EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Barack Obama's Key Climate Bill Hit by $45M PR Campaign
Surge in oil, gas and coal industry lobbying against Democratic leadership on 'cap and trade' legislation
America's oil, gas and coal industry has increased its lobbying budget by 50%, with key players spending $44.5m in the first three months of this year in an intense effort to cut off support for Barack Obama's plan to build a clean energy economy.
US President Barack Obama during a tour of the solar array at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. (Photograph: Charles Ommanney/Getty Images) The spoiler campaign runs to hundreds of millions of dollars and involves industry front groups, lobbying firms, television, print and radio advertising, and donations to pivotal members of Congress. Its intention is to water down or kill off plans by the Democratic leadership to pass "cap and trade" legislation this year, which would place limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
A defeat for the bill would have global consequences. The international community is depending on America, as the world's biggest per capita polluter, to set out a firm plan for getting off dirty fuels in the months before crucial UN negotiations in Copenhagen in December.
Without such action, the chances of getting a deal that scientists say is vital to limiting dangerous climate change are much reduced.
Suzanne Goldenberg reports on US fossil fuel firms PR blitz Link to this audio
Those high stakes have intensified the fight for control over America's energy future. "There are an awful lot of people who have an awful lot to gain and lose and they have been acting accordingly," said Evan Tracey, founder of the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), who has tracked the proliferation of climate change ads.
But it is an unequal contest. Liberal and environmental organisations, as well as the major corporations that support climate change legislation, say they are being vastly outspent by fossil fuel interests.
"These guys are spending a billion dollars this year convincing Americans that they are clean, green, cuddly and warm," said Bob Perkowitz, founder of the eco- America PR firm. Perkowitz is to brief the White House yesterday on a new environmental messaging strategy. "The enviros are getting their message out, but they are being outspent by 10 to one." he said.On advertising, the ratio is about three to one. The oil and coal industry spent $76.1m on ads from 1 January to 27 April, according to CMAG data seen by the Guardian. Environmental groups, led by Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, the Environmental Defence Fund and the Sierra Club, spent $28.6m on ads in the same period, Tracey said.
Despite its global significance, the fate of the draft "cap and trade" bill now lies in the hands of just a dozen Democrats, who have yet to back Obama's energy transformation. The Democratic leadership cannot take their support for granted. Seven of those pivotal Democrats received campaign donations in excess of $100,000 from the oil and gas industry, coal producers, and electricity firms during last year's elections, according to an analysis provided to the Guardian by the Centre for Responsive Politics. Another two received more than $90,000 last year.
Environmentalists say those Democrats, who hold the balance of power on the committee, pose a far greater threat to the chances of passing climate change legislation than a full vote in the House of Representatives. "If they can get that bill through the subcommittee what is going to emerge is a piece of legislation," said Tony Kreindler of the Environmental Defence Fund. "So this is ground zero for the vote."
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
38 Comments so far
Show All"Next up is Lot 435, one lightly-used US House of Representatives. Can I get an opening bid of $100,000? Thank you, to the gentleman with the enormous stogie. Will anyone offer $120,000? Yes, thank you, uh, sir or madam, sorry but it's difficult to tell in that hazmat suit..."
Boatloads of money are now pouring into Madison Ave. to convince the public, and boatloads of money are now pouring into Washington DC to convince lawmakers that fossil fuel/nuclear produced energy is clean AND that single-payer medical insurance should stay "off the table".
Contact your two US Senators and tell them to support Obama's clean energy plan and to co-sponsor Senator Sanders' S2031 Single-payer legislation.
Tell your US Congressional Rep. to support Obama's clean energy plan and to co-sponsor Rep. Conyers' HR 676 Single-payer legislation.
Without clean air and affordable health care, the rest won't matter.
sorry you are mis-informed.
the bill to support is HR 676.
it is universal healthcare and dental care for all americans.
no less.
"America's oil, gas and coal industry has increased its lobbying budget... The spoiler campaign runs to hundreds of millions of dollars and involves industry front groups, lobbying firms, television, print and radio advertising, and donations to pivotal members of Congress. ... an intense effort to cut off support for Barack Obama's plan to build a clean energy economy."
The masters have spoken. Congress shall do their bidding. We, the people, are taxed without representation.
"The masters have spoken. Congress shall do their bidding. We, the people, are taxed without representation."
