Oil Industry Cranks Up Lobbying Effort

JOHN PORRETTO

HOUSTON (AP) — Oil and gas companies have accelerated their spending on lobbying faster than any other industry, training their gusher of profits on Washington to fight new taxes on drilling and slow efforts to move the nation off fossil fuels.

The industry spent $44.5 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies in the first three months of this year, on pace to shatter last year's record. Only the drug industry spent more.

Last year's total of $129 million was up 73 percent from two years earlier. That's a faster clip than any other major industry, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

From the late 1990s through the first half of this decade, the oil industry spent roughly $50 million to $60 million a year on lobbying. It ramped up lobbying in 2006, when Democrats retook Congress, and further as President Barack Obama took office.

"They're under attack, they're ramping up their operations and they've got money to spend," said Tyson Slocum, who runs the energy program at watchdog group Public Citizen. "They're in much better position than other industries to draw upon financial resources for their lobbying effort."