Groups Release Report Detailing Natural Gas Industry's Monetary Influence Over Public Policy

Source: Common Couse

By Jason Gottesman

Several government watchdog groups held a press conference today in the state Capitol’s main rotunda to release a report detailing campaign and lobbying contributions by the natural gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania, at both the state and federal levels.

Barry Kauffman, of Common Cause PA, said the report details the power of political money in the execution of public policy in government. Reporting a total of $747 million in campaign and lobbying expenditures by the natural gas industry, Kauffman said this money has allowed the industry to exempt itself from strict environmental regulation. A move he said has been made easier by the US Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case.

Kauffman pointed out Congressman Tim Murphy and Senator Pat Toomey have taken the most natural gas money in Pennsylvania and noted three Pennsylvania Congressman that sit on the Congressional oversight committee have received campaign contributions from the industry. He said Pennsylvania is known as the “sweet spot” for natural gas drilling due to the Commonwealth’s lax environmental regulations due to the industry and their affiliated political action committees injecting millions of dollars into officials’ campaign coffers.

 

 

Kauffman elucidated that Gov. Tom Corbett has received $1.6 million in campaign contributions from the natural gas industry, including one time donations nearing $150,000. He noted Pennsylvania is one of eleven states that does not regulate campaign contributions and said 228 contributions made, totaling 52 percent of the total value of donations, exceeded federal campaign donation limits. He pointed out these failings are only compounded by gift rules that allow corruption and pointed to all expenses paid trips to the Super Bowl from the natural gas industry taken by Senators Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) and Tim Solobay (D-Washington).

Kauffman argued for four reforms to make the system better:

· Regulate campaign contributions.

· Require online, public filing of campaign contribution reports.

· Require more campaign contribution disclosures and require quarterly and non-election year filings.

· Make it illegal for lobbyists with policy concerns before government bodies to give gifts.

Continue reading... much more revealing information!

7 Ways the Oil and Gas Industry is Buying Fracking Policy (and What You Can Do About It)

Wenonah Hauter

Executive Director, Food & Water Watch

Posted: 8/17/11 11:28 AM ET

Sometimes reality is stranger than science fiction. That's the case with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking -- a dangerous technology that's much like setting off a giant pipe bomb four or five miles underground. Millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand are injected deep into shale rock formations at high pressures to break open the rock and release the gas.

The promoters say its safe. Or that's what the oil and gas industry would have you think, anyway. But behind the scenes, the industry is fighting tooth and nail to keep fracking unregulated, and its claims of safety, economic prosperity and energy security unquestioned. Their high-dollar campaign to put a happy face on this risky practice is designed to challenge the growing movement to ban fracking that's heating up across the country: people are saying no to this risky technology that, if pursued, will negatively impact our health, water, and economy.

Here are some of the ways the oil and gas industry is attempting to "buy" public sentiment and a positive policy environment for its newest darling -- shale gas fracking:

1. Legal Bribery in Washington
The industry spent over $145 million lobbying Washington in 2010, making it one of the top five industries spending big money to buy influence -- and it seems to be working: In January 2011, bipartisan congressional members of the Natural Gas Caucus opposed proposed U.S. Department of Interior rules to disclose fracking chemicals used on public lands; this caucus' 83 members received a combined $1,742,572 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry between 2009 and 2010, according to a Propublica investigation.

2. Slick PR and Ad Campaigns
3. Buying Silence
4. Using Legal Muscle to Stop Public Inquiry
5. Influence Pedaling Beyond Washington
6. Buying Academic Shills

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