Cook defends her oil stocks

Huntington Beach Mayor and congressional candidate Debbie Cook is a prominent environmentalist and pointedly warns fossil fuel supplies are limited and will become ever-scarcer in years to come, with drastic consequences. She has spoken around the world as an environmental expert, calling a heavy reliance on oil and other fossil fuels dangerous in the long term.

But at the same time, she has invested in oil companies like Exxon-Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, according to economic interest forms filed March 25 with the City Clerk that council members must fill out.

Cook said it was old news about long-disclosed retirement accounts, and she dismissed the idea her investments might be hypocritical, saying the government retirement fund CalPERS had heavy investment in oil as well. She said oil companies weren’t the problem; it was people’s overdependence on a resource with a shrinking supply.

“I’ve never bashed the oil industry,” she said. “It’s absolutely essential to our economy. There are over 3,000 products it serves as the feedstock for. I’d like you to point to anyone in our society that doesn’t use oil.”

Cook’s Democratic primary opponent Dan Kalmick said he was surprised by the news and believed investments should reflect one’s beliefs.

“I own shares of Corning Glass because I feel Corning’s doing good work in environmental design,” he said. “I could easily go and start making money in oil stocks but I just don’t support the business practices of those companies. If somebody’s speaking out against something then their investment portfolio should reflect that.”

A spokeswoman for Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher declined to comment.

Cook said she did plenty to cut down on her energy consumption like installing solar panels and having a hybrid vehicle. She called those efforts a fairer way to judge her commitment to her ideals.

“We’re the problem because we’re the ones who use the energy,” she said. “I’ve done my part to reduce my consumption of energy: having one child, not eating meat, reducing my water consumption.”

In addition to those two companies, Cook also holds stock in oil-related companies BP, Chevron, Conargo and Schlumberger Ltd. Netherlands, in amounts from $10,001 to $100,000 each. The forms don’t ask for exact values, and those wide ranges are the only information allowed.

Cook also has $10,000 to $100,000 invested in “Power Shares Wilderhill Clean Energy Portfolio,” but she said it wasn’t a moral statement, just a part of her and her husband’s financial planning for retirement.

“I’ve told many, many people if they’re trying to make money on the stock market, then energy is the place to invest,” she said. “Everything we’re invested in, we expect to make money on.”