The oil and gas industria, 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 abraiante moda.
Esa estimación inicial dos gastos de lobby da industria dos combustibles fósiles e do gasto electoral do Congreso nos EE. UU. foi calculada por Climate Power, que proporcionou os seus resultados exclusivamente para Soños comúns.
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.
Ata o mércores pola noite, cando o líder da maioría do Senado Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) e o senador Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) anunciou un trato sorpresa sobre os investimentos climáticos, parecía como se a campaña de influencia da industria dera os seus froitos, xa que axudou cráter o amplo paquete Build Back Better dos demócratas.
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, polo de agora, parece ter invertido o rumbo, chegando a un acordo con Schumer que contén un 369 $ millóns en gasto climático e enerxético, incluíndo miles de millóns para acelerar a rezagada transición do país para afastarse dos combustibles fósiles. Se é aceptado polos 50 membros do caucus demócrata do Senado, o factura de conciliación pode pasar sen apoio do GOP.
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.
Noreen Nielsen, conselleira senior de Climate Power, dixo Soños comúns que co novo marco, "enviouse un sinal forte de que os petos profundos só chegan tan lonxe".
“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.
Tales reformas poderían despexar o camiño para o Oleoduto Mountain Valley, un proxecto de gas fracturado en West Virginia e Virginia que, de completarse, vomitaría Tamaños métricos 89,526,651 de emisións de gases de efecto invernadoiro á atmosfera cada ano.
Jamie Henn, o director de Fossil Free Media, dito a última hora do mércores que "corresponde a todos os grupos verdes e activistas climáticos" "loitar como o inferno para asegurarse de que nunca se constrúa o oleoduto Mountain Valley".
"Ninguna comunidade debe ser sacrificada por beneficios políticos", engadiu Henn.
O proxecto de lei, na súa forma actual, tamén o faría Mandato vendas de arrendamento de perforacións petrolíferas na costa de Alasca e no Golfo de México.
A análise de Climate Power do lobby de Big Oil e do acordo Schumer-Manchin produciuse cando os xigantes dos combustibles fósiles comezaron a informar os seus beneficios para o segundo trimestre de 2022.
Xoves cedo, Shell anunciado a record-shattering $11.5 billion in profits for last quarter. ExxonMobil—which is also esperado 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.
Segundo un estudar publicado a semana pasada, a industria mundial de petróleo e gas obtivo case 3 millóns de dólares en beneficios diarios durante as últimas cinco décadas, xa que desinformación sementada sobre a súa responsabilidade central pola crise climática e os esforzos acumulados para abordar o quecemento destrutivo.
En palabras de Aviel Verbruggen, autor principal do estudo, eses asombrosos beneficios déronlle á industria dos combustibles fósiles a capacidade de "comprar todos os políticos" e "todos os sistemas".
"Creo que isto pasou", dixo Verbruggen The Guardian.
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