May, 20 2009, 11:59am EDT
Who Are The Top 10 Climate Lobbyists?
The Climate Lobby's Mushrooming Growth
WASHINGTON
As
Congress focuses this week on landmark legislation to reduce global
warming, nearly 140 new businesses and interest groups-- led by a
diverse array of technology firms-- have joined in the already intense
lobbying on climate change, according to The Climate Lobby's Nonstop Growth, a new analysis by The Center for Public Integrity.
Microsoft,
Google, and eBay are among the technology firms that helped drive an
increase of more than 14 percent in companies and organizations
lobbying on climate in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same
period last year, Senate disclosure forms show. The 880 firms and
groups that reported weighing in on climate policy are still dominated
by big energy producers and users; more than half are manufacturers,
power companies, or firms in the oil and gas industry.
California
Democrat Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, and his energy subcommittee chairman, Massachusetts Democrat
Edward Markey, move forward this week with a mark-up of the American
Clean Energy and Security Act. Their legislation seeks to curb the
global warming threat through a complex cap-and-trade system. In its
comprehensive analysis, the Center found that the interests weighing in
on this issue are more diverse than ever. Those groups include not just
technology firms, but food interests like the American Meat Institute
and the National Turkey Federation; consumer goods manufacturers like
Levi Strauss & Co. (active in a new business coalition organized by
the investor group Ceres); and alternative transportation interests
like Segway.
The Climate Top 10
The broad
interest in the legislation has provided a particular bonanza for a
small group of lobbying firms, some well-known, others less so. The
Center found that just 10 lobbying firms represent nearly 100 of the
businesses and interest groups seeking to influence the bill, including
some of the largest trade organizations and companies most active in
the debate. Led by Alpine Group and Ogilvy Government Relations, the
Center's Climate Top 10
have staffs replete with former government officials, and are a case
study in the tradition of Capitol Hill staffers graduating from their
public policy posts to serve as representatives for corporations.
The Center's latest piece is part of its ongoing investigative series, The Climate Change Lobby.
This project is generously supported by a grant from the Deer Creek
Foundation. In addition, organizational support for the Center is
provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Park Foundation, the Popplestone Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and many other generous institutional and individual donors.
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy. We are committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the United States and around the world.
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) brought the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act—which would prohibit the federal government from forcing journalists and telecom companies to disclose certain information, with exceptions for terroristic or violent threats—for a unanimous consent vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued Tuesday that passing the PRESS Act is "more important now than ever before when we've heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another," a reference to Republican President-elect Donald Trump's threats to jail journalists who refuse to reveal the sources of leaks. Trump, who has referred to the press as the "enemy of the people," repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to "kill this bill."
Cotton, who blocked a vote on the legislation in December 2022, again objected to the bill, a move that thwarted its speedy passage. The Republican called the legislation a "threat to national security" and "the biggest giveaway to the liberal press in American history."
The advocacy group Defending Rights and Dissent lamented that "Congress has abdicated their responsibility to take substantive steps to protect the constitutional right to a free press."
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Trump has picked Harmeet Dhillon as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. She has stated that it must be "made unsafe" for hospitals to provide trans care, and frequently shares Libs of TikTok posts. She intends to target trans people in blue states. Subscribe to support my journalism.
[image or embed]
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) December 10, 2024 at 8:14 AM
Reed continued:
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Reed also highlighted Dhillon's attacks on state laws protecting transgender people, as well as her expression of "extreme anti-trans views" on social media—including calling gender-affirming healthcare for trans children "child abuse."
Last year, The Guardian's Jason Wilson reported that the Center for American Liberty made a six-figure payment to a public relations firm that represented Dhillion in both "her capacity as head of her own for-profit law firm and Republican activist."
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