You can’t be too rich or too dirty
Rich and thin is passé. What’s hot now is rich and dirty.
Why is a smart energy and climate policy so elusive for this country? In three words — money, money, money.
The nation’s energy bill is now about a trillion dollars. That means the super-rich fossil fuel companies have enormous profits they can spend on lobbying to ensure their continued dominance. How much? Jeff Goodell has the answer here:
In the first quarter of 2008, Big Coal’s new front group, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, spent a record-breaking $1.9 million in federal lobbying expenses. To put that in perspective, in the same period, the Solar Energies Industries Association spent all of $75,000….
Individual coal companies have been even more generous to our nation’s cash-starved policymakers:
Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal producer, spent $1.3 million in lobbying fees in Q1 of 2008. At this rate, they too will nearly double the $3 million the company spent lobbying in all of 2007.
The 800-pound gorilla in coal politics has long been The Southern Company, the big Altanta-based coal-burning electric utility.
Once again, Southern didn’t disappoint its friends, doling out $2.8 million in lobbying expenses in Q1 of 2008. That’s close to surpassing the All-Time Lobbying Champion of the Fossil Fuel Industry, ExxonMobil, which spent $3 million in the same period.
More lobbying $$$ can be found here.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
“Collapse Coming Soon to a Civilization Near You!”
http://keithakers.com/Collapse.htm
A review of three books on collapse. (Also links to related essays.)
Relevant to large-scale lobbying.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Here’s an excerpt from one of the books David Benson linked to:
“Peer polities then then tend to undergo long periods of upwardly-spiraling competitive costs, and downward marginal returns. This is terminated finally by domination of one and acquisition of a new energy subsidy (as in Republican Rome and Warring States China), or by mutual collapse (as among the Mycenaeans and the Maya). Collapse, if and when it comes again, will this time be global. No longer can any individual nation collapse. World civilization will disintegrate as a whole. Competitors who evolve as peers collapse in like manner.”
Reassuring isn’t it?
June 9th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Joe, Just how much does the coal industry spend on lobbying as a percentage of sales? I bet it is a fraction of the the percentage spent by the various solar welfare queens and kings.
Thank god the coal companies are profitable and are still free to forward rational government.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
1.8 million, 3 million, 2.8 million.
So what. That’s not so much.
It’s not that these companies are spending so much money on lobbying.
It’s that everybody else is not spending money on lobbying.
My state has about 5 million people in it, about 3 million adults. If every adult in my state decided to donate 500 dollars a year politically, that would be about 1.5 billion dollars. That would change the politics in the US and thus some in the world.
It’s not that companies are so motivated to have laws made in their favor, it’s that regular people are so disinterested in doing something about it.
If we think that Global Warming is a going to be a problem to the next 50 generations, those that think it is a problem should be more outspoken about it.
I don’t blame companies for lobbying for what is in their self interest. That is their respondsibility to their company, shareholders and stakeholders. As our business laws are set up, these companies have no respondsibilities to the next 50 generations. Which is why we need laws that are respondsible to the next 50 generations. Which is also why Global Warming progress can’t just be a voluntary effort. The laws have to reflect the needs of the planet for 50 generations as requested and enforced by the present living generations. Decision makers of companies are required to do the best for their own company, not some voluntary effort that would be best for the next 50 generations.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Unfortunately lobbying is just one of those wonderful things that comes with democracy and laissez-faire free market capitalism. After all, who’s a blame an honest Coal or Oil CEO from rent-seeking or attempting to capture politicians (especially when the majority of these politicians lend themselves so easily to corruptibility).
Unfortunately the only way to fight such money and power from energy companies seeking to fill their own coffers is through grassroots efforts which educate people in their local neighborhoods and awaken them to the manners in which their government has been stolen from them and their own futures jeopardized.
That day will come. That day must come…or else we’re all screwed.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:31 am
i had a dream once where there were infinite universes all exactly the same, because elementary particles were intelligent and were trying to see how many identical universes they could keep running at once. the ones that weren’t busy keeping it all working spun around making rude jokes about moss.
a million million srirams all writing that at once. a million million hapas quoting it. a million million million futures waiting for the train to leave the station.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Gee, I am just not with it anymore.
I thought “dirty” was slang for an enforcement type person, who takes bribes to look the other way. Made famous by Frank Serpico http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070666/
(Serpico, 1973) Oh, yeah! That was 25 years ago.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:21 am
jcwinnie — you are showing your age a la John McCain!
June 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
jcwinnie — you are showing math skills a la Barack Obama (his proposals don’t add up). 1973 was 35 years ago. Time flies when you’re having fun.