Yesterday’s news that bankrupt Bob “eat shit” Murray funded a variety of climate denial organizations as his coal company went bankrupt was unsurprising. But it was still an important confirmation that people like Chris Horner don’t attack climate scientists for free or for fun, but as part of a concerted fossil-fueled strategy to protect donors interests.
Another key part of that strategy is the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s $2 million in spending on Energy in Depth over the last two years, which HuffPo revealed yesterday. EiD is a propaganda shop dressed up to look somewhat like a news blog, creating decidedly pro-oil content for the benefit of its financial backers, like Shell, BP, Chevron and Halliburton.
One of the things both EiD and Chris Horner have in common, besides pockets dripping with dirty money, is their antagonism towards climate litigation efforts, which is perhaps most easily understood by reading a recent op-ed in the Washington Examiner. The piece, by Steve Milloy, pulls together EiD’s defensive talking points and Chris Horner’s attacks on Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropy supporting state Attorneys General. It’s no surprise that Milloy echoed Horner’s approach, given that the pair’s efforts to protect polluters go way back to their joint work on the censoring science rule on behalf of the tobacco industry, which the EPA is still considering.
But of course the EPA is not the only place in Trump’s federal government where polluters are wielding undue influence. A new analysis from the Center for Western Priorities shows that Department of Interior head David Bernhardt’s former lobbying group, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, has ramped up its DOI efforts once their employee began running the agency, with revenues increasing an incredible 310 percent. After Berhanrdt’s nomination, his former employer picked up 19 new clients that wanted them to lobby DOI, and the firm has made nearly $12 million lobbying the agency.
Of the 36 clients on whose behalf the group lobbies, 24 have seen their interests advanced by the Department. The analysis includes five case studies, with details on how the department has granted the requests of companies that hired Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, concluding with a company that received $3.84 million in taxpayer funds after a $390,000 lobbying effort.
Unfortunately, the level of disclosure required by lobbyists is hardly the norm, so fights continue elsewhere to reveal shady donations. For example, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled this week that George Mason University’s foundation doesn’t have to turn over records regarding the donations it has received from Koch charities, allowing the school’s Mercatus Center to keep pumping out Koch-approved “academic” works justifying Koch-friendly economic policies.
So whether it’s anti-regulatory economists funded by the Kochs, anti-regulatory administrators running Federal agencies, anti-regulatory blogs and press releases or anti-regulatory think tanks and lawyers, it's clear that money is at the root of all these evils.