As toxic emissions from the Delaware City oil refinery continue to pose health risks to neaby residents, F Minus today called on New Castle County to cut ties with its lobbying firm Ruggerio Willson Watson becasue the firm also represents the refinery’s owner, the Delaware City Refining Company.
“New Castle County is perversely sharing a lobbying firm with a company that’s exposing county resident to toxic emissions,” said James Browning, Executive Director of F Minus and a former Mid-Atlantic Director for Common Cause. “The county should cut ties with this firm and adopt a policy of not working with firms who have fossil fuel clients.”
An F Minus review of lobbyist disclosures since 2023 finds Ruggerio Willson Watson lobbying on numerous climate bills with the potential to undermine the goals of New Castle County’s Sustainability Plan, such as accelerating the transition to renewable energy and halving the county’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. In 2025, the firm lobbied on HB 80, a bill to weaken the state’s renewable portfolio standard; in 2024, it lobbied on HB 248, a bill to better protect environmental justice communities from pollution; and in 2023, it lobbied on a proposed Constitutional Amendment that would create an inherent and inalienable right for all Delawareans to a clean and healthy environment.
A newly updated 50-state report card from F Minus currently gives Delaware a grade of D- for its lobbyist disclosure system, citing failures to require lobbyists to disclose their salaries or the positions they take on legislation on behalf of their clients.
Contact: James Browning, Executive Director, F Minus, james.browning@fminus.org