Oil & gas industries spent record $175 mil. lobbying against climate action

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The oil and gas industries unleashed a massive $175 million lobbying
spree last year to derail U.S. efforts to address climate change,
according to a new series of reports by the Center for Responsive
Politics (CRP).

OpenSecrets.org blogger Evan Mackinder reveals just how badly oil and
gas interests pummeled the environmental community, which spent its
own record $22.4 million trying to convince Washington to get its act
together to fight global warming.

As CRP notes, "Goliath whipped David."

CRP's new series, titled "Fueling Washington: How Oil Money Drives
Politics," details the oil and gas industries' outsized influence in
Washington.

In the recent battle over climate legislation, ExxonMobil alone spent
more than all the environmental groups combined, stuffing $27.4
million into K Street coffers to ensure the status quo addiction to
fossil fuels can continue unfettered by concerns for the climate.

Combined with the contributions from Chevron, ConocoPhillips and the
now infamous Koch Industries, Big Oil as a whole "hammered away in the
background" while Washington debated healthcare reform, working to
derail support for a carbon tax or cap-and-trade or anything else
having to do with protecting future generations from dangerous climate
disruption.

Over an eighteen month period, Big Oil spent nearly $250 million to
block climate action in the U.S. House and Senate, CRP reports.