Yes, and the energy, banking and pharma corporations are represented without taxation. Pretty ironic, eh?
Every time I hear about 'clean coal' I just have to laugh. Then I think about the consequences of using this 'resource' and I have to cry. What a mockery of logic and of everything decent these companies represent. It's Reagan's 'bottom line' come back to haunt us every time we try to do something about this dreadful situation. I have known people high in the coal industry and they are not quite human. They are monsters, in fact, going against the survival of their species, and should be destroyed.
"America's oil, gas and coal industry has increased its lobbying budget by 50%, with key players spending $44.5m in the first three months of this year in an intense effort to cut off support for Barack Obama's plan to build a clean energy economy."
They'll be posting here soon.
The industry isn't stupid. Unless all of the capital development money is forced onto the usual impotent suspects (and I wouldn't be surprised!), I have a sense that a rapidly developing clean energy economy will crush the value of oil and coal straight up, before the carbon tax. Natural gas gets a lifeline.
Note how the American corporate media has sided with the oil, gas and coal industry. This article had to be published in the UK.
The reporter has been completely hoodwinked here. Or worse, deliberately misconstruing the climate change legislation dynamic. Waxman/Markey ACES Act represents too-little-too-late, half-measures enriching corporate polluters and failing miserably at an efficacious action in this rapidly closing window of opportunity to curb emissions before irreversible tipping points are triggered.
First, the Waxman/Markey ACES Act central premise of Cap and Trade has already been identified by the world's pre-eminent climate scientist (Dr. James Hansen) as the "Temple of Doom". Shouldn't his assessment matter here?
Second, Big Green environmental organizations are dependent upon corporate/foundation funding and are little more than corporate shills for cap and trade. They were for ACESA before the ink was dry, before major clauses were even drafted. Nobody, including this reporter, can find anything fishy here? Hmmmm....
Third, the best thing that could happen is this bill dies, and a much more effective bill gets introduced. Well, it has, but first, the public has to know the details --unfortunately, Van Hollen's Cap and Dividend bill has been ignored by Common Dreams.
That flagrant omission speaks volumes about where this reporting is leading us.
Somehow I expected more from this otherwise excellent news site.
Nicely summarized.
Poisoning the air we breathe is a crime against humanity. Hang the bastards!
poisoning the air, the water, the food, the consumer products....and demanding that no one dare interfere with their murderous mayhem.
Very Soon the breakthroughs in Clean Solar and Wind technology will make Clean and Renewable energy the only financially feasible answer. The increased clean power that will be produced will absolutely crush the dirty power industries that these people of greed and power stand for. With out subsidies Coal and Oil Nuclear power generation would be off the charts in costs. The costs to our health and to our environmental quality are not accurately reflected in their balance sheets, as it should be. As it stands now the cost is going up on a very steep curve. . Its time to publish just how much money in subsidies are being provided by the taxpayers for dirty power and what can we do to change this! Mik
If this bill passes, it won't accomplish anything except provide more revenue for government.
And we all know how efficient government is at wasting dollars, so you would like to give them more?
Cheers to Obama for fighting these bastards(big oil mobsters). What they do destroys the other 99 percent of us in the USA.
Obama needs to use his office to promote a radical overhaul of the rules of the game in the USA. We must end up with a country where doing good and beneficial things makes one wealthy not the other way around as it is today. The more environmental damage, the more people you kill, the greater damage you do the more money you can make presently-- this must change!
President Obama can use his office to super inform people and martial the power of the vastly greater numbers of us who will benefit by universal health care and shutting down fossil fuels once and for all. We can go to an all electric/hydrogen powered vehicles in as little as a few years with a massive government overhaul program. this would end our dependence on imported oil and enable us to use the money wasted on oil imports to further the conversion program. Within 4-6 years we could be completely off all use of oil products. We must legalize hemp farms so we can harvest the environmentally friendly oil and lubricant from hemp plants. Industrial hemp has so many industrial benefits it truly is a miracle plant!
Facilitate cooperative projects such as 10 blocks of residential houses purchasing super windmills that can provide all of their energy needs.
