CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
June 23, 2008 – 8:33 p.m.
Everyone Wants a Say on Climate Change
By Emily Cadei and Coral Davenport, CQ Staff
The hot-button issue of climate change is attracting a swarm of lobbyists representing virtually every major interest group, even though lawmakers say they don’t expect to move legislation this year.
An analysis by Congressional Quarterly has found that in the first three months of 2008, more than 700 entities reported lobbying the federal government on climate change. That count — which includes multiple registrations for organizations that have enlisted several different lobbying firms — is up dramatically from the second half of 2007, when about 430 lobbying registrations identified climate change as a target issue.
The climate change registrations even trumped the lobbying efforts surrounding this year’s sweeping farm bill (
And while it comes as no surprise that oil companies, utilities and automakers were weighing in on legislation to cap the emissions of gases that contribute to global warming, the groups registered to lobby include some unlikely players. Dairy farmers and defense contractors, the sneakermaker Nike Inc. and technology company Hewlett-Packard Co., the American Lung Association and international aid organizations such as Oxfam International Inc. are among the hundreds of interests trying to influence the legislation.
“Limiting [carbon dioxide] emissions puts a rationing effect on all activity in the economy and all human activity,” said Jeff Munk, a lobbyist with Hogan & Hartson LLP. “So whether you’re selling outboard motors or feeding poor people in Africa, it’s going to affect you.”
Hogan & Hartson’s global warming clients include Nissan North America Inc. and Koch Industries Inc. The firm billed a total of $930,000 for lobbying in the first quarter of 2008.
Groups and lobbyists are not required to break out how much money is directed toward specific issues, so lobbying reports do not state how much is spent on climate change legislation in particular. However, groups and lobbyists told CQ that the issue was a high legislative priority.
The explosion of lobbying on climate change is especially notable because lawmakers do not expect to move a bill this year. The Senate cut short debate on its climate change legislation (
But proponents are optimistic about passing legislation in the next Congress to cap emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide and allow polluters to buy and sell emissions allowances — especially with a more sympathetic resident of the White House. Unlike President Bush, the two major presidential candidates, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, support capping greenhouse gas emissions.
The Potential to Transform the Economy
Virtually every corner of the U.S. economy has a stake in a cap-and-trade global warming bill. By putting a price on carbon dioxide, Congress would fundamentally change the way Americans use energy and would transform the economy.
Most cap-and-trade models would auction emission allowances to polluters, establishing a market incentive to reduce emissions but also creating a major source of federal revenue. The Senate bill would have collected anywhere from $6 trillion to $8 trillion from polluters over four decades and redistributed the money to a host of industries and interest groups.
Everyone Wants a Say on Climate Change
For may industries, such as utilities, the legislation poses a threat of higher costs and tighter regulation. For others, the redistribution of trillions of dollars presents enticing opportunities,
“The funds that this bill creates — all that is a huge opportunity to have your favorite industry or client have a pipeline to a virtually endless source of future funds,” Munk said.
For example, humanitarian groups hope some of the money will be spent to help poor people pay their soaring energy bills. The U.S. arm of Oxfam, which spent $315,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2008 and $670,000 for all of 2007, wants Congress to steer some of the money to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
“It sometimes raises eyebrows that we’re engaged, but it became something we thought was . . . absolutely essential to engage in,” said David Waskow, director of Oxfam’s Climate Change Program.
Waskow called climate change “one of the key drivers of poverty over the course of the next century” and said steering money to developing countries is “a matter of preventing the damage that is going to come and in part to address the damage that is already occurring.”
Energy Costs Spur Involvement
For many interests, the threat of higher energy costs is the paramount worry. Dow Chemical Co., for example, fears that capping carbon emissions will drive up the price of cleaner-burning natural gas, a raw material used in the production of many of the company’s products.
“Our biggest concern is the cost of energy,” said Keith Belton, director of government affairs for Dow, which spent $540,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2008 and $3.4 million in 2007. “We spent $8 billion purchasing energy in 2002. Right now, we’re spending $8 billion per quarter.”
Likewise, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which accepts the inevitability of climate change legislation and is lobbying for a moderate cap-and-trade bill, operates one of the nation’s biggest fleets of private trucks and worries about energy prices.
Even the National Milk Producers Federation, which represents dairy farmers, is spending heavily to influence climate change legislation.
“Cows and manure generate certain emissions,” said Jaime Castaneda, senior vice president for government relations at the federation, which spent $210,000 on lobbying in the first quarter. Methane, a greenhouse gas produced by cows, is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and dairy farmers fear that regulating methane emissions could drive up the cost of owning dairy cows and the price of milk.
Interest Groups Join Forces
The potential impact of a climate change bill has led interest groups to marshal their forces, creating a host of new lobbying coalitions. CQ found 12 coalitions registered to lobby on climate change legislation in the first quarter, the majority populated by the energy and manufacturing industries.
Everyone Wants a Say on Climate Change
Duke Energy Corp., one of the nation’s biggest power producers, sits on five of the coalitions, and chemical giant DuPont is a member of four. Combined, the coalitions spent $2.6 million on lobbying in the first quarter, a jump from the $1.5 million they spent all of last year.
An additional coalition, Americans for Affordable Climate Change, backed by energy companies like Duke Energy, American Electric Power Co. and Progress Energy Service Co., formed in May.
Lobbyists Find Themselves in Demand
While many interests are concerned about how they will fare under a future climate change law, one industry already is reaping a windfall: the lobbying firms centered on Washington’s K Street.
“An increasing number of opinion leaders have come to learn that the bill acts like a giant ATM,” said Scott Segal, a lobbyist for Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, which billed $555,000 from the 10 clients it represents on climate change, among other issues, in the first quarter of the year.
Hogan & Hartson’s Munk said the issue will only become more lucrative.
“Even though there is a lot of lobbying going on now, a lot of business is still holding back,” he said.
“But next year, when it is not an election year and Congress can get serious, everyone who you can think of will flock to the Hill with their particular concerns about this.”
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