Now Pinch Hitting for Mitt Romney ... Big Oil!

On Wednesday, representatives from the presidential campaigns of both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will debate energy policy in Washington. A top surrogate from each campaign will outline the candidates' positions on high-profile topics like clean energy job creation, clean air safeguards, and new fuel efficiency standards.

And just a day after baseball's All Star game, Romney has chosen someone from a team of dirty energy all-stars to pinch hit for him.

For his part, Obama will be represented by Dan Reicher, the former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the Clinton administration, Stanford law professor, and clean energy advocate.

But Romney? Who's batting for him on energy policy? None other than a Big Oil lobbyist who sits on the board of directors for Shell.  

Pushing Romney's oil-above-all energy policy won't be a curveball for Linda Stuntz. A former Deputy Secretary of Energy under George H.W. Bush, she plays for Big Oil every day, whether it's as a lobbyist for BP and the Association of Oil Pipelines or on the board for Shell.

So, given the opportunity to send anyone in his stead to an energy debate, Romney sends a big oil lobbyist. The fact that his pinch hitter actually works for Shell may sound shocking, but anyone familiar with Romney's history could have guessed it. Mitt and the dirty energy industry have been on the same team this whole campaign.

Look at the facts: Oil and gas companies have directly given the Romney campaign more than $1.4 million, and Oil CEOs are dumping millions and millions more into Pro-Romney Super PACs to attack President Obama and push their reckless agenda. Candidate Romney, meanwhile, has named an Oil CEO (and campaign donor) as his top energy adviser and parroted big polluter talking points by attacking clean energy at every turn and pushing for policy that will ensure the largest oil companies still get billions in tax handouts every year.   

Now, one day after Shell has been named the WORLD's largest corporation, Big Oil is being given free rein to speak for the Romney campaign without even having to change uniforms.

-- Trey Pollard, Deputy National Press Secretary, Sierra Club

Paid for by the Sierra Club Political Committee, sierraclub.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.