lobbying
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Where will the money for public investment come from?
As I said the other day, I’m going to be asking a few questions about cap-and-dividend. Today’s question is about public investment. As people around here have heard a million times by now, climate policy is a three-legged stool: carbon pricing, public investment, and regulation/regulatory reform. All of these will be necessary given the size […]
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Full frontal scrutiny
The current Consumer Reports has a quiz to help educate readers about those benign-sounding industry-funded front groups. As CR writes, “You think Americans for Balanced Energy Choices tout solar power? Nope.” Match the groups with their missions (click to enlarge, answers below): Even better, CR has set up a website with the Center for Media […]
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Why did McCain sell out to Big Oil? Ask Charles Keating
John McCain’s new coziness with Big Oil is in many respects just a replay of his old coziness with Charles Keating. In both cases, money and access bought influence. Let’s start with oil. Last month, Time reported that McCain tapped a “prominent Washington lobbyist,” William E. Timmons, Sr., to run his transition, should he win […]
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Texas Rep. Joe Barton kills effort to clean up power plants
In 2003, a Dallas Morning News editorial dubbed Republican Congressman Joe Barton “Smokey Joe” for his efforts to protect Texas polluters from pollution control requirements. Now Smokey Joe is at it again. He has blocked an attempt in Congress to make at least some progress towards cleaning up coal-fired power plants. The issue involves a […]
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Guess which ‘alternative energy’ lobby is biggest?
Between the start of the year and June 2008, the oil and gas industries spent $52.21 million lobbying Congress. Alternative energy industries spent $11.39 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And look who’s tops on the alternative energy lobbying pile, with more than double the expenditures of the next on the list: American […]
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What do oil lobbyists think about drilling for oil?
Here, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell discusses McCain’s plan to drill, drill, drill with RNC deputy chairman and McCain supporter Frank Donatelli: [vodpod id=Video.16091651&w=425&h=350&fv=config%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fmediamatters.org%2Ftools%2Fflash%2Fconfig%3Fid%3D462187] What Mitchell didn’t tell you: Before joining the RNC, Donatelli was a registered lobbyist. For whom, you ask? What type of clients? Three guesses! Oh, fine, you got it the first time: ExxonMobil […]
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Fossil interests plow money into Congress
Rich and thin is passé. What's hot now is rich and dirty.Why is a smart energy and climate policy so elusive for this country? In three words -- money, money, money.
The nation's energy bill is now about a trillion dollars. That means the super-rich fossil fuel companies have enormous profits they can spend on lobbying to ensure their continued dominance. How much? Jeff Goodell has the answer here:
In the first quarter of 2008, Big Coal's new front group, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, spent a record-breaking $1.9 million in federal lobbying expenses. To put that in perspective, in the same period, the Solar Energies Industries Association spent all of $75,000 ...
Individual coal companies have been even more generous to our nation's cash-starved policymakers:
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Lobbying for the enemy of the human race
Million here, million there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money: Peabody Investments Corp., a subsidiary of coal producer Peabody Energy Corp., spent nearly $1.3 million in the first quarter to lobby on issues related to the coal industry, according to a disclosure report. The company lobbied Congress on legislation involving renewable energy and energy […]