There is no end to the sports car supercharged power of electric/hydrogen powered vehicles. We have boundless lithium supplies as has been recently discovered and with advances in technology can end up using very little lithium per power cell. Also homes and cooperative energy projects can store electricity in the form of hydrogen and easily covert it back to electricity as it is needed. HHO (the product of electrolysis of water actually improves the atmosphere by adding oxygen which is decreasing especially in urban areas.)
Barack shouldn't hesitate he just needs to light the fire of the vast lobby of people and businesses that are gravely harmed by big pharma, big oil, big medicine big what-you-have-it they are all a bunch of trolls compared to the the super enlightened 99 percent of the rest of us working as an empowered group!
The way to save the American capitalist system is to stimulate spending. Every threat to the American capitalist system engenders new spending,for lobbying our representatives to protect the American capitalist system. That's good, right?
Just a NASA thought on climate
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/essd06oct97_1.htm
Waxman-Markey could actually work, and lower GHG emissions well below 1990 levels by 2050, with moderate or even positive effects on the economy.
http://www.wri.org/chart/emissions-reductions-under-waxman-markey-discussion-draft-2005-2050
The "new carbon taxes" ads I see on TV are just more neocon/ fossil lobby newspeak. Hire an actor to say "It will drive jobs offshore", even though she has no idea what "it" is.
And the blond with the funny walk in the black suit calls for more exploration and drilling when Big Oil has no such intention while crude is so cheap.
Waxman-Markey lays out a challenge and a road map to GHG reduction and energy independence.
I read the www.wri.org discussion and didn't find any useful information enclosed in that article.
While setting goals, my question would be:
1. Who is going to pay for this?
2. Who is going to collect revenue for this?
3. Is this going to be done only through government so that no trading houses can make large profits on this if enacted?
4. How is this supposed reduction going to be achieved?
5. Will this result in significantly higher energy bills?
Good questions, and everybody is still doing a lot of guessing. Check out Climate Progress. There is a lot of info (and conjecture) there.
Regarding higher energy bills, I don't want them any higher than hey are already, but its preferable to the "business as usual" scenario. I believe one of the purposes of the bill is to minimize financial upheaval as the conversion to a green economy is made.
How would this bill minimize financial upheaval?
I am all for renewable energy. Solar, wind, tidal, biofuels etc. I think it is only practical to do so as long as these are economically feasable.
As the sun seems to be sleeping yet, there is going to be a surge in energy demands just to keep homes heated etc. The trend has changed in temps, especially in the southern hemisphere which seems to be a prelude to the northern hemisphere. The ADO and PDO are both now in their cool phases. The normal cycling of temps to cool has started so it is very important to develop all forms of energy to keep the cost low enough so that it doesn't further jepardize economic recovery for the world.
I do not like the idea of trading houses making a fortune trading carbon credits.
I also do not like the idea of passing a bill that is impossible to achieve.
Do I understand you to say that we are about to experience global COOLING so we need to develop COAL and forget about controlling carbon? Rubbish is right.
Joe
Yes, you heard him right.
Rush and Rubbish believe we are in a deep freeze here!!!! And wait till he tells you who's behind it all!!
or, back to reality: We need to:
1. Cold Turkey kill all Coal plants
2. Kill all Nuke plants
3. Mandate rooftop, residential solar panels in all the southern states (owned not by corp cooks, but residents.)
4. Outlaw the private automobile
Or we can all die. Either way, I don't want lobbyists deciding our fate. It needs to be put to a democratic vote.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
JR of Climate Progress is on record criticizing the world's pre-eminent climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, (who first warned policy makers twenty years ago of the onset and consequences of Global Climate Change) . Hansen, for the last twenty years has been witnessing firsthand how science gets sidelined in the legislative process. JR felt Hansen shouldn't be commenting outside of the academic forum. Given few understand we are facing irreversible climate change consequences, Hansen, clearly, has a moral obligation to weigh-in publicly.
Turns out JR's hawking the benefits of the current Waxman/Markey bill called the ACES Act (enriching industry-because it was written by industry: Cap and Trade.
cap and trade deserves to be looked into... regardless of what mccain and obama think, carbon tax is worth fighting for tooth and nail. instead, they compromise --the political convenience twins john and barack--
they come at it already compromised even when we all know oil and gas and industry are going to fight either option. and carbon tax is the most likely to level the playing field., the best economic solution least corrupted by meddling political hustlers like J&B
double post deleted
1. This goes back up the thread a ways (Davian @ 3:21 p.m.) but I would appreciate a little more info on the better bill he references, Van Hollen's Cap & Dividend.
