The oil and gas industrien, one of the most powerful corporate forces in American politics, has spent more than $200 million over the past year and a half to stop Congress from slashing carbon emissions as evidence of their catastrophic impact—from deadly heatwaves to massive wildfires—continues to accumulate in bedøvelse mode.
Dette topline-estimat af fossilindustriens lobbyudgifter og udgifter til kongresvalg i USA blev beregnet af Climate Power, som udelukkende leverede sine resultater til Fælles Dreams.
Nearly 80% of the industry’s campaign donations during the time period examined went to Republican candidates, according to Climate Power, whose analysis draws on data from OpenSecrets.
Indtil onsdag aften, hvor Senatets flertalsleder Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) og senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) annonceret en overraskelsesaftale på klimainvesteringer så det ud som om, at industriens indflydelseskampagne havde givet fuld pote, efter at have hjulpet krater Demokraternes gennemgribende Build Back Better-pakke.
Earlier this month, Manchin—the leading individual recipient of oil and gas industry cash in Congress—informed the Democratic leadership that he would not support moving ahead with renewable energy spending as part of a less ambitious bill, an apparently fatal blow to the hopes of climate action this year and possibly years into the future.
Manchin ser i øjeblikket ud til at have vendt kursen og indgår en aftale med Schumer, der indeholder en historisk $ 369 milliarder i klima- og energiforbrug, herunder milliarder til at fremskynde landets haltende overgang væk fra fossile brændstoffer. Hvis det accepteres af alle 50 medlemmer af Senatets demokratiske caucus, forsoningsregning kan bestå uden GOP-støtte.
Schumer, who said the measure would put the country “on a path to roughly 40% emissions reductions by 2030,” announced that he expects a vote on the legislation by next week. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), a key swing vote, has not commented on the deal.
Det fortalte Noreen Nielsen, seniorrådgiver for Climate Power Fælles Dreams at med den nye ramme, "blev der sendt et stærkt signal om, at dybe lommer kun går så langt."
“Democrats took their biggest step ever towards showing that politicians who protect profiteers fleecing Americans at the pump are on the wrong side of history,” said Nielsen. “All the money in the world couldn’t stand in the way of an agreement to move forward on a bold plan to ramp up American-made clean energy, lower energy bills for families, and take on climate change.”
But while climate advocates welcomed the proposal overall as a potential game-changer for the environment, they also stressed that the deal is littered with the fingerprints of the oil and gas industry, which—according to Climate Power’s new analysis—has spent $63.5 million on lobbying so far this year.
As part of the agreement, Democratic leaders—including Schumer and President Joe Biden—agreed to reform the regulatory process for pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure in the coming months, a victory for Manchin and his industry backers.
Sådanne reformer kunne rydde vejen for Mountain Valley Pipeline, et fracked gas-projekt i West Virginia og Virginia, som, hvis det blev fuldført, ville spytte ud 89,526,651 tons af drivhusgasemissioner til atmosfæren hvert år.
Jamie Henn, direktøren for Fossil Free Media, sagde sent onsdag, at det "påhviler enhver grøn gruppe og klimaaktivist" at "kæmpe som helvede for at sikre, at Mountain Valley Pipeline aldrig bliver bygget."
"Ingen samfund bør ofres for politiske gevinster," tilføjede Henn.
Lovforslaget i sin nuværende form ville også Mandat salg af leje af olieboringer ud for Alaskas kyst og i Den Mexicanske Golf.
Climate Powers analyse af Big Oil-lobbying og Schumer-Manchin-aftalen kom, da fossile brændstofgiganter begyndte at rapportere deres overskud for andet kvartal af 2022.
Tidligt torsdag, Shell annoncerede a record-shattering $11.5 billion in profits for last quarter. ExxonMobil—which is also forventet to announce a profit surge—and Chevron are set to report earnings on Friday as the industry continues to exploit Russia’s assault on Ukraine to push up costs for consumers.
Ifølge en studere offentliggjort i sidste uge, har den globale olie- og gasindustri indtjent næsten 3 milliarder dollars i overskud om dagen i løbet af de sidste fem årtier, som den har sået desinformation om dets centrale ansvar for klimakrisen og ihærdige bestræbelser på at imødegå destruktiv opvarmning.
Med ord fra Aviel Verbruggen, undersøgelsens hovedforfatter, har disse svimlende overskud givet fossilindustrien muligheden for at "købe enhver politiker" og "hvert system."
"Jeg tror, det er sket," fortalte Verbruggen The Guardian.
ZNetwork finansieres udelukkende gennem sine læseres generøsitet.
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