Although we Americans, starting with the Founders, have eschewed the European tradition of titled nobility, we have still produced our share of political dynasties. In the early years, there were the Adamses (John and John Quincy) and the Harrisons (William Henry, John Scott and Benjamin). Later, the presidency was occupied by men from two branches of the House of Roosevelt.

Today, there is an American political dynasty whose members have sat in both Houses of Congress, held the position of Ambassador, and occupied the Oval Office. This a family has also made, and continues to make, a substantial amount of money in the oil business. Their oil holdings are spread across several states, and are derived from mineral rights. They don’t own the land being drilled for oil, just the oil itself (and presumably any other minerals that could be extracted). The land owners, far less well off than this family, have received only small amounts of money from the sale of the oil extracted from the respective patches of ground on which they live. What is also interesting is that while their some of their oil holdings are in the South, and some members of the family actually live there, they are firmly rooted in New England.

No, this oil-rich family is not named Bush. It is named Kennedy, and they have been in the oil business for a long time.

As reported in the Corruptapedia:

The Kennedys’ began their business in oil in the 1950 when Joe Kennedy purchased Arctic Oil. He then purchased Kenoil and Mokeen Oil Company in 1961. They then acquired mineral rights to hundreds of properties throughout the nation from mostly poor farmers who at the time didn’t know what mineral rights were. The Kennedy family receives heavy profits from these investments.

In the late 1970s Kennedy was upset over what he called “excessive profits by oil companies.” He led the battle in the Senate to end the tax loopholes in the oil industry. This was the central pillar for his campaign against Carter who challenged Kennedy for the Democratic nomination. Kennedy claimed that Carter was out to “boost the already ample profits of the oil industry, put millions of consumers through the wringer, and sharpen the class division in our society.”

To punish the industry for its “greed” and cut back on the “excessive profits,” Kennedy led a drive to kill the 22 percent depletion allowance for oil companies, claiming that the tax breaks amounted to welfare. But, when Kennedy wrote this legislation he drew a very peculiar distinction between “small struggling oil producers” and the “already cash-rich companies.” Larger companies lost their tax shelters, while smaller companies were untouched. The tax bill draw that line placing the Kennedy oil companies under the category of “small struggling oil producers” despite their multi-million dollar revenues. Thus, the Kennedys continued to receive their “welfare.” Moreover, the Kennedys have managed to not pay their share of taxes on their oil profits. The family came up with the ingenious idea to convert their corporate oil holdings into a so-called “royalty trust.”

The Kennedys started the Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership for their oil profits in Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, Texas and Delaware. This prevents the Kennedys from paying any corporate taxes or income tax. Instead a flat fee of 15% of capital gains.

While the Kennedys are not in the same class as Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco, Citgo, etc., they still would have benefitted from the recent rise in the price of crude oil, not to mention gasoline and diesel. So when Fat Teddy and his nephews start to rant against “big oil” and opposed any new drilling or refinery construction, are they really concerned about excessive profits or the environment, or are they worried that and increased supply of crude will reduce the per-barrel price, and in turn reduce their profits?

Wicked Local adds:

The Kennedy clan has made millions for their Trust, located on Fiji, from oil profits. Also, thanks to legislation passed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership is unaffected by the elimination of the 22 percent Depletion Allowance that Big Oil used to be able to claim on their taxes. The Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership is also safe should the Windfall Profits Tax be reinstated, as some in Congress are now calling for.

An added bonus for environmentalists like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is that they need not fear anything by reading too much into the name Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership as the Kennedys in congress have no intention of allowing the competition to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr. enjoys a piece of the action from the family gas and oil interests none the less.

Of course, as a private citizen, his finances are off the record. However, the most recent Financial Disclosure Statement on hand at the Legislative Resource Center shows that his cousin, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D- R.I., has oil and gas interests with Arctic valued at $50,001-$100,000 with a reported income for the year 2006 to be between $15,001 and $50,000.

Fiji?!? Yes, folks, the Kennedy oil trust not only avoids American corporate taxes, but is not even officially located in America! However, they do have this web page, which does not include any clickable links.

The Boone Report, referring to Peter Schweizer’s book Do As I Say (Not As I Do) also mentions some of this information, as well as other environmental hypocrisy from Fat Teddy:

In 2003 a group of investors announced plans to build wind turbines off Cape Cod. The windmills were designed to replace a polluting coal-fired electrical plant in the area. Both the Army Corps of Engineers and major environmental groups endorsed the project.

The wind turbines would be located a few miles from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, in one of the family’s favorite sailing and yachting areas. Sen. Kennedy strongly opposed the project, and unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation to have it stopped.

Waiter, I’ll have the petro-hypocrisy special, with a side order of NIMBY-ism.