Related story from Congress Quarterly
Among the hundreds of industry and environmental groups that are ramping up their lobbying in anticipation of climate change legislation, the coal and power industries stand out — because they have the most to lose. Consequently, they seem to have the most to spend.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which represents 48 major coal producing and consuming companies, was officially formed in April 2008, but it grew out of another group, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, which had been lobbying since 2000 for the fossil fuel industry.
Between 2002 and 2007, the earlier group spent an average of $93,000 annually on federal lobbying. In 2008, the renamed group saw that figure rocket to $9.9 million — which came on top of a $38 million ad campaign extolling the virtues of so-called clean coal.
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Comparing spending is difficult because such associations can report lobbying costs under different laws — one requiring more detail and the other, a broader scope of spending. The Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, for instance, includes more general advertising costs in its disclosure reports than other lobbying groups do but provides fewer details.
Nevertheless, the coal and power industry’s spending last year was staggering. Of the nine other multi-company coalitions that lobbied the federal government on climate change, none reported spending more than $1 million. The largest, the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a vocal alliance of 30 major corporations and nonprofits, spent $870,000.
The coal companies say the surge was essential. “We’re fighting for our livelihood,” says Steve Miller, the coalition’s president. That’s probably not an overstatement.
“Relative to what’s at stake for the coal industry,” says Ken Kollman, a lobbying expert who teaches political science at the University of Michigan, “that’s not a lot of money.”
Tackling climate change by limiting carbon emissions is a top priority of President Obama, and though Congress may spend the next year wrangling over the details, industries see the writing on the wall — and none more clearly than coal, which produces 36 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions.
The clean-coal coalition won’t try to block a climate bill — it’s inevitable, Miller says — but will try to influence how it’s structured, chiefly by delaying emission limits until clean coal is a commercial reality — if it ever is. That means the companies are lobbying lawmakers to pump billions into technology that could capture carbon emissions and store them underground. In Congress, the group targets influential moderate Democrats, such as Sen. Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, who chairs the Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee.
So was the money worth it? Dorgan helped put almost $3.5 billion in the economic stimulus law for clean-coal research — but that also had the support of the administration and lawmakers from Illinois delegation, which hopes to revive a clean-coal pilot project. Privately, some K Street insiders say the spending is probably overkill. “You can only influence and pressure people so much,” says one lobbyist. “If you’re spending that kind of money, you’re not getting your money’s worth.”
The group’s barrage of ads led to a backlash of commercials by environmental groups, but coal is not letting up and has hired major Washington firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates. “We are ramping up even more beyond the effort we had last year,” Miller says. “These issues are too big, too important for us not to address them fully, and we will.”