WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- Democratic lawmakers in the United States introduced a measure that would require oil companies to reveal how much they spent on campaign contributions.
U.S. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Rush Holt, D-N.J., and Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., introduced legislation that would require oil companies to disclose campaign contributions made during the last five years.
"This bill simply says that, if big oil companies want to drill on more of America's public lands, they owe fair compensation to the American people," Holt, ranking member of the House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, said in a statement. "They should disclose, clearly and publicly, the money that they are spending to influence our political debate."
A package of seven bills passed through the U.S. House of Representatives on its way to the Senate last week as the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act. The measures aim to increase the amount of federal land, including Alaskan reserves, open for oil and natural gas exploration.
