Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) has repeatedly attacked, blamed, and condemned “big oil” for soaring gas prices while reportedly holding fossil fuel industry investments.
“Granite Staters are feeling the impact of high energy costs in their daily lives,” she wrote on Facebook in April. “That’s why I am working to hold Big Oil accountable and support critical investments in clean energy, so we can lower prices for Americans and increase our energy independence.”
In a campaign ad, she slammed Republicans for “defending Big Oil,” which she has claimed on Twitter caused inflation. “[Gen.] Bolduc would fight for Big Pharma & Big Oil, not Granite Staters,” she tweeted without presenting any evidence. “I’m working to hold corporate special interests accountable and lower costs on everyday goods.”
She has also accused “big oil” of price gouging customers, failing to not the Biden administration has succeeded in driving up private and public financing costs of oil drilling, halting drilling on public lands, and canceling the Keystone pipeline.
Throughout the last two years, Hassan has voted against American energy independence, while being heavily invested in the fossil fuels she has consistently voted against.
In 2021, Hassan voted three times against legislation to prohibit a ban on fracking. In 2021, she voted four times against advancing the Keystone XL Pipeline, killing about 11,000 American energy jobs in the process. Additionally, Hassan voted against Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) measure to increase domestic oil production and reduce gas prices.
Hassan’s attack on American energy independence comes as Hassan is reportedly heavily invested in the industry she condemns. According to the National Review:
According to her 2020 financial disclosure, Hassan has between $4,004 and $60,000 invested in fossil-fuel based exchange traded funds (ETFs) and stocks. Once her husband’s holdings are taken into account, she holds between $19,005 and $110,000 in such stocks and ETFs.
Specifically, Hassan’s portfolio boasts up to $80,000 in Alerian MLP, an ETF that includes stocks from a number of fossil fuel companies; up to $15,000 in iShares Global Energy ETF, which includes stock from Chevron, BP, and ExxonMobil; and up to $15,000 in stock in Energy Transfer LP, whose “core operations include transportation, storage and terminalling for natural gas, crude oil, refined products and liquid natural gas.”
Energy Transfer LP is also the operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which became a lighting rod for environmental groups. Its completion was briefly blocked by Barack Obama in the waning days of his administration before Donald Trump reversed the action.
Hassan is campaigning against Republican challenger Gen. Don Bolduc, who is leading Hassan by one point in the latest poll.
The New Hampshire Senate race is one of seven battleground states that will determine which party controls the Senate. To retake the Senate, Republicans need to hold Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and retake either Arizona, Nevada, Washington State, New Hampshire, or Georgia to have a one-seat majority in the Senate.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.