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Ads appear on Facebook millions of times a week. They specifically target vulnerable Democrats in Congress, warning that the $ 3.5 trillion budget bill – one of the Biden administration’s biggest efforts to adopt meaningful climate policy – will destroy the states economy. United.
“Some politicians, including Representative Houlahan, are aiming to raise taxes on US energy producers,” read an announcement attacking Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania that began Sept. 15. “Tax increases on US power producers are tantamount to risking US energy jobs. Call Representative Houlahan now!”
The paid positions are part of a broad attack by the oil and gas industry on the budget bill, the fate of which is now on the line. Among the climate provisions that will likely be left out of the plan is an effort to dismantle billions of dollars in tax breaks on fossil fuels – provisions that experts say encourage the burning of fossil fuels responsible for catastrophic climate change.
On Thursday, details emerged of an agreement between Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin III, a Democrat with enormous influence over the divided Senate who said he did not support such a broad bill. . According to a memo outlining the deal, first obtained by Politico, Mr Manchin said if the legislation were to include extensions of small tax credits for wind and solar power, it should not cancel the reliefs. tax for fossil fuel producers.
The American Petroleum Institute, the largest trading group in the oil and gas industry, has played a central role in efforts to secure continued tax relief for oil and gas. It uses a front group, called Energy Citizens, which API also used a decade ago to successfully thwart a “cap and trade” plan that would have capped warming greenhouse gas emissions. the planet, while allowing businesses to buy and sell special products. lets stay under that ceiling.
In the first six months of this year, API spent more than $ 2 million lobbying Congress directly on issues such as taxes, according to federal disclosures. The API, whose members include Exxon Mobil, Chevron and BP, also ran a seven-figure TV campaign opposing various measures in the reconciliation package.
And on Facebook, API has spent nearly half a million dollars running hundreds of ads attacking the bill since Aug. 11, when the Senate passed a budget resolution, according to advertising data analyzed by InfluenceMap, a London-based think tank that tracks business influence in policymaking. These ads, at least 286 of which targeted individual members of Congress, have been viewed at least 21 million times.
The API’s average daily spend on budget-attacking Facebook ads surpassed the group’s previous spending spike, set after then-presidential candidate Joe Biden announced his climate plans in July 2020, according to the data. (Detailed Facebook data on political ad spend is only available as of May 2018.)
API ads commend Senator Manchin for his opposition to the plan. Senator Manchin has received more campaign donations from the oil, coal and gas industries than any other senator. “Help us thank Senator Joe Manchin,” one recent announcement read, “for being a champion of American energy. “
API spokesperson Megan Bloomgren said the industry group was working with policymakers on both sides of the aisle on climate policy and continued to support carbon pricing. “The policies embedded in the $ 3.5 trillion reconciliation package that limit US access to energy and impose punitive taxes are not the right way to achieve our common goal of reducing emissions and would only do ‘increase imports and higher costs for Americans,’ she said.
Exxon Mobil, the largest oil and gas producer in the United States, spent about $ 1.6 million on political and thematic ads during the same period, according to the data. This is the company’s highest daily spend on Facebook ads since the presidential election.
While many advertisements typically talk about the oil industry, others urge voters to call their representatives, “Tell Congress American businesses can’t afford a tax hike,” one ad read. recent Exxon.
Casey Norton, a spokesperson for Exxon, said the company’s efforts were “fully transparent and reported to the appropriate agencies.” He said the company’s efforts were “tied to a tax burden that could disadvantage US businesses, and we have made that position known to the public.” Exxon continues to support climate action, including the regulation of methane, a particularly powerful greenhouse gas, as well as a price on carbon, and supports the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, he said. declared.
Jake Carbone, senior analyst at InfluenceMap, said the ads have huge reach and potential impact.
“They get millions of views,” he said. “Even if only a small percentage of the people who watch these ads end up contacting the rep, it’s still going to be a lot of calls.”
Environmental groups are fighting back with their own ad spending. The League of Conservation Voters and Climate Power, for example, said they’ve spent $ 3.2 million on digital ads since August, including ads against Republicans in Congress like Florida’s Maria Salazar, who voted against the project. of law.
“Families in Florida need Maria Salazar to see what’s in front of her,” says an ad that began airing Sept. 8. “The danger is real. Extreme weather conditions are more intense and more frequent than ever – and all the more reason to act now. “
“It’s time to end API’s selfish climate action campaigns and focus on getting the Build Back Better Act to the finish line before our window of action closes,” said Lori Lodes, Executive Director of Climate Power.
Researchers who study oil and gas influence campaigns have said that industry campaigns are the latest chapter in a long history of blocking climate policy.
API was one of the first industry organizations to have in-depth knowledge of climate change, said Benjamin Franta, researcher at Stanford and co-founder of the Climate Social Science Network, a global network of academics studying climate policy . “It was one of the first in the industry to minimize the threat of climate change and promote greater expansion of fossil fuels,” he said.
The industry lobby group has said in recent months that it supports strong climate action, including putting a price on carbon pollution. API and Exxon are both the target of a House Monitoring and Reform Committee investigation into their past efforts to block climate policy. API said she “looks forward to the opportunity to testify.”
Much of the industry’s effort has focused on protecting special tax breaks that benefit producers. But experts say the subsidies are unnecessary for a profitable, mature industry like oil.
In addition, the burning of fossil fuels has led to climate change, a link highlighted in a landmark scientific report released by the United Nations this year. In a separate report, the International Energy Agency said countries around the world must immediately stop approving new oil and gas fields if they are to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
“Grants can make the difference between an ongoing field or not,” said Pete Erickson, director of the climate policy program at the Stockholm Environment Institute.
President Biden had made tax revisions a critical part of his climate agenda, along with a $ 150 billion program designed to replace most of the country’s coal and gas-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear power in the over the next decade. In his US Jobs Plan, President Biden called for the elimination of “billions of dollars in subsidies, loopholes and special foreign tax credits for the fossil fuel industry.” Clean energy can provide more sustainable jobs, says President Biden.
Environmental groups and climate researchers have called for an end to fossil fuel subsidies of $ 350 billion in the world’s richest countries, more than double the estimate of renewable energy subsidies.
Industry groups like API and the US Chamber of Commerce have championed the tax provisions. They “allow our industry to recoup its costs and invest that in the next project,” wrote a group of oil industry groups in a letter to Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the powerful committee. Senate Finance Committee in June.
Repeals, including tax deductions for “intangible drilling costs,” which allow producers to deduct most of the cost of drilling new wells, as well as a tax credit for an unconventional process called enhanced oil recovery. oil, have probably disappeared. This credit encourages producers to drill for oil using methods that may not be economical with oil market prices, a congressional review said last year.
Also missing is the repeal of a provision known as the “percentage depletion allowance,” which allows independent oil and gas producers and royalty holders to deduct 15% of their gross revenues year after year. ; which allows smallholders to keep even marginal, unprofitable wells in operation. The Biden administration has calculated that getting rid of these and other tax preferences on fossil fuels would generate some $ 35 billion over the next decade.
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