Environment
Security
The Fossil Fuel Industry Spent More Than $721 Million
During 2014’s Midterm Elections
The energy industry has always been a force to be
reckoned with when it comes to money in politics. But the environmental
movement’s money came closer to their donations than ever before.
The 2014 midterm
elections saw a wave of
Republican candidates elected and re-elected to federal office, many of whom
are now rearing to make the environment their first casualty of
the 114th Congress. As it turns out, the fossil fuel industry may have had
something to do with that.
Taking into account
direct contributions to individuals and groups, spending on television ads and
lobbying, the energy industry spent more than $721 million during the 2014
election cycle, according to an analysis released
Monday by the Center for American Progress.
That analysis —
conducted with data from the Center for Responsive Politics and Kantar Media
Intelligence — found that the industry as a whole gave $84 million to
candidates, political parties and Political Action Committees (PACs), spent
$163 million on television ads, and paid nearly $500 million to Washington
lobbyists in the two years leading up the elections.
Environmental
organizations also spent a great deal of money during
the 2014 midterm elections. However, the money was spent differently, and
altogether amounted to a fraction of energy industry contributions.
According to data from
the Center for Responsive Politics, environmental groups spent about $43 million on
lobbying, while individual candidates and PACs received a combined $11.7
million since 2012. Unregulated “soft money”
contributions made up the bulk of donations, with those groups receiving a
combined $87 million from
environmentalists. It is unclear how much the environmental movement spent on
television ads this year.
The Center For
American Progress’ report on fossil fuel industry donations did not include
soft money. However, the Center For Responsive Politicsestimates the
coal, oil and gas, mining, and electric utility industries gave about $55
million in soft money donations since 2012.
In 2014, the oil and
gas industry represented the fifth-largest lobbying
interest in Washington. Electric utilities were the
sixth-largest. The environmental advocacy industry did not crack the top 20 list.
The number of
environmental lobbyists’ clients in Washington also trailed the number of
energy industry lobbying clients. The Center for Responsive Politics notes that
the environment was the seventh-biggest issue this year in terms of the number
of lobbying clients, while energy and natural resources was the sixth-biggest.
And of course, the
battle of the billionaires: The anti-renewable energy Koch Brothers were
estimated to have spent anywhere from $100 million to $300 million on
the 2014 midterms through its various organizations, while environmentalist
(and Center for American Progress board member) Tom Steyer is said to have
spent about $74 million personally.
The energy industry
has nearly always been a force to be reckoned with when it comes to money in
politics. But even though the environmental movement’s money still lagged
behind the fossil fuel industry’s this year, it came closer to matching the
energy industry’s donations than ever before. In 2014 alone, the Center for
Responsive Politics put environmental political spending at around $83 million,
and fossil fuel spending at around $100 million. That’s a very small gap
compared to 2012, when it’s estimated that the fossil fuel industry spent $143
million, and environmentalists spent $16 million…
CREDIT: CENTER FOR
RESPONSIVE POLITICS
No comments:
Post a Comment