American Petroleum Institute To Begin Direct Political Donations

One of the biggest oil lobbying organizations now plans to directly back political candidates.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) -- the main U.S. trade association for the oil and gas industry -- recently announced that beginning in the second quarter of this year, it will take a turn towards direct political donations. API, who has companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron among its 400 members, spent about $7 million last year on lobbying efforts alone.

One of the greatest concerns, as Think Progress reports, is that API runs committees that set oil industry standards. The commission investigating the BP oil spill reported that API was in too compromising a position to set the standards -- the institute resists improving safety rules due to concerns over the costs. API's Martin Durbin admits to Bloomberg News, "At the end of the day, our mission is trying to influence the policy debate."

Now, the institute will take direct aim at political candidates. Most of these candidates are expected to be Republican, as oil-supported action committees tend to support the Republican party. Last year, the Independent Petroleum Association of America gave 77 percent of their contributions to the Republican party. Bloomberg reports that during the 2010 election, oil and gas companies were the 15th largest source of political contributions. Koch Industries Inc. was the largest contributor in the industry, and gave over 90 percent of their money to Republicans.

Past Huffington Post pieces show that API has previously campaigned against climate legislation, and Greenpeace revealed a memo from API president Jack Gerard suggesting the institute fight climate legislation by defining it as "tax increases on our industry."

API claims greenhouse gas regulations are "burdensome." Meanwhile, 2010 was one of the hottest years on record, an estimated 50 million people will be environmental refugees in under 10 years, and reports pile on of the health hazards surrounding Big Oil practices.

The Obama Administration has questioned the entire lobbying industry. In the 2012 budget, the administration proposed removing the billions of dollars that taxpayers pay in subsidies to oil companies each year. The administration estimates that in a decade, this repeal would yield $46 billion. Until action is taken though, Big Oil will continue to tighten the strings that influence the policies affecting its corporate interests.

Comments

[Kenz300]

05:58 PM on 03/16/2011

Big money and politics........The Republican party has turned it's back
on average Americans. The middle class in America is dying.

The average American is being taken to the wood shed by the hucksters.

The gullible keep buying the snake oil they are selling on their 24/7 infomercials.

[Genders]

08:06 PM on 02/27/2011

What does it take to prove Bribery?? FBI????

[rpr]

06:50 PM on 03/03/2011

Bribery is legal in the US. The FBI won't even yawn.

[MaybeMilo]

03:04 PM on 02/27/2011

Woohooo! Let's hear it for allowing lobbyists and TheirPoliticalProstitutes to ShitWhereThe rest of us live.

[mamacat]

12:59 AM on 02/27/2011

"The two speakers in tonight's presidential debate will represent the Exxon Party, and the Unocal Party. As no other candidates could muster the $1 billion entrance fee, none others were invited."

[More tea Vicar]

08:56 PM on 02/26/2011

"In the 2012 budget, the administration proposed removing the billions of dollars that taxpayers pay in subsidies to oil companies each year."

I cannot believe I just read that! Big oil has been making billions of dollars profit from us every year AND we GIVE them BILLIONS more! This is like a nightmare.

Any government that doesn't address Big Business Greed must go, Democrats or not.

[mamacat]

01:04 AM on 02/27/2011

The Republicans inserted these giveaways into the public domain during the Bush years, while they controlled Congress as well as the presidency. Democrats have been trying to do away with the giveaways to Big Oil ever since, but as with so many other important issues, the Republicans have successfully protected their giveaways to Big Oil.

Don't worry, though, the GOP are proposing reductions in Medicare to help pay for what they gave away to Big Oil.

[Genders]

08:07 PM on 02/27/2011

The Progressive Caucus Democrats have been trying to remove the fossil and nukes subsides, but the Obama/Clinton DLC Reagan conservadem leadership has not.

[BernieSanders4President]

08:45 PM on 02/26/2011

Enough is enough!! We have been slaves to big oil for 100 years too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rpr]

06:52 PM on 03/03/2011

It'll get worse. As oil gets scarce, price and profit margins will rise, increasing their power. And they'll get the best democracy they can buy.

[BernieSanders4President]

08:43 PM on 02/26/2011

While in America (the supposed leader of the free world) we have no obvious autocrat such as Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, we are in essence controlled by Big Oil. They form a corporate oligarchy (along with the big banks and other monopolies) that has a great deal over the U.S government and each and every individual. We as American citizens must have an actual revolution against Big oil in the style of revolts presently occuring in the Arab world. Even a massive boycott of oil and a large scale protest similar to those happening to Wisconsin would be better than nothing. We are forced to use oil for our cars, paying staggering fees at the pump to destroy the global biosphere and put money in the pockets of the rich oil barons and the Saudi royal family.We need either a full-scale revolution or a Ghandian style boycott against oil.

[mamacat]

01:09 AM on 02/27/2011

Boycotting oil under our present conditions would be like boycotting food, water, and air.

We would benefit from nationalizing the oil companies, like Norway did, but that is highly unlikely to happen.

We could develop alternative sources of energy, but Big Oil is spending tens of millions of dollars per year (out of the billions per year that taxpayers give them in subsidies) to prevent the government from pushing hard for that, while claiming all the while in public media that they are for it.

[ILoveFiction]

02:57 AM on 02/26/2011

Being a fossil fuel sockpuppet is no bed of roses, I can assure you.

How about a little sympathy for us workers?

