Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Not wanting to take anything for granted, what with a Democrat in the White House and Democratic majorities controlling both houses of Congress, environmental groups decided in 2009 to ramp up their lobbying expenditures in order to push through legislation aimed at addressing global warming.
The problem was that the oil and gas industry countered with its own lobbying push—on steroids.
Last year, pro-environmental organizations broke their own record for lobbying by spending $22.4 million to influence the federal government. This amount represented double the average that they forked over between 2000 and 2008, according to OpenSecrets.org.
But the expenditure paled in comparison to what the oil and gas industry doled out in 2009: $175 million. Breaking their own record, these companies outspent enviros by nearly eight to one.
In fact, ExxonMobil singlehandedly outspent all the environmental groups put together, with a lobbying budget of $27.4 million.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Pro-Environment Groups Outmatched, Outspent in Battle over Climate Change Legislation (by Evan Mackinder, OpenSecrets.org)
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