As the climate change debate [3] heats up, energy-related companies are spending millions of dollars to influence state-level politics in the U.S. Between 2003 and 2007, energy-related companies such as Chevron [4] contributed $151 million to state-level politics, according to a new study [5] by FollowTheMoney.org. In sharp contrast, environmental organizations and alternative energy companies contributed only $26 million. Eighty percent of the money from energy and manufacturing coalitions went to incumbents, and two-thirds went to Republicans. In addition, energy and manufacturing coalitions employed 7,538 lobbyists to influence legislation at the state level.