In his address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama pledged nothing less than a transformation in the way America uses energy in order to "save our planet from the ravages of climate change" and reinvigorate a troubled economy. Specifically, the president asked Congress to send him legislation "that places a market-placed cap on carbon pollution." The new president has pledged to set annual targets that put the nation on course to an 80 percent reduction (from 1990 levels) in fossil fuel emissions by 2050. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she plans a floor vote on climate change before December, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said late last week that he would attempt to bring a global warming bill to the Senate floor by summer's end.
In his address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama pledged nothing less than a transformation in the way America uses energy in order to “save our planet from the ravages of climate change†and reinvigorate a troubled economy.
Specifically, the president asked Congress to send him legislation “that places a market-placed cap on carbon pollution.†The new president has pledged to set annual targets that put the nation on course to an 80 percent reduction (from 1990 levels) in fossil fuel emissions by 2050. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she plans a floor vote on climate change before December, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said late last week that he would attempt to bring a global warming bill to the Senate floor by summer’s end.
But while the Obama team readies to take on the global warming challenge, the special interests that seek to derail, blunt, or tailor any new climate policy to their narrow agendas have already gathered in staggering numbers. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure forms shows that more than 770 companies and interest groups hired an estimated 2,340 lobbyists to influence federal policy on climate change in the past year, as the issue gathered momentum and came to a vote on Capitol Hill. That’s an increase of more than 300 percent in the number of lobbyists on climate change in just five years, and means that Washington can now boast more than four climate lobbyists for every member of Congress. It also means that 15 percent of all Washington lobbyists spent at least some of their time on global warming in 2008, based on a tally of the total number of influence-peddlers on Capitol Hill by the Center for Responsive Politics.
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Based on the data, the Center estimates that lobbying expenditures on climate change last year topped $90 million. About 130 businesses and interest groups spent more than $23.5 million on lobbying teams solely focused on climate, but that vastly understates the money devoted to the effort. More than 95 percent of climate lobbyists work on other issues such as tax and health care for their clients as well, and they don’t have to report how much they’re being paid on global warming specifically. But even if just 10 percent of their time last year was spent on climate, that would add nearly $70 million to the grand total spent lobbying on climate in 2008 and push expenditures past $90 million.
A Powerful Roster
The ranks of the lobbyists include a who’s who of ex-members of Congress, from former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat, to former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston, a Louisiana Republican. Among the former Capitol Hill staffers who are engaged on global warming are Drew Maloney, former top aide to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, and Andrew Athy, a former counsel to Representative John Dingell, who later chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Numbered among the executive branch veterans now in the climate fray are Jack Quinn, White House lawyer to President Clinton, and Wayne Berman, assistant commerce secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
The roster of interests seeking to influence the climate change issue is not just growing; its makeup is changing as well. Back in 2003, the first time the U.S. Senate voted on a comprehensive climate policy proposal, the 150 or so businesses and interest groups lobbying on the issue represented a narrow range of interests led by power companies. Seventy percent, in fact, were electricity, coal, and oil firms and the heavy industries like auto, cement, and steel that would be most directly affected by any effort to curb use of fossil fuel. Opposing them: nine environmental groups. But by 2008, when the Senate again considered, and rejected, a broad program to curb the carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, virtually every segment of the economy was seeking to weigh in.
The nation’s largest and most powerful industry groups — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers — are now leading voices against climate action. Other industry coalitions, such as the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, want to see Congress act on greenhouse gases — as long as lawmakers take care to minimize their costs. Others, like the numerous alternative energy companies, are pursuing opportunities that would be available as a result of a new commitment to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. And then there are the Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, as well as private equity firms and new financial players, which would buy and sell emissions “permits†under a proposed “cap- and-trade†system favored by most pro-climate action politicians, including Obama. Finally, there are the cities, public transit agencies, universities, and others seeking a piece of the pie — the revenue that a climate program would generate when power plants, oil companies, and others have to buy federal permits to continue emitting carbon dioxide.
A Powerful Roster
The ranks of the lobbyists include a who’s who of ex-members of Congress, from former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat, to former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston, a Louisiana Republican. Among the former Capitol Hill staffers who are engaged on global warming are Drew Maloney, former top aide to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, and Andrew Athy, a former counsel to Representative John Dingell, who later chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Numbered among the executive branch veterans now in the climate fray are Jack Quinn, White House lawyer to President Clinton, and Wayne Berman, assistant commerce secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
The roster of interests seeking to influence the climate change issue is not just growing; its makeup is changing as well. Back in 2003, the first time the U.S. Senate voted on a comprehensive climate policy proposal, the 150 or so businesses and interest groups lobbying on the issue represented a narrow range of interests led by power companies. Seventy percent, in fact, were electricity, coal, and oil firms and the heavy industries like auto, cement, and steel that would be most directly affected by any effort to curb use of fossil fuel. Opposing them: nine environmental groups. But by 2008, when the Senate again considered, and rejected, a broad program to curb the carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, virtually every segment of the economy was seeking to weigh in.
The nation’s largest and most powerful industry groups — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers — are now leading voices against climate action. Other industry coalitions, such as the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, want to see Congress act on greenhouse gases — as long as lawmakers take care to minimize their costs. Others, like the numerous alternative energy companies, are pursuing opportunities that would be available as a result of a new commitment to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. And then there are the Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, as well as private equity firms and new financial players, which would buy and sell emissions “permits†under a proposed “cap- and-trade†system favored by most pro-climate action politicians, including Obama. Finally, there are the cities, public transit agencies, universities, and others seeking a piece of the pie — the revenue that a climate program would generate when power plants, oil companies, and others have to buy federal permits to continue emitting carbon dioxide.
A Powerful Roster
The ranks of the lobbyists include a who’s who of ex-members of Congress, from former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat, to former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston, a Louisiana Republican. Among the former Capitol Hill staffers who are engaged on global warming are Drew Maloney, former top aide to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, and Andrew Athy, a former counsel to Representative John Dingell, who later chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Numbered among the executive branch veterans now in the climate fray are Jack Quinn, White House lawyer to President Clinton, and Wayne Berman, assistant commerce secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
The roster of interests seeking to influence the climate change issue is not just growing; its makeup is changing as well. Back in 2003, the first time the U.S. Senate voted on a comprehensive climate policy proposal, the 150 or so businesses and interest groups lobbying on the issue represented a narrow range of interests led by power companies. Seventy percent, in fact, were electricity, coal, and oil firms and the heavy industries like auto, cement, and steel that would be most directly affected by any effort to curb use of fossil fuel. Opposing them: nine environmental groups. But by 2008, when the Senate again considered, and rejected, a broad program to curb the carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, virtually every segment of the economy was seeking to weigh in.
The nation’s largest and most powerful industry groups — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers — are now leading voices against climate action. Other industry coalitions, such as the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, want to see Congress act on greenhouse gases — as long as lawmakers take care to minimize their costs. Others, like the numerous alternative energy companies, are pursuing opportunities that would be available as a result of a new commitment to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. And then there are the Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, as well as private equity firms and new financial players, which would buy and sell emissions “permits†under a proposed “cap- and-trade†system favored by most pro-climate action politicians, including Obama. Finally, there are the cities, public transit agencies, universities, and others seeking a piece of the pie — the revenue that a climate program would generate when power plants, oil companies, and others have to buy federal permits to continue emitting carbon dioxide.
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