The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers led the oil and gas industry in federal lobbying spending in the first half of 2024. This was the first time that the industry association spent more than the industry’s largest individual companies.
The industry association, which represents 450 fuel refiners and petrochemical companies, is the leading oil and gas industry association, with $8.1 million in federal lobbying spending in the first half of 2024. That level of spending marks a shift in influence, as individual oil and gas companies have typically spent millions of dollars more than the industry association.
The oil and gas industry spent a total of $72 million on federal lobbying in the first six months of 2024, as the EPA rolled out some of its toughest regulations to reduce fossil fuel emissions. The industry’s spending is expected to surpass last year’s, which was $137 million adjusted for inflation, and is the fifth-largest lobbying industry of the year.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers emerged as the largest donor after doubling its spending on federal lobbying starting in 2022. Between 2016 and 2022, the trade organization spent an average of $3.4 million per year, not adjusting for inflation. In 2023, spending rose to $6.9 million.
In the first six months of 2024, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers have already spent more on federal lobbying than in any previous year.
In the past, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association has spent more money than its members. Occidental Petroleum spent $12.2 million last year lobbying for its controversial carbon capture program. In 2023 and 2022, Koch Industries — the U.S.’s second-largest private company — spent $19.2 million, and ConocoPhillips spent $16.6 million lobbying for its latest oil drilling project in Alaska, which President Joe Biden approved in early 2023.
In the first half of 2024, Occidental Petroleum spent $1.7 million less than in the first half of 2023, but Koch Industries increased its spending by $1.3 million. ConocoPhillips kept its spending roughly the same as in the same period last year.
Electric vehicle proliferation is a key focus of lobbying efforts by American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and other oil and gas customers at the federal level. This year, industry customers supported bills that would block the EPA from implementing its new vehicle emissions standards and dictate what technologies automakers can use to comply with the rules.
In March, the Biden administration announced major new vehicle emissions regulations, but they do not ban gasoline cars. Instead, automakers must ensure that the average emissions of their vehicles built between 2027 and 2032 are below a strict limit. Under the new rules, it will still be legal to produce, sell and buy gasoline cars, but automakers will have to build more electric vehicles and fewer gasoline vehicles to comply.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers increased their lobbying spending, spending an eight-figure sum on a TV advertising campaign in swing states against the Biden administration’s “ban on gasoline cars.”
“Earlier this year, the AFPM launched an educational campaign to raise consumer awareness of federal and state policies aimed at phasing out or even banning the sale of new vehicles with internal combustion engines,” a spokesperson for the trade group told OpenSecrets.
The spokesman noted that “a large majority of Americans oppose government regulations that would prohibit or restrict access to the vehicles of their choice,” citing a recent Pew Research Center poll.
“Americans have a right to know what actions their government is taking and how those actions are impacting their lives so they can contact their elected officials and demand change,” the spokesman said.
Oil and gas customers have also lobbied for the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, which would prevent the EPA from allowing states to set their own vehicle emissions standards, limiting the sale of new gasoline cars. The bill challenges California’s plan to phase out new gasoline car sales by 2035, which more than 10 other states plan to adopt.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers argue that Biden’s vehicle policies will restrict consumer freedom, harm the environment and increase dependence on China, the leading EV battery manufacturer. Meanwhile, Biden promises that the transition to electric vehicles will bring new green jobs and manufacturing to the U.S.
“This rule is bad for consumers and their wallets,” said the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers in a statement on the new EPA vehicle emissions standards. “It is bad for our energy and national security and will have costly and irresponsible effects on the entire U.S. economy.”
Meanwhile, environmental groups are lobbying for EPA emissions standards, although overall they spend less money on federal lobbying than oil and gas customers.
In the first six months of 2024, environmental interests spent $16.3 million on federal lobbying, and the renewable energy industry spent another $30.1 million, together accounting for about 66% of the oil and gas industry’s lobbying spending.
One of his lobbying clients, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, called the EPA’s vehicle emissions standards “an essential step toward dramatically reducing the emissions that are driving the climate crisis and harming public health.”
“We need bold action to protect the climate and avert the worst-case science,” the Environmental Law & Policy Center said in a press release about the EPA’s emissions standards. “The climate simply cannot wait.”
