House Natural Resources Chair’s Oil Stock Purchases Were Unusual For Committee
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) bought stock in a dozen mining, oil and gas giants two months before ramming an industry-friendly budget bill through his committee.
As the House Committee on Natural Resources debated its draft of an unprecedented budget reconciliation bill that would mandate a slew of new leasing for energy projects last week, Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) rattled off the record profits oil and gas giants raked in over recent years.
Then, she detailed some of Chairman Bruce Westerman’s recent stock buys — including shares in British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Shell.
“The corruption that is occurring is astounding,” Ansari said. “Not only will these billionaires and the CEOs of these companies be profiting, but the chairman of the committee responsible for overseeing this jurisdiction will be profiting from these giveaways. Meanwhile, Americans will continue to struggle and the rich will get richer.”
Two months ago, Westerman (R-Ark.) invested in a dozen titans from the industries that now stand to benefit from the Republican-dominated committee’s turbocharging of drilling on public land. The stock purchases — which also included dozens of other companies spanning the fields of high tech, biotechnology and financial services — went unnoticed until the hearing.
Westerman was not in the room when Ansari called him out, and did not speak to her remarks when he returned. He dismissed Democratic criticism in an interview with Politico the day of the hearing, saying that his broker bought the stocks without his input. “All purchases were made independently by the broker, and, upon learning of these new purchases, Rep. Westerman immediately directed his broker to divest from individual stocks and return them to a fund,” Westerman’s communications director, Kinsey Featherston, wrote in an email to Public Domain.
But both the timing and individual selections were unique, according to Public Domain’s review of the committee members’ disclosures. The vast majority of members who have filed disclosures within the last two years concentrate their investments in real estate and funds that track a market segment, rather than buying stock in publicly-traded corporations that may create a conflict of interest. (Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican, has bucked the wider trend, reporting several crypto currency purchases over the last two years.)
Westerman stands nearly alone on his committee investing in a large basket of individual stocks, disclosure records show. His stock purchases in March also marked an abrupt change in his investment strategy. He sold off stocks in publicly-traded corporations in 2017. By the following year, he reported all his financial assets as either cash or funds designed to track a market segment. Only nine of the committee’s 44 members held shares of stock in publicly traded corporations as of their last disclosure, though 12 members have yet to file their first annual statement.
Westerman was even more unique for buying shares of companies that in many cases develop resources on public lands, an area over which his committee has jurisdiction. He bought stakes in British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Chevron, Suncor and Canadian Natural Resources Limited in the field of oil and gas. He purchased stock in Emerson Electric Company, Siemens and Cummins — corporations that support the oil and gas supply chain. And he acquired shares in mining giants Freeport-McMoRan, BHP and Rio Tinto.
Each individual purchase was valued between $1,000 and $15,000 in March when he bought them, according to disclosure records, which report stock purchases in brackets. The total value for those energy and mineral holdings at the time was between $14,000 and $210,000.
By the time Westerman bought those stocks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had already made clear that the Trump administration would push to ramp up energy and mineral extraction on federal public land.
And companies like those stand to benefit from the budget bill that Westerman and his Republican colleagues rammed through the House Natural Resources Committee earlier last week, while largely stonewalling debate on amendments offered by the Democratic minority. The bill, which passed by a 26-17 vote, mandates a rapid pace of lease sales for coal, oil and gas, while reducing the royalty rate that private companies pay for the privilege of extracting resources from public land.
Three Republicans and one Democrat also reported owning shares of individual stocks in energy corporations on their most recent annual disclosure forms.
Rob Wittman (R-Va.), the committee’s vice chair, reported owning stock last year in Chevron, Dominion Energy, Exxon Mobil, NextEra Energy, WEC Energy and EOG Resources. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) listed her spouse as the owner of investments in Chevron, Duke Energy Corp, Dominion Energy, Exxon Mobil and Xcel Energy. And Rep. Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa) listed herself as a joint owner of stock in DTE Energy. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) reported owning between $15,000 and $50,000 in Emerson Electric Company.
Two Democratic members of the committee reported divesting of energy company stocks this year. Rep. Emily Randall (D-Wash.) sold between $1,000 and $15,000 in petroleum company Exxon Mobil shortly after starting her first term as a member of Congress. She reported that asset as belonging to her spouse. Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) sold a stake of similar value in First Solar, Inc. in March.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Emily Randall as a U.S. Rep. from Oregon. She is from Washington.