Climate Lobbying Heats Up

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There's a "crazy quilt of about 140 businesses and organizations that jumped into the climate change debate on Capitol Hill in the first quarter of this year," reports Marianne Lavelle. "Those new players drove a 14 percent increase in the number of interests lobbying on global warming, compared to the same time last year." That increase "comes on top of already rapid growth from 2003 through 2008," when the number of climate change lobbyists "jumped more than 400 percent, to over 770." Most represent "manufacturers, power companies, and the oil and gas industry" concerned that policies like the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would establish a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would hurt their business. The top ten list of climate lobbying firms includes Ogilvy Government Relations, Patton Boggs, Bracewell & Giuliani, and Hunton & Williams. Hunton -- the firm behind the Water Policy Institute -- counts Cleco, FirstEnergy, the Gas Processors Association and Koch Industries among its climate lobbying clients.