Providing false testimony to Congress is punishable by up to five
years in prison


From Reuters, 11/16/05:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/16/news/fortune500/oil_execs.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

Did oil execs lie to Congress?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

Democrats asked the U.S. attorney general Wednesday to investigate
whether top executives from big oil companies lied to Congress when
they said their companies did not take part in Vice President *****
Cheney's energy task force.

Democrats and environmental groups have fought unsuccessfully to find
out which energy industry executives met privately with Cheney's group
in 2001 as it prepared a broad plan friendly to oil industry
interests.

Environmental groups said they were mostly excluded from the
discussions.

At a Senate hearing last week on record oil profits, Democratic Sen.
Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey asked five executives, "Did your
company or any representatives in your companies participate in Vice
President Cheney's energy force in 2001?"

Each executive answered the question in the negative.

However, The Washington Post reported Wednesday that a White House
document showed some companies did in fact meet with the task force.
It said the document showed officials from Exxon Mobil Corp.
(Research), Conoco (Research), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc.,
whose executives testified at last week's Senate hearing, met with
Cheney aides.

A Chevron (Research) official also testified at the Senate hearing,
but the company was not named in the White House document.

However, the Government Accountability Office has found that Chevron
was one of several companies that gave recommendations to the task
force, the Post reported.

In a letter to the attorney general, Lautenberg demanded an
investigation, saying the new information "casts doubt on the veracity
of some of these (executives') statements."

Providing false testimony to Congress is punishable by up to five
years in prison, Lautenberg said.

Setting record straight

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the executives
should return to Washington and set the record straight.

They should "be brought back to the Congress, sworn in, and forced to
testify again about their involvement with Vice President Cheney's
secretive energy task force and all of the issues covered in the
hearing," Reid said.

The chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, Republican Pete Domenici
of New Mexico, and the panel's top Democrat, Jeff Bingaman, also from
New Mexico, said Wednesday they will send a letter to the oil
executives and asked them to explain in writing the "apparent
inconsistencies" in their testimony.

The Cheney task force eventually issued a report calling for opening
more federal lands to drilling and other policies to help oil, natural
gas, nuclear and coal companies expand production.

Many of the recommendations were inserted into a Republican-authored
energy bill that became law in September.

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who chaired last week's
hearing, refused Democrats' demands that the executives be sworn in
under oath before they testified.

"I did not swear in witnesses that appeared before our committee
because they are required to tell the truth," Stevens said Wednesday.

"They are aware that making false statements and testimony is in
violation of federal law whether or not an oath is administered."

Lautenberg wants the Justice Department to find out if the executives
violated that law.

In a statement, Exxon said it makes its views on energy policy widely
known to various government officials every year, including in 2001
when the task force was meeting.

"ExxonMobil has repeatedly stated and ExxonMobil's CEO Lee Raymond
correctly confirmed in the recent Senate hearings that ExxonMobil has
not been a participant on the task force and did not meet with the
task force to discuss the provisions of the energy policy," the
company said.

The Washington Post said officials from four major oil companies met
in the White House complex with Cheney aides who were formulating the
Bush administration's energy policy.

The White House has refused to disclose information about the task
force, saying the meetings were entitled to confidentiality.

The Sierra Club and the watchdog group Judicial Watch sued
unsuccessfully to obtain names of task force members and to learn
about their contacts with industry executives.

According to the Post, a person familiar with the task force work said
Cheney met with John Browne, BP's chief executive, which is not noted
in the document.

_________________________________________________________

Harry

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who chaired last week's
hearing, refused Democrats' demands that the executives be sworn in
under oath before they testified.

"I did not swear in witnesses that appeared before our committee
because they are required to tell the truth," Stevens said Wednesday.

However, The Washington Post reported Wednesday that a White House
document showed some companies did in fact meet with the task force.
It said the document showed officials from Exxon Mobil Corp.
(Research), Conoco (Research), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc.,
whose executives testified at last week's Senate hearing, met with
Cheney aides.