Big Oil's big money in Sacramento
It's a gusher!
In 2023, an unprecedented $478.8 million was spent on lobbying California’s state legislators and regulators. This is according to a recent report from the non-partisan online newsroom CalMatters, which crunched the lobbying activity numbers published by the California Secretary of State.
Two of the top three spenders represented the interests of fossil fuels: Chevron (spending $11.1 million) and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) which forked out $6.9 million.
CalMatters’ Jeremia Kimelman writes:
Chevron, a California-based oil company, is a prolific spender on lobbyists, forking over $74.5 million since 2005 to influence state government. In the final quarter of 2023, Chevron reported spending $1.2 million to try and get its way with state officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, and several state agencies, such as the Public Utilities Commission, the Air Resources Board and the Energy Commission. One of its primary advocacy goals was to influence the implementation of a bill — signed by Newsom last March — that empowered the Energy Commission to establish a maximum profit margin for refining gasoline.
On the WSPA, Kimelman writes:
The Western States Petroleum Association, an oil industry trade group, is consistently a top employer of lobbyists aimed at the state and has been one of the top three spenders in every legislative session going back at least a decade. In the fourth quarter of 2023, it reported lobbying the Legislature and the governor’s office and other state agencies. Among other issues, the trade group lobbied on a proposed windfall profit tax on refining gas that was eventually watered down.
Although the Secretary of State lists more than 3500 organizations as having lobbied the state, the spending is somewhat concentrated. As Kimelman points out, the top 10 biggest spenders were responsible for 12% of the amount spent on lobbying—a hefty $57 million in total.
Of the 10 biggest spenders on lobbying in 2023, only one could be described as pushing a decarbonization agenda. The Energy Foundation, a non-profit based in San Francisco, which Kimelman writes “gives grants for clean energy projects and tried to influence the Air Resources Board’s implementation of ‘clean fleet’ regulations,” had a lobbying bill last year of $4.3 million, the seventh largest on the list.
Not without a fight
In “Big Oil Is Doing Great ... Except in California,” Heatmap News’s Matthew Zeitlin argues that “California […] is actively making things hard on oil producers and refiners, and companies are feeling it.” He writes:
In an earlier release this year, Chevron previewed losses from its California operations, saying that they were “due to continuing regulatory challenges in the state that have resulted in lower anticipated future investment levels in its business plans.” Combined with writedowns in the Gulf of Mexico, the company reported $3.7 billion worth of charges on its fourth quarter earnings.
Chevron […] has been in a public dispute with California policymakers over their energy policy proposals, especially around refining. The state plans to ban sales of internal combustion vehicles by 2035 and is working through a proposal to essentially cap profits on refining gasoline in the state. Chevron officials have said that a refining margin cap would make it “really challenging to want to put our money there,” the company’s refining chief Andy Walz told Bloomberg.
Does that mean Chevron’s BIG lobbying bill isn’t leading to the oil-friendly payoff it’s been angling for? Not so fast! Climate Action California’s CEO,
, cautions against complacency: whatever their protestations to the contrary, in Sacramento, Big Oil still carries powerful sway.“Viewed from a distance1, California may look pretty good, but on the ground here we know that every one of the measures Matthew cites has been a battle royal,” says Janet. “Compromises were made, and many great ideas that would have made these programs even stronger were left abandoned on the field. We need to build on these hard-won gains so we can keep California moving at the speed and scale necessary to reduce our emissions and bring on the low-carbon economy we need. This is why Climate Action California has endorsed carefully vetted climate champions for election to the state legislature this year.”
More on Chevron in California:
“Sacramento councilman and one of California’s leading climate regulators owns Chevron stock” — Sacramento Bee
And, a major victory against air pollution, which we covered on
last week:
Zeitlin writes from New York.