to Steve Coll, president of the New America Foundation and author of Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.

"They're closer to a consistent source of energy policy than the federal government in part because of their scale," Coll says, noting the company's roughly $450 billion in annual revenue dwarfs the annual budget of the Department of Energy, which was $27 billion in fiscal 2011.

Because of their consistent long-term strategy, Exxon has been able to "achieve their objectives much more successfully than presidents who come and go declaring they're going to end our dependency on foreign oil," he says.

...snip...

Should Mitt Romney take the White House and/or Republicans gain further control of Congress, Exxon won't have much to worry about it. But if Obama wins reelection or other issues with fracking arise -- Coll notes other drillers aren't as safety conscious as Exxon has been since the 1989 Valdez disaster -- Exxon will face big political and regulatory challenges. That's especially true given Exxon is the face of 'big oil' and decidedly partisan in its corporate giving.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/u-energy-policy-brought-exxonmobil-124630698.html