Oil drilling: Lots of lobbying, no legislation
The industry spent $146.5 million on federal lobbying. Is it any wonder Congress adopted no new laws?
Topics: Gulf Oil Spill, War Room, Politics News
Security personnel guard the entrance to the conference center where BP held its annual general meeting of its shareholders, in London, Thursday, April 14, 2011. BP's annual shareholder meeting got off to a rowdy start on Thursday as crowds of protesters watched over by police held noisy demonstrations outside the venue.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)(Credit: AP)On the one-year anniversary of the explosion at BP’s Macondo well, media outlets have spilled a fair amount of ink noting that not one law has been adopted by Congress on oil and gas drilling. A cursory look at the ever-forceful efforts of the oil and gas industry lobby makes this totally unsurprising.
Marcus Barum writes in the Huffington Post, that “despite introducing more than 150 bills to improve the safety and oversight of offshore drilling and holding more than 60 hearings to discuss the spill’s causes and consequences with regulators, oil company officials, grieving relatives and Gulf-area fishermen,” no bills have been adopted, and only two made it to the Senate.
“The oil industry has a veritable army at its disposal. They spend tens upon tens upon tens of millions on federal lobbying and campaign efforts,” David Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics told Salon.
In 2010 the oil and gas industry spent $146.5 million on federal lobbying. This is almost three times the $52 million spent on lobbying in 2004.
Although the 2009 lobbying figure ($175 million) was greater than the amount spent the year of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Levinthal said, “Make no mistake, 2010 was still a big year for oil and gas industry lobbying.”
Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.
More Related Stories
-
Developers evict historic women's shelter to build luxury hotel
-
Guantánamo prisoner on hunger strike cries for help on Twitter
-
3 possible solutions to international tax avoidance
-
“I just want the U.S. to send my father home”
-
Army weapons engineer tied to white nationalist organizations
-
Ted Cruz against the world
-
David Vitter's hypocritical, punitive, horrible new amendment
-
Louie Gohmert: Women should be forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term
-
Could hackers destroy the U.S. power grid?
-
Democrats may be even worse than Republicans at regulating Wall Street
-
Eric Holder versus journalism
-
A progressive defense of drones
-
There's no substitute for government disaster relief
-
Holder signed off on search warrant for reporter
-
Mississippi could begin prosecuting women for miscarriages
-
Mike Judge: "Bowling for Columbine" made me pro-gun
-
Closing Gitmo is not enough
-
Murkowski: Palin too disengaged to run for Senate
-
In IRS scandal, new GOP tactic is ignorance
-
Code Pink activist berates Obama at national security speech
-
Cuomo: "Shame on us" if New York City elects Weiner
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
Rescue time, May 20, 2010
Fire and oil in the Gulf of Mexico, April 29, 2010
Most Read
-
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate -- or lose kids
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
-
Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard?
-
Tornado survivor to Wolf Blitzer: Sorry, I'm an atheist. I don't have to thank the Lord
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
-
Glenn Beck: CNN interview with atheist tornado survivor was a setup!
-
Graphic video reportedly shows possible London machete attack suspect
-
Joe Francis apologizes for calling jury "retarded"
-
Couple files groundbreaking lawsuit over child's sexual-reassignment surgery
-
Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com
115 points116 points117 points | 10 comments
Elite School Says Teachers Sexually Abused Students
Why 'Budding' Entrepreneurs Are Forced Into The Shadows
-
No Evidence FBI Is Targeting Chechen Separatists In Boston Bombing Case, Advocates Say - Welcome Back Weiner Puns
-
Bill De Blasio Won't Be Distracted By Anthony Weiner -
State Roadblocks Could Complicate Marriage Momentum - Obama Calls On Naval Academy Graduates To Help Put An End To Sexual Assault In The Military
Comments
7 Comments