API announces cuts

The American Petroleum Institute said about 40 employees would be departing as part of a restructuring designed to focus more attention on the oil group’s grassroots lobbying efforts.

The staff reductions affect approximately 15 percent of API’s total workforce and complete a re-organization new President and CEO Jack Gerard instituted after he arrived.

Previously, API had announced that four senior vice presidents would leave the group, including its longtime chief lobbyist, Jim Ford. Ford has been replaced with Martin Durbin, who worked alongside Gerard at the American Chemistry Council.

Gerard said he has sought to put a more “human” face on the industry, which faces a variety of challenges on Capitol Hill, from tax increases to a climate change bill designed to cut fossil fuel use.

It sponsored “Energy Citizens” rallies last summer to encourage employees to speak out against the cap-and-trade bills under consideration in Congress. API has also featured employees in fly-in days on Capitol Hill this year.