(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Big Oil and Big Gas spent over $34 million lobbying California officials in 2021-22 session [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-31 On January 26, environmental justice advocates demanded an end to the revolving door between Big Oil and state regulators in Sacramento. The protesters gathered at FDR Park and then marched to march to the CalGEM offices on 715 P St. Photo by Dan Bacher. The oil and gas industry in California spent over $34 million in the 2021-22 Legislative Session against SB 1137, legislation to mandate 3200 foot buffer zones around oil and gas wells, and other bills they were opposed to, according to data just posted on the California Secretary of State’s website. Big Oil spent a total $4,044,729.74 in lobbying expenses in the last quarter from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022. That brings the total of oil and gas corporation lobbying expenses to $34,094,516.05 in the eight quarters of the 2021-22 Legislative Session: cal-access.sos.ca.gov/… The figures for oil and gas industry from the Secretary of State’s Office are as follows: OIL AND GAS QUARTER 1 QUARTER 2 QUARTER 3 QUARTER 4 $4,478,282.30 $4,317,719.81 $3,327,037.59 $3,374,372.23 QUARTER 5 QUARTER 6 QUARTER 7 QUARTER 8 $3,698,878.70 $6,259,589.23 $4,588,906.45 $4,044,729.74 TOTAL FOR DISPLAYED QUARTERS: $34,094,516.05 The Western States Petroleum Association, the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento, spent $1,734,594.53 out of the $4,588,906.45 spent on lobbying by the oil and gas industry in California in the eighth quarter. Chevron Corporation, the San-Ramon based oil giant that is infamous for environmental devastation and degradation from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Richmond, California, spent $782,341.57 out of the $4,588,906.45 total fossil fuel lobbying expenses in the fourth quarter. As Californians were gouged at the pumps, Chevron reported 2022 earnings of $35.5 billion, more than doubling last year's $15.6 billion profits. While a long and hard-fought campaign by environmental justice groups, with the help of Governor Gavin Newsom, was able to finally get SB 1137 approved by the Legislature, other important bills were stopped by oil industry-backed legislators.Those measures include a bill to ban offshore drilling off the California coast and another bill to divest State of California pension funds from investments in the fossil fuel industry. But the money spent by the oil and gas industry in the 2021-22 session on lobbying was just part of the gusher of money that they spent to maintain their control over the regulatory apparatus in Sacramento. The oil industry also spent $20 million in just two months to gather the signatures for a referendum to reverse SB1137, the law that mandates 3200 foot health and safety setbacks around new and reworked oil and gas wells, as gas prices soared throughout California. In addition, the oil and gas industry also spent millions of dollars for legislative candidates it favored in the November 2022 election. The biggest sources of outside spending in legislative races in the November 2022 election cycle were oil and gas companies and electric utilities, according to Ben Christopher and Sameea Kamal of Cal Matters. “Those organizations have spent more than $7.6 million, roughly one-fifth of the total. Most of that spending happened before Newsom announced a December special legislative session on his oil tax plan.” Big Oil has been able to get away with what it does in California for decades because of the enormous influence the Western States Petroleum Association and oil and gas companies, have exerted over the California Legislature, regulatory agencies and media. Over the past four years, fossil fuel companies paid almost $77.5 million to lobby lawmakers in Sacramento, reported Josh Slowiczek in Capital and Main on May 14, 2022. “Oil and gas interests spent four times as much as environmental advocacy groups and almost six times as much as clean energy firms on lobbying efforts in California between 2018 and 2021, according to a Capital & Main analysis — reflecting the intensity of the industry’s efforts to influence policy in a state whose leaders have vowed to build an energy future free of fossil fuels,” Slowiczek wrote. The eight methods the fossil fuel industry uses to capture the system WSPA and Big Oil wield their power in 8 major ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) serving on and putting shills on regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups; (5) working in collaboration with media; (6) creating alliances with labor unions; (7) contributing to non profit organizations; and (8) sponsoring awards ceremonies, including those for legislators and journalists. WSPA and Big Oil have for years worked closely with media outlets and more recently have sponsored awards for legislators and journalists. For example, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, WSPA President and former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create "marine protected areas" on the South Coast, was on the "short list" of nominees for the LA Times "Inspirational Women Awards” held on October 18, 2022. Can you guess who was one of the sponsors of the LA Times awards? Yes, you guessed right — WSPA was a sponsor. According to a tweet from @OfficialWSPA, "Today @latimes acknowledged a woman who is already well known in our industry as a trailblazer and inspiration to tens of thousands of women. Congrats to our fearless leader @WSPAPrez for being recognized as a shortlisted nominee for the Inspirational Women Awards." In addition, four LA Times reporters this year received the “Courage in Journalism” award from the Sacramento Press Club. Yes, the Western States Petroleum Association was one of the sponsors of these awards also. In 2015, I wrote this article about how LA Times and the California Resources Corporation teamed up on a propaganda website: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/30/1442947/-LA-Times-and-Big-Oil-team-up-on-propaganda-website. Fortunately, the Times is no longer managing and running that website. Environmental justice activists demand an end to the revolving door On January 26, environmental justice advocates demanded an end to the revolving door between Big Oil and state regulators in Sacramento. The 30-plus protesters gathered at FDR Park and then marched to the CalGEM offices on 715 P St. The protesters said Californians deserve an oil regulator who works for the people, not polluters. After rubber stamping hundreds of new oil drilling permits in the final months of 2022, the California State Oil and Gas Supervisor just abruptly resigned his position as the head of CalGEM. "Governor Newsom will appoint his replacement and has the opportunity to get this rogue agency back on track and follow through on his commitment to end fossil fuel extraction. This is a critical moment that will shape California's climate future," according to the advocates. "It’s past time for CalGEM to finally implement public health setbacks to stop toxic oil drilling in neighborhoods, cease issuing permits for new oil and gas extraction, and hold Big Oil responsible for the nearly $11 billion cost of cleaning up California’s tens of thousands of aging oil and gas wells — many of which are leaking and poisoning communities,” they concluded. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/31/2150406/-Big-Oil-and-Big-Gas-spent-over-34-million-lobbying-California-officials-in-2021-22-session Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/