More than a dozen oil companies or oil industry groups spent almost a total of $11.3 million on lobbying in the period between July 1 and Sept. 30. The single largest portion was the $6.7 million spent by the Western States Petroleum Assn., the industry’s main lobbying arm in California. That’s more than twice what it spent in the first six months of 2015.
A spokesperson for the trade group declined to comment on the spending, contained in the state-mandated filings of lobbyists and their employers.
The focus of the legislative battle was a measure intended to increase energy efficiency, boost renewable energy and reduce oil consumption for transportation. However, after furious industry lobbying and resistance from some business-friendly Democrats in the Assembly, the petroleum target was dropped from the bill, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in October.
Lobbying efforts were intense from both critics and supporters of the bill. NextGen Climate Action, an organization founded by San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, spent $1.2 million on lobbying on the bill during the same time period.
But the oil and energy sectors vastly outspent their environmental critics.
Chevron, the state’s largest oil company, spent $1.8 million during the summer. Notable increases from early 2015 lobbying efforts were also reported by BP America, Exxon Mobil and Valero.
The state’s three largest utilities — Southern California Edison, Sempra and PG&E — spent a combined $1.35 million during the three months covered by the reporting period.
The lobbying records also reveal how a handful of key legislators were courted by the powerful energy industry during the heat of the fight over the bill, SB 350.
The oil group footed the bill for Assembly members Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), Jim Frazier (D-Oakley) and Mike Gipson (D-Carson) to stay at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay during a conference three weeks after the legislative session ended. All three of the lawmakers had expressed reservations about the oil-reduction target.
Sempra Energy, one of the utilities whose support was crucial during final negotiations, treated Assemblyman Henry Perea (D-Fresno) to a Dodgers game and dinner in late July. Perea was a key Democratic vote in the lower house and successfully led a charge to strip the bill of its limits on the use of gas in vehicles.
The bill’s author, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), was also courted by those who initially resisted the bill. Reports filed by Southern California Edison show that company officials paid for dinner with De León on Aug. 20 at a downtown Los Angeles restaurant, Faith and Flower.
But though the reports offer a glimpse of the efforts to influence the debate over the high-profile bill, they don’t reveal information on the broader public relations campaigns. Money spent on those efforts is lumped into a category called “other payments to influence” and thus does not have to be disclosed in detail.
Steyer’s group spent more than $1 million on such efforts, the vast majority of its reported lobbying effort for the summer months. Gil Duran, a spokesman for the organization, said the money included advertising and direct-mail efforts to promote SB 350.
“We simply cannot afford to let people only hear Big Oil’s side of the story,” Duran said in an email.
Los Angeles Times November 2, 2015
