Analysis of sources of campaign contributions to members of Senate suggest Congress will be unlikely to take action on comprehensive climate legislation, indicates data collected by MapLight, a group that tracks money’s influence on politics.
Industries with interests in maintaining the status quo on greenhouse gas emissions — including chemicals, oil and gas, coal, airlines, and transportation — gave $25.1 million to Senators between January 1, 2009—December 31, 2012. Meanwhile interests in the environmental policy, alternate energy production and services, and nuclear energy sectors contributed $4.2 million during the period. In other words, top carbon-emitting industries gave near six times as much as industries that would support market-based climate legislation.
The findings, which are based on data from OpenSecrets, suggest that President Obama will have to follow through on this threat to advance climate policy without the help of Congress.
“I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change,” Obama said during a climate change policy speech today. “But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will.”
Contributions to Senators from Interests That May Not Benefit from Market-Based Climate Legislation, as defined by MapLight
| Gas & electric utilities | $3,185,646 | |
| Electric power utilities | $2,807,445 | |
| Chemicals | $2,162,603 | |
| Coal mining | $2,143,406 | |
| Independent oil & gas producers | $2,061,058 | |
| Major (multinational) oil & gas producers | $1,920,807 | |
| Oil & gas | $1,540,206 | |
| Oilfield service, equipment & exploration | $1,383,057 | |
| Natural gas transmission & distribution | $1,270,501 | |
| Petroleum refining & marketing | $1,242,672 | |
| Trucking companies & services | $1,225,107 | |
| Airlines | $1,196,573 | |
| Livestock | $1,162,062 | |
| Forestry & forest products | $1,048,825 | |
| Steel | $779,041 | |
| TOTAL | $25,129,009 |
Contributions to Senators from Interests That Would Benefit from Market-Based Climate Legislation, as defined by MapLight
| Environmental policy | $2,877,671 | |
| Alternate energy production & services | $1,092,770 | |
| Nuclear energy | $262,660 | |
| TOTAL | $4,233,101 |
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