By William Ashford
Political lobbies are deeply ingrained in the American political system. From technology to pharmaceuticals, corporations and political action committees (PACs) strategically fund policymakers to bend their will into opposing progressive legislation, and in doing so, fighting public opinion.
Despite overwhelming public support for policies included in legislation like Build Back Better, corporate bribing blocks favorable clean energy bills (Center for American Progress, 2021). In 2021, a staggering 60% of American voters supported the Green New Deal, and a mere 29% opposed it (Deiseroth and Blank, 2021). Despite this, the Senate defeated the bill, as all Republican senators voted in opposition along with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. This opposition was in direct violation of the support of their constituents. Manchin has continued to oppose climate legislation while he makes over $2 million from oil, gas, and mining lobbies over the course of his career (OpenSecrets, 2022). The massive quantity of fossil fuel money he has received throughout his time in politics explains his opposition to the voter-backed policy.
Oil, coal, and gas companies inevitably destroy climate legislation and corrupt politicians. Manchin isn’t the only one. According to a report from InfluenceMap, in the three years following the 2016 Paris Climate Accord, major oil and gas companies, such as Big Oil (ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP and Total), invested more than $1 billion in greenwashing campaigns and global lobbies (Maloney, 2021).
These American oil giants spent a combined $452.6 million on congressional lobbies from 2011-2021. Despite their public campaigns to portray themselves as progressive, these same companies devoted less than 0.4% of their lobbying money toward carbon pricing legislation (Maloney, 2021). Since 2015, Big Oil devoted only 0.17% of lobbying in support of the Paris Climate Accord legislation, and in fact, directed over 56% of their total lobbies to lowering their taxes (Maloney, 2021).
These supermajors are incredibly strategic in their approach to block climate legislation, as they disproportionately lobby Republicans to win over congressional support and pressure politicians of that party to back it with their votes. During the 2020 election cycle, Republicans received $63 million in lobbying money from oil and gas companies compared to Democrats’ $12 million (Sönnichsen, 2021). Since 1990, oil and gas lobbying money for Democrats has consistently hovered between $4 million and $12 million, while Republican lobbying money started at $7 million and has multiplied by nearly nine-fold to the $63 million seen in 2020 (OpenSecrets).
Big Oil and other fossil fuel industries are blocking progressive legislation designed to improve the lives of Americans and combat the climate crisis. In the search for massive profits, fossil fuel lobbies have created a political system that prevents progress and bribes political parties to cater to their own material wealth.
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