The Houston Chronicle has revealed today that chicken magnate Bo Pilgrim:

“spent more than $9,000 on airfare in June so Gov. Rick Perry could attend a news conference promoting a waiver from federal ethanol mandates that Pilgrim wants.”

In addition, the Chronicle revealed that Pilgrim donated $25,000 to Perry just a month after the Texas Governor requested the RFS waiver from the EPA.

Remember, just a few weeks ago the Chronicle found out that Pilgrim donated a $100,000 to the Republican Governors Association — which Perry chairs — soon after the EPA waiver request.

This thing is like an onion, the deeper you dig down, the smellier it gets!

Here is some news by Dina Capiello, of the Associated Press, from today’s hearing in the Senate.  The lead of the story is:

“The Energy Department frowned on relaxing federal requirements to boost the use of ethanol in gasoline.”

Also mentioned in the story, Gov. Rick Perry was in town today pressing EPA officials to overturn the RFS.  No mention if Bo Pilgrim made any big donations to thank him.

This is an Austin Chronicle piece from 2000, about Bo Pilgrim, the man behind the ethanol scandal brewing in Texas.  It seems pretty clear from this article that ethanol opponents care more about money and power and careless about the environment or the fact that regular folks are paying more for groceries.  Read about Texas resident Susan Nugent:

Nugent sued Pilgrim a few years ago to recover the loss of some of her cattle, which were poisoned by excessive levels of arsenic after a flood washed chicken litter from Pilgrim’s chicken houses onto her land. She says that Bo Pilgrim believes he is “a law into himself.”

This morning, the Houston Chronicle uncovered a sleazy deal between Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) and William “Bo” Pilgrim, an East Texas poultry producer, to get the Governor to seek a waiver for the Renewable Fuel Standard from the EPA.  Pilgrim gave the Republican Governors Association — which is chaired by Perry – $100,000 just weeks before Perry took the action with the EPA.

“The donation, given March 31, also made it possible for Pilgrim to address nine Republican governors during a closed-door energy conference in Grapevine to explain his belief that ethanol production is driving up feed costs for poultry and livestock producers.”

Read the story. Be outraged.

UPDATE - THIS STORY IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON THE CHRONICLE WEBSITE