2. Since it's always seemed unlikely we will be able to defeat the fossil fuel interests directly it would perhaps be most effective to go around them. To do this we need to drastically decentralize energy production through universal net metering, plug-in hybrids, subsidies for solar or wind on as many school, business and residential rooftops as possible, farmers raising algae-based biofuels and so forth.
TJ:
You are a good man if you listen to Mr. Limbaugh. Myself, I can't stand to listen to him so I am not sure what he thinks the climate is doing.
Climate wise, we are in a cooling trend. Look at the data and you will understand this.
Cooling Trend? Ice Age?
Not over the last 100 years we are not. You have cherrypicked a couple of years since the searing 2005 temps. The famed North West Passage is wide open. Glacier ice mass is melting rapidly. The Antartic keeps losing ice shelves the size of states.
Actually I don't listen to Rush either, but since he also works for big oil and big coal I felt is was safe to assume that your positions are identical.
Where else could you get such misinformation except through the NeoCon Climate Denying Machine?
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
The big reason why coporation will not allow a strong green economy to exist is because it can't be deregulated. Now if there were a shortage of wind or solar, tidal power THEN they'd invest. We can't let go of our finite resources because the alternative is of great abundance.
Of course the agument will be made that the only reason we're aren't saving the planet is because there's no market for it.
TJ:
http://www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/AntarcticWilkinsIceShelf.htm
Reading my post I see nothing about an Ice Age....are you predicting one?
Searing 2005 temps? No...since 1998. And take a look at the anomaly please. IF the trend continues, in a few more years we will have lost all the heat we accumulated during the past 100. This is why it is called cycles.
Also please look at the mean ice extent in the Arctic.
Thank you
As ususal, It appears you're linking to Rubbish again,
Here's a real one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Report Card[26] presents annually-updated, peer-reviewed information on recent observations of environmental conditions in the Arctic relative to historical records. In 2008, there continues to be widespread and, in some cases, dramatic evidence of an overall warming of the Arctic system."
end quote.
The Antarctic is an average of 4 degrees hotter than it was fifty years ago. The air and water temps (not oil-company weather stations) show an overall increase in warming in the Artic as well.
If you read your posts from last week, as you know, you will see you stated that we will need more Coal to stay warm in the coming freeze.... etc etc. But now you've apparently forgotten that ice age ruse..... or decided that it's so far fetched that nobody's going to fall for it.
The poles are melting and man caused it. Global Warming is accepted by the science bodies of all the industrial countries including all the academies of science. Your sources are the only anomaly I see.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/14/magazines/fortune/globalwarming.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009051412
TJ:
The Arctic is NOT 4 degrees warmer. Go to Real Climmate for the long term study. It is less than 1C warmer, and actually colder in the eastern part.
Yes, I have a conern we are entering a mini ice age. And geologically speaking, we are due for a long ice age as the rebound in temps from the last one have appeared to peak.
Can we shut down all coal fired power plants. Not today we can't, as there are no alternatives presently in place.
The sun remains quiet, the oceans are cooling, the trend since 1998 is cooling. The normal cycles are happening.
These cycles are wrecking havoc on the models of climate and showing that there is much more to learn about climate.
Rubbish Man said:
"The Arctic is NOT 4 degrees warmer. Go to Real Climmate for the long term study. It is less than 1C warmer, and actually colder in the eastern part."
TJ says:
I never said the Arctic is four degrees warmer. You made that up. Re-read my post slowly and out loud to yourself. Don't you know the difference between the ANTARCTIC and the ARCTIC? If you can't even distinguish between those two, then how can you interpret scientific data?
You are unqualified to discuss this subject intelligently.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
TJ:
Me bad...I meant Antarctica. And it is NOT 4 degrees warmer even if I made the mistake.
Sir:
I do believe I am much more qualified than yourself as you make up data it would appear.
Some regions of Antarctica, particularly the peninsula that stretches toward South America, have warmed rapidly in recent years, contributing to the disintegration of ice shelves and accelerating the sliding of glaciers. But weather stations in other locations, including the one at the South Pole, have recorded a cooling trend. That ran counter to the forecasts of computer climate models, and global warming skeptics have pointed to Antarctica in questioning the reliability of the models.