Just for fun, let's take a look at the 2012 contributions from the electric utilities and oil and gas industry:
That's to provide some context for what happened this week, or didn't happen, in the Senate. On Thursday, all of the Republican senators on the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee boycotted a scheduled vote in committee for EPA nominee Gina McCarthy. With
Sen. Frank Lautenberg unavailable because of an illness, the boycott meant that the committee couldn't reach quorum and couldn't hold the vote.
But three of the senators from that committee had a larger priority, anyway. They had to raise some campaign cash for themselves at events hosted by energy industry lobbyists. You know, the big polluters that the EPA is trying to curb.
- Sen. Barrasso was scheduled to attend a breakfast fundraiser [Thursday] morning for his Common Values PAC at Charlie Palmer Steak House. The three lobbyists listed as hosts for the event work for Williams & Jensen, a firm representing American Chemistry Council and several electric utility companies that could be impacted by the EPA and its rulemaking decisions.
- Sen. Inhofe ha[d] lunch scheduled [Thursday] afternoon at the the same place as Sen. Barrasso's event, Charlie Palmer's. Four of the lobbyists listed as hosts work for Fierce, Isakowitz, and Blalock. The firm's energy industry clients include BP, Noble Energy, and Edison International.
- Unfortunately, the invitation for Sen. Crapo's "Young Professionals Reception" for his Freedom Fund PAC on Thursday night at the National Republican Senatorial Committee does not have any hosts listed. Freedom Fund has not filed any fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this year, but in the last election cycle, the PAC received $18,500 from electric utilities, $13,000 from oil and gas interests, and $22,000 from other energy interests.
A weak EPA is the a major priority for these industries, and keeping the agency leaderless definitely helps keep it weak. They can count on their Republican lackeys to see to that. After all, they've bought them.