[GeneralRemy]

07:52 PM on 02/25/2011

Now wait and see... When these oil buffs get in to where they really want to be, we're ALL gonna be seeing SO MUCH of skepticism towards oil contributing to climate change. They'll make it SO convincing, and shove it down our throats through every media they can. It cannot be surprising that the oil industry is THE LAST group that wants us to link them to green house gases. I personally will H8 the idea of BP reps giving advice, or council to the top dogs of the country. ( Not that they don't grease the pockets of our leaders already )

[builderman55]

06:45 PM on 02/25/2011

Thanks to the United States Sulreme Court for opening up the floodgates to corporate spending in American politics...

[Sherry Pasquarello]

12:39 PM on 02/25/2011

why won't people wake up???

[More tea Vicar]

08:57 PM on 02/26/2011

Because no one knows that they're asleep.

[murphthesurf3]

12:25 PM on 02/25/2011

THE WORST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY
DEMOCRACIES DIE WHEN THEY BECOME PLUTOCRACIES

HOW HAS THIS HAPPENED?

1) Citizens United. Corporate Sponsorshi­p Unlimited. Any corporatio­n with a U.S. registry (and almost every major internatio­nal one has at least one U.S. subsiary) can pour unlimited amounts of money into elections directly through contributi­ons to candidates (which have caps) and indirectly through political committees­, lobbying groups, media companies, and support for "grass roots" movements (which have no caps). And since Big Money is overwhelmi­ngly in support of conservati­ve, Big Business oriented Republican­s who oppose social programs, educationa­l funding whose efforts have undermined the middle and lower classes, it is the GOP which prospers. Of note..... unions were outspent 58 to 1 by Big Business in the last cycle.

The promise of future wealth. How those who Were in Government Make BIG Money. Big Money employs huge numbers of retired members of our legislativ­e, executive and judicial branches. They serve on boards, as lobbyists and consultant­s, and in roles of direct leadership making many, many, many more times as much money as ex-members of the government than they did as members of the government­. These are really egal payoffs for past services AND to gain future benefit through access to the governemntal contacts and informatio­n they maintain.

The demise of election reform. McCain-Fei­ngold was a good start. It tried to address the issues of soft money and issue advocacy ads. The act, which is still on the books, has now been completely worked around. As we know, its  authors are no longer players in the process (McCain has become an ultra rightist and is in the pocket of Big Bsiness and Feingold lost his bid for reelection because he would not play­).

There have been other efforts that failed. The DISCLOSE Act (S. 3628) was proposed in July 2010. The bill would have amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit foreign influence in Federal elections, prohibit government contractor­s from making expenditur­es with respect to such elections, and establish additional disclosure requiremen­ts with respect to spending in such elections. It was blocked by a GOP filibuster­.

Other bills to require public financing of all elections, to provide matching funds, to limit the nature of and cost of campaigns have never garnered enough support.

AND WHILE ALL OF THIS FAVORS THE GOP, IT IS TRUE THAT MANY DEMS ARE PLAYING BY THE SAME RULES,

BUT BECAUSE OF THEIR CONSTITUEN­CIES, BASE AND AGENDA THEY DO NOT HAVE THE KIND OF BIG MONEY ACCESS THAT REPUBLICAN­S HAVE.

Big Money is just not that interested in them.

[dkrypt]

12:08 PM on 02/25/2011

Perhaps they are unsatisfied with the ~75% increase in the price of gasoline under Obama, and will push for more.

[murphthesurf3]

12:16 PM on 02/25/2011

IDIOTIC.

Obama has nothing to do with current oil price increases.

[dkrypt]

12:33 PM on 02/25/2011

Really? Wow you're ignorant.

- Cancelling existing permits: Immediately after taking office in 2009, President Obama's handpicked Secretary of the Department of Interior, Ken Salazar, canceled 77 leases for oil and gas drilling in Utah. One year later, the administration canceled 61 more leases, this time in Montana, as part of President Obama's war on global warming.

- Extending for another six months the public comment period for new offshore drilling. This extended the 25 year moratorium.

- Cap & trade tax. Barack Obama happily declared that under his plan of cap and trade, energy prices would "necessarily skyrocket."

- There was a new gasoline tax in the most recent cap and trade bill in the Senate, legislation President Obama helped negotiate. House shot it down, but the market sees all. (Unlike you, you see nothing). Obama now moving to impose carbon cap through EPA.

- The Obama administration imposed a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling, claiming that the experts they consulted had advised them to take such an action. Except they hadn't. The experts stated publicly that they never supported such a moratorium, and that the White House had manipulated their opinions and expertise solely to advance a political agenda.

- Issuing a new offshore drilling ban. Speaks for itself.

- The Middle East is free to implode because they know a weak President who will sway wherever the media leads him is in office. He will cast aside allies and support the America-hating crowds.

[southingtonian]

05:08 AM on 02/27/2011

eejit, eejit, eejit.

[PharmaCan]

11:53 AM on 02/25/2011

American Petroleum Institute To Begin Direct Political Donations

HP - You need a little help with that headline.

American Petroleum Institute To Begin Direct Bribery of Republican Politicians

There - I fixed it for you!

[Gregor53]

11:56 AM on 02/25/2011

Now don't hold back.  How do you really feel?  Fanned.

[follygirl]

11:44 AM on 02/25/2011

Welcome to the new USSR.

[roninroshi]

01:10 PM on 02/26/2011

And the bagger oligarchy that rule it...f/f