Just six months after nearly a million gallons of oil spilled into the Kalamazoo River in Representative Fred Upton's district, Representative Upton used his first day of the Congressional session to sit in the front row at an American Petroleum Institute (API) event this morning (via Brad Johnson of Center for American Progress).

If you're not familiar with API, they're an organization funded by Big Oil that lobbies to get the massive subsidies and loopholes the oil industry enjoys. And even more importantly for Rep. Upton, one of API's funders is Enbridge Energy Partners, the company responsible for the Kalamazoo River spill (the river which you still can't touch, because of that oil spill, by the way).

We hope Rep. Upton, as the incoming chair of the House Energy and Commerce committee, won't fall for Big Oil's spin -- but this front row seat to hear API's presser pushing corporate polluter propaganda wasn't a good sign.

January is the six-month anniversary of the Kalamazoo River oil spill, perhaps Rep. Upton should hold the oil industry a little more accountable for their lagging safety standards.

-- Heather Moyer