2.2.2 US climate policies A snapshot of lobbyist influence Paul Blumenthal1
It was like poking a sleeping bear. (lobbyist commenting when large anti-climate legislation lobby groups in the United States began to step up their activities)2 With the recent Supreme Court ruling, we are in a position to be able to take corporate positions that were not previously available in allowing our voices to be heard. (letter from a US coal industry executive to other coal companies)3 The prospects for ambitious US climate change legislation have been subject to wild swings in recent years. Hope rose with an incoming president who said he was dedicated to creating a cap-andtrade system similar to that in the EU. A first milestone was reached when the House of Representatives (the lower
chamber of the US Congress) in 2009 passed a scaled-down version of a proposed cap-and-trade law, known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act. By mid-2010, though, this effort had all but collapsed, as the bill was not even put to a vote in the Senate (the upper chamber).
A growing tide of climate lobbying: no balance in sight
The protracted battle and, for the time being, the defeat bear witness to the persistent power of lobbyists and special interests to stall climate policies, even though an outright denial of global warming is not a viable option any more.
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Throughout 2009 oil, gas, coal and electricity utilities and alternative energy companies spent a record US$403 million on lobbying the federal government.4 On top of this, companies from industries as disparate as footwear
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