The climate change lobby explosion, The Center for Public Integrity, February 25, 2009
…While the Obama team readies to take on the global warming challenge, the special interests that seek to derail, blunt, or tailor any new climate policy to their narrow agendas have already gathered in staggering numbers. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure forms shows that more than 770 companies and interest groups hired an estimated 2,340 lobbyists to influence federal policy on climate change in the past year, as the issue gathered momentum and came to a vote on Capitol Hill. That’s an increase of more than 300 percent in the number of lobbyists on climate change in just five years, and means that Washington can now boast more than four climate lobbyists for every member of Congress. Read more.
Photo by America’s Power/Flickr, Creative Commons.
Climate debate tests clean coal power, POLITICO, April 21, 2009
They’ve brought coal above ground.
They’ve put the black rock on billboards in swing states and splashed it on full-page ads in Roll Call and yes, POLITICO. They sponsored presidential debates on CNN, and their “clean coal” boosters were a fixture on the campaign trail. They’ve rolled out a series of TV spots from the firm that promised that what happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas.
As Butch Cassidy might say, “Who are those guys?” Read more.
Photo by NekoJoe/Flickr, Creative Commons
New groups join climate lobbying fray, POLITICO, December 28, 2009
The next round of the battle over climate change policy on Capitol Hill will involve more than the usual suspects — way more. Watch soup makers face off against steel companies. Witness the folks who pump gas from the ground fight back against those who dig up rock. And watch the venture capitalists who have money riding on new technology try to gain advantage in a game that so far has been deftly controlled by the old machine. Read more.
Photo by American Solutions/Flickr, Creative Commons
Mixing oil and politics is the formula for Newt’s “solutions,” The Center for Public Integrity, September 10, 2008
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich isn’t running for president this year, but due to a gusher of support for his campaign to promote opening up more offshore areas to oil drilling, he’s chairing the election season’s hottest conservative advocacy group.Read more.
Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo for Center for Public Integrity
A case of lowered expectations in the U.S., The Center for Public Integrity, November 9, 2009
Todd Stern received a standing ovation from fellow negotiators when he was introduced at this year’s first session of international talks to craft a new treaty to combat climate change…Since then, Stern has worked to lower expectations around the world for the kind of deal the United States is likely to accept. Read more.
Photo by Vattenfall/Flickr, Creative Commons
Toward a stalemate in Copenhagen, The Center for Public Integrity, November 5, 2009
In the poor, but mineral-rich mountains of the eastern United States known as Appalachia, coal millionaire Don Blankenship hosts a rally for “Friends of America” to hear country music and “learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your jobs.”…On the other side of the globe, aluminum billionaire Oleg Deripaska battles Australia’s program to address climate change as “destructive for jobs, destructive for new and existing investment.”..Around the world the story is the much same. Wherever nations have taken the first modest steps to stave off a looming environmental calamity for future generations, they’ve triggered a backlash from powers rooted in the economy of the past. Read more.