Spending on environmental lobbying on the rise during Biden administration
By Lydia McFarlane
OpenSecrets.org
This story was produced in partnership with OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics.
Environmental groups spent over $30 million on federal lobbying in 2023, more than in any other year but far less than the oil and gas industry, according to federal lobbying disclosures reviewed by OpenSecrets.
While President Joe Biden passed the largest clean energy investment package in U.S. history, his administration’s decision to expand oil drilling in Alaska and increase America’s liquid natural gas export potential have angered key parts of his base, most notably environmentalists and young voters who say the government should do more to combat climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, has said governments need to act swiftly to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold beyond which many of the impacts of climate change will be irreversible.
The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit with a mission of conserving land and water, has been the environmental sector’s top lobbying spender in recent years, spending $2.78 million on lobbying in 2023.The group cited the climate crisis and attention from Congress as reasons for increasing their advocacy.
“Climate change and the loss of plant and animal species are no longer distant threats,” a spokesperson for Nature Conservancy told OpenSecrets. “We have years, not decades, to solve them. To address these crises, we need action from multiple sectors, including the government.That is why The Nature Conservancy has expanded our outreach and increased the size of its government relations teams that do some direct advocacy work with elected officials and administration staff at both the state and federal levels.”
The Nature Conservancy worked closely with government officials to provide input regarding the execution of environmental bills.
“In 2021 and 2022, there was tremendous momentum in Congress on the issues our organization cares about,” the spokesperson added. “In 2023, we were very active in helping to bring those policies to life by, for example, providing input on government guidelines on how to shape programs created with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”
While environmental groups have spent more on federal lobbying since Biden took office, there remains a big gap between spending by the environmental and energy sectors. The oil and gas industry spent about $128.7 million on lobbying in 2023 alone, while environmental lobbying capped at $30.5 million the same year, according to federal lobbying disclosures reviewed by OpenSecrets.
Between 2020 and 2021, spending on federal environmental lobbying jumped from $18.7 million to $26.6 million and has increased every year since. The last notable jump in spending occurred back in 2014, when spending climbed to $25.6 million from $14.41 million the previous year.
Climate was top-of-mind during the 2014 midterm elections, with the Obama administration rolling out several new EPA guidelines, causing both the energy and environmental sectors to lobby hard ahead of Obama’s midterm election.
Spending dropped significantly after that, with only $15.71 million spent on environmental lobbying at the federal level in 2015. In 2016, spending dropped again to $13.52 million, before steadily rising with no notable jumps until 2021.
Ahead of this year’s presidential election, climate change is again a big issue for voters and several environmental advocacy groups have been critical of Biden’s environmental policies, acknowledging the historic investments the president signed into law while also accusing him of walking back campaign promises on oil and gas development.
Last year, the Biden administration approved the construction of an $8 billion oil project in the Alaskan Arctic which critics said would undercut the president’s progress on climate and prolong American dependence on fossil fuels.
ConocoPhillips almost doubled its spending on federal lobbying in 2022 as it pushed for approval of the project,commonly known as the Willow Project. The Bureau of Land Management estimates that Willow will produce 576 million barrels of oil over three decades. Transporting, refining and burning that oil will release the equivalent of 239 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over that time, about the same amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by 64 coal-fired power plants in a year.
“We are too late in the climate crisis to approve massive oil and gas projects that directly undermine the new clean economy that the Biden administration committed to advancing,” said Earthjustice president Abigail Dillen in a statement issued in the wake of the administration’s decision on Willow. “We know President Biden understands the existential threat of climate, but he is approving a project that derails his own climate goals.”
More recently, notable critics of the Biden administration’s environmental policy included the College Democrats, who criticized many of the administration’s legislation in an open letter in December 2023. The group, which is the college outreach arm of the Democratic National Committee, accused the administration of showing “indifference” towards climate issues and called on the president to block the Willow project and end drilling on federal lands.
In January, the Biden administration announced a temporary pause on pending approvals of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports until the Department of Energy can conduct a thorough analysis. Shortly after the announcement, a White House official cited young, climate-focused voters as a key voting demographic, saying these voters influenced the Biden administration’s decision to implement the LNG pause. Environmental advocates responded positively to the move, while Republicans and fossil fuel industry groups criticized the decision.
“This is the right call,” said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of Natural Resources Defense Council in a statement after the pause was announced. “The stakes could not be higher – for the climate, U.S. leadership and our future. The administration needs to pause and get the facts. These are dangerous projects that would lock in decades more dependence on the fossil fuels driving us toward climate catastrophe.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council was the No. 6 spender on environmental lobbying in 2023, having spent about $895,000.
The League of Conservation Voters, was the No. 7 spender on environmental lobbying spending with $860,000 in 2023
The League posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in celebration of the administration’s announcement: “This is the most significant action taken by a president to curb fossil fuel expansion. This is a huge win for our planet and people and big defeat for Big Oil!”
Organizations like the Nature Conservancy plan to keep up the lobbying momentum throughout 2024, citing several legislative priorities they hope to pass.
“In 2024, we are focused on passing several pieces of federal legislation we know will benefit people and nature alike, including the Farm Bill and Recover America’s Wildlife Act,” said the Nature Conservancy. “We are also looking to advance several climate bills at the state level. The remarkable momentum behind the climate and conservation policies passed in recent years and going into 2024 illustrates both the support and necessity to address the challenges facing our planet. The Nature Conservancy will continue to work to make these solutions a reality.”
Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade. Prior to becoming a journalist she worked for Centurion, a Princeton-based nonprofit that works to free the innocent from prison. A graduate of Smith College, she earned her master's of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and her master's certificate in entrepreneurial journalism from The Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY.