7-2-09 by dugan
Here’s a great explanation, copublished by Greenwire and the New York Times online, of how the oil and energy industries steadily weakened the big climate change bill in Congress, and why they expect even more energy-friendly goodies from the Senate. All it took was tens of millions of dollars worth of lobbying, and uncountable millions more in advertising greenwash. Pocket change to them, and an insurmountable barrier to consumers or even the biggest environmental groups.
Lots of us saw the lobbying at work, but Greenwire writer Anne Mulkern puts the numbers together:
For the 10 energy interests analyzed, the oil and gas industry led
the pack on spending. It shelled out $44.5 million [for all Congressional lobbying] in the first three
months of this year, compared with $30.1 million spent in the same
quarter in 2008.For all of last year, oil and gas spent $130
million, at the time a record for the industry. If the pace set by this
year’s first quarter continues, it would result in a $178 million
lobbying total for the year.Exxon Mobil Corp. spent the most
within that group, paying $9.3 million on lobbying the first quarter of
this year. Last year the company spent $29 million, its highest level
ever.
In the same article, Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen explains how the lobbying cash is only one piece of the companies’ spending to influence public policy:
"It’s influence peddling. What you’re doing is trying to purchase
influence," said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public
Citizen, a watchdog group. "Most of the time there’s a positive return
on your investment."But lobbying is only part of the influence
effort, Slocum said. Groups also lavish money on advertising, which is
not counted as lobbying unless it is for or against a particular
candidate or ballot measure. And those with policy interests give money
to political campaigns. Those contributions help open the door to
company lobbyists, Slocum said."Money buys you access," Slocum said. "That is exactly why they do it. It’s an investment."
By way of comparison, the whole wind energy industry spent $1.2 million on lobbying, and the biggest environmental lobby spending listed, by the Nature Conservancy, was $670,000 or $850,000. depending on how it’s counted. Even the industries that spent less on direct lobbying this year kept up their lavish image-advertising (i.e. greenwash) budgets. The American Clean Coal Electricity trade group, for instance, spent just $360,000 on lobbying in the first quarter. But, as the story notes,
"It has also been
behind a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign promoting coal both
as cleaner and as the backbone of American energy. "We think that
public opinion plays a key role in shaping public policy," spokesman
Joe Lucas said. "We have been very successful in shaping the public
debate."
Describing what the coal industry is doing as "public debate" is spin of the first order, of course–starting with the oxymoronic "clean coal."
The big energy industries are not satisfied yet, and still uniformly oppose the House version of the climate bill. They’re expecting better from the even more corporate-friendly Senate, where the lobby spending will start all over again. As a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute put it, "We would certainly hope the Senate would take a more balanced approach."
The more dollars these industries put on the scale, the more it tips toward their interests.
So the next time you hear a multimillion-dollar lobbyist saying he’s just there to "educate" members of Congress, think what that kind of money buys in the way of pupil obedience.