As the backlash over President Trump‘s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement continues to grow, most would agree that the decision didn’t come as much of a surprise given that his stated views on the subject echoes the GOP establishment. But some held out hope that Trump’s daughter Ivanka would sway him to remain, given her vocal support of climate change issues. That didn’t turn out to be the case, and Ivanka was notably absent from the assembly of White House officials were present for the announcement.
Just as Trump’s views on climate change are no secret, so is the influence of the oil, gas, and coal industries over the GOP. That influence was once again made apparent when 22 Republican senators signed a letter to Trump this week urging him to withdraw from the agreement. The senators, whose names include Oklahoma’s James Inhofe and Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, and Rand Paul, have been bought out by fossil fuel interests to the tune of over $10 million.
“We strongly encourage you to make a clean break from the Paris Agreement,” read the letter co-drafted by Inhofe, who once brought a snowball to the Senate floor as proof against climate change.
Donations from oil, gas and coal interests to the signatories of the letter are Open Secrets that seemed ready for a new review. A Guardian survey of Federal Elections Commission data organized by the Center for Responsive Politics found that the industries gave a total of $10,694,284 to the 22 senators over the past three election cycles. Visible donations to Republicans from those industries exceeded donations to Democrats in the 2016 election cycle by a ratio of 15-to-1, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And that does not include so-called dark money passed from oil interests such as Koch industries to general slush funds to re-elect Republicans such as the Senate leadership fund.
Here’s a breakdown of donations to GOP senators from the oil, gas, and coal industries from the past three election cycles, via the Guardian:
Featured image via Gage Skidmore (Flickr)
Jahkstrap on June 3rd, 2017 at 20:35 UTC »
There are 180 legislators that deny the science of Man made climate change and those same 180 legislators have received $82 million from fossil fuels. And that's just the money we can see on public record.
FreeFridolin on June 3rd, 2017 at 19:14 UTC »
Only 10 Fucking Million to fuck our planet and millions and billions of humans in future generations. How ? This is like killing a child over pocket change I don't understand ? Is there anything worse a human can do to its species?
greymalken on June 3rd, 2017 at 18:03 UTC »
You'd think, if you were selling out your country and fucking the rest of the world, you'd do it for more money. I was pissed before but now I'm insulted they did it for so little. 8 figures, each, at least.