Monday, May 16, 2005

Well, they're bedfellows, though I can't say for certain whether it's particularly strange. The Boston Globe reports:

A company largely owned by the Saudi government has spent more than $1.5 million since 1998 lobbying Congress to shield the chemical industry from liability for damages caused by MTBE, a potentially cancer-causing gasoline additive that has seeped into water supplies across New England, according to federal documents....

... the industry -- helped by the House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas -- has maintained that it should not be obliged to pay for damages caused by a product used to meet a federal requirement for cleaner-burning gasoline.

DeLay is the chief proponent of a provision in the sweeping federal energy bill to relieve the MTBE industry of most liability for cleanup....


The Saudi company in question is called SABIC. To be fair, I should note this:

Delay has several companies that either make or use MTBE in his district. Those companies have contributed to his campaigns, although SABIC -- barred by law from contributing because it is foreign-owned -- has not done so, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

On the other hand:

The company, which has a member of the Saudi royal family as its chairman, has an office in Houston and a research and technology center in Sugar Land, Texas, DeLay's hometown and political base.

Oh. OK. Well, clewarly they'd be on the same side on this issue no matter what, but I bet that could come in handy for something....

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