A search of records by Capitol News Connection reveals that the
biggest coal company operating in West Virginia, CONSOL Energy, has spent $6.4 million
in the past two years on lobbying, a huge increase over the previous years.
A lot of that lobbying money is being spent on the cap-and-trade
bill making its way through Congress. CONSOL spokesman Tom Hoffman says the
industry just isn’t ready for the emissions requirements in the bill.
“We do need to have some help from the government in developing
the technologies necessary to capture carbon and to store it,” Hoffman said.
CONSOL isn’t the only big spender in Washington.
Arch Coal has spent almost $1.5 million just in the last six
months on their lobbying efforts. They’re spending money three times faster
than they did last year.
Dave Levinthal works for the Center for Responsive Politics, a
watchdog group that tracks money in Washington.
“What they try to do when they are making lobbying expenditures
like this is buy themselves into the process,” Levinthal said.
And what have these companies gotten for their money?
By the time the House bill came up for a vote in June, it had lost much of its bite. The emissions
reduction target for 2020 was lowered from 20 percent to 17. Lawmakers cut
renewable fuel standards, and they’re planning to give out most of the credits
for coal companies to pollute---for free.
Even though the bill was weakened, the Carol Raulston,
spokesperson for National Mining Association, says it’s not enough.
“We ended up having to oppose the bill. There are similar problems
in the various versions being looked at on the Senate side, though we haven’t
seen a final bill there yet,” said Raulston.
All of West Virginia’s House members voted against the bill.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., says she didn’t need lobbyists
to convince her that jobs come first. She heard it loud and clear from her
constituents.
“The big issue is jobs, the economy in our state, communities,
people feeding their families, food on the table kind of issues and that far
out-trumps whatever political contributions,” said Capito.
As it goes to the Senate, Tom Hoffman says West Virginia’s
Senators will be key in the debate, though neither of them is on the relevant
committees.
“I think Senator Byrd and Senator Rockefeller, not only because
they’re from coal-producing states and not only because their vote probably is
needed to get to 60, but because they are influential on matters related to
energy, people will listen to what they have to say,” said Hoffman.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., says he’s getting lobbied.
“Yeah, but I’m getting lobbied by my people. They’re so scared and
so angry, more so than in the 45 years that I’ve been there,” said
Rockefeller. “It’s really extraordinary
when you threaten people’s livelihoods and you see everything against you,
there’s nothing you can do.”
The other side of the economic coin is, of course, the
environment.
Jennifer Layke of the World Resources Institute says climate change threatens the very survival of human beings on the planet.
“That means we’ll have more droughts. That means we’ll have more large-scale
weather events, like Hurricane Katrina,” said Layke.
Some coal companies took their lobbying down a notch this summer.
The climate bill passed the House in June, and the Senate was too busy with
health care to pick it up.
Watch for CONSOL Energy, Arch Coal and other energy firms to
redouble their efforts later this year, when the Senate turns its attention to
climate change.