On October 30, 2015, I wrote an article here about the Los Angeles Times and the California Resources Corporation, an Occidental Petroleum spinoff, teaming to create "Powering California," a Big Oil propaganda campaign website, as exposed by Clean Energy California.
You can read the entire article here: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/30/1442947/-LA-Times-and-Big-Oil-team-up-on-propaganda-website
The environmental group broke the story on their twitter page when they published a tweet from Western States Petroleum President Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create questionable "marine protected areas" in Southern California, touting the new site.
Reheis-Boyd tweeted, "Learn how California's #energy industry is quietly elevating the middle class & improving our quality of life: http://poweringcalifornia.com/"
The website, produced by a supposedly "independent" department of the Los Angeles Times, proclaimed: "California oil and natural gas mean growth. They mean jobs. And, Californians need ample, affordable and reliable energy to thrive – to power our homes, farms, businesses and schools, fuel our cars, and produce products that we need and use every day."
Well, I found out Friday that the Times is no longer producing or maintaining the website for “Powering California.”
On September 18, 2020, I emailed Hillary Manning. Vice President, Communications, of the Los Angeles Times, asking her whether the Times was still maintaining the California Resources Corporation's Powering California website. Here is her answer:
"No, the Los Angeles Times isn't maintaining or associated with the Powering California website at this point: https://www.crc.com/community-outreach/powering-california
We have not had a contract with the California Resources Corporation for a few years.
For reference, our current brand publishing projects (of which Powering California was for a time) are listed here:
Thank you, Hillary Manning”