lobbying

Who Built Senator-Turned-Dirty Energy Lobbyist Trent Lott? You Did

Far too often in Washington, policy decisions are influenced by big money — wealthy corporations spend millions on lobbying, public relations, and campaign contributions to get their way. Big money helps explain why your cell phone and cable TV bills are so expensive, why small investors are still unprotected from Wall Street abuses, why taxpayers […]

Is the ‘obesity lobby’ winning?

A closer look at how lobbying from the processed food industry is reshaping kids' health -- literally.

Oil industry gives $12 million to pro-Keystone legislators

An independent research group has analyzed oil industry contributions to Congress, and figures that President Obama is staring down a $12 million barrel of political opposition on Keystone XL. Some of that is going out in huge chunks -- 16 Republican House members and one Democrat have received $100,000 or more in contributions from the oil lobby, and lo and behold, the representatives are all voting just the way their evil overlords would like them to. But the industry is also spreading the wealth around. A total of 118 House members list the oil and gas industry among their top 10 contributors, and most of them are toeing the line as well.

Update: An earlier version of this post had "anti-Keystone" in the headline because, I don't know, I'm an idiot? Anyway, PRO.

Lobbyists scoff at the idea of children’s health

The New York Times has a big article about the fight for ozone regulation, which apparently was pretty much EPA chief Lisa P. Jackson versus the world. It's an interesting meditation on the power of buzzwords — namedropping "the economy" and "jobs" helped neutralize support for the regulations, even though analyses showed that they wouldn't […]

Obama administration hires former TransCanada lobbyist

Apparently the Obama administration has given up on even pretending it can make an unbiased decision on Keystone XL. After hiring a TransCanada-affiliated firm to do the environmental assessment for the pipeline — a move so corrupt that even Congresspeople noticed — the administration has now taken on a former TransCanada lobbyist as a senior […]

Who’s behind the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance and why it matters

In response to Food Inc., Michael Pollan, and the growing interest Americans are showing in their food system, Big Ag has rolled out an expensive PR campaign designed as a "preemptive strike" against antibiotic and pesticide regulations.

Critical List: Canada’s pushing tar-sands oil; cutting methane also helps cut climate change

In 110 meetings over less than two years, the Canadian government tried to convince Europe to delay or derail legislative changes that could affect the imports of tar sands oil. Basically, Canada doesn’t want Europe to know how carbon-heavy the oil is, because that could affect U.S. and European imports. So they’re pushing it as environmentally friendly. Because hey, if you don’t know how dirty something is, maybe it’s clean!

We often talk about cutting carbon, but here's a reminder that cutting gases like methane and nitrous oxide can also slow climate change.

The EPA found that, left to their own devices, companies don't tell consumers that their processes release or their products contain chemicals harmful to children.

Critical List: Reid, enviro groups talk air quality; DDT in Africa

Harry Reid met with Big Environment last night to strategize a defense of the Clean Air Act. Politico says a key point of debate was whether enviros should go after errant, but potentially vulnerable Dems on green issues during the next election cycle. Senators rejected a bill that would have sped up oil drilling, then […]

Nisbet is wrong: the forces of climate progress are not as strong as their foes

Who’s the giant in this scenario?In his Climate Shift report, Matt Nisbet purports to compare the lobbying efforts of climate-bill supporters and opponents. He finds that, in 2009, the former spent $394 million and the latter $259 million. In other words, greens and their allies outspent their opponents. “The narrative [that] this is David versus […]