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"They want to take climate out of the policy process entirely."
A key oil and gas industry group has devised a plan to dismantle Biden-era climate regulations, including on methane emissions, according to an investigation published Friday in The Washington Post.
The American Exploration and Production Council, a trade group of 30 oil and gas producers, aims to reverse a series of regulations the Biden administration has made, including the institution of a methane fee, the Post reported, based on AXPC documents that were leaked to Fieldnotes, a climate research group.
AXPC represents Big Oil companies including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, whose executives Republican nominee Donald Trump has aggressively sought out for contributions in his bid to return to the White House, even making a quid pro quo offer—deregulation in return for $1 billion in campaign cash—during a gathering at Mar-a-Lago in April.
David Doniger, senior adviser to the NRDC Action Fund, which is affiliated with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Post that Trump had "promised to grant their wishes" and the leaked documents, which Doniger reviewed at the paper's request, revealed their "wish list."
Paasha Mahdavi, director of the Energy Governance and Political Economy Lab at University of California at Santa Barbara, noted the comprehensiveness of AXPC's plans, which he also reviewed.
"They want to take climate out of the policy process entirely," Mahdavi told the Post. "They want government to stop regulating climate issues and stop thinking about climate risks."
Mahdavi said the AXPC documents showed that member companies were acting out of step with their own public climate pledges.
"They talk a lot about climate ambitions while doing something different inside their companies," he said. "If you are aligned with the Paris agreement, you cannot be part of a trade association trying to roll back these emissions regulations. Those two things are inconsistent."
Elizabeth Kolbert, an environmental writer at The New Yorker, said the plans were not surprising but were "still terrifying."
The oil and gas industry's plan for a Trump presidency involves pouring more methane into the atmosphere. Unsurprisingly, but still terrifying. https://t.co/RsVjiMefZH
— Elizabeth Kolbert (@ElizKolbert) October 18, 2024
Aspects of the AXPC plans had already been released publicly, including its goals to increase the production and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The leaked documents included a confidential survey of member companies showing that nine out of the 19 companies that responded had increased methane flaring between 2021 and 2023. Natural gas flaring is a longstanding but highly polluting industry disposal method. The survey also showed that the total amount of flaring across the companies increased by 20% from 2022 to 2023.
Methane is a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide, though not as long lasting in its effects. Methane emissions are responsible for about 20-30% of climate warming since the 1700s, scientists estimate—second only to carbon dioxide. Fossil fuels are a major source of those methane emissions, along with modern agricultural practices and other causes.
In March, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its methane rule, which is projected to reduce emissions of the gas by up to 80% over 14 years. A group of Republican-led states and fossil fuel interests have challenged the rule in federal court. The case that's ongoing, though the plaintiffs' bid for an emergency injunction on the rule from the U.S. Supreme Court failed, so the regulation remains in effect.
The documents also show a number of other orders and regulations in the industry's crosshairs. One is a sweeping executive order issued in the first week of the Biden administration to establish a "whole-of-government" approach to tackling the climate crisis; it includes goals to limit drilling on federal land and decarbonize the grid. AXPC also seeks to undo an executive order that requires companies to disclose climate-related financial risks.
Other items in the AXPC roadmap include lifting the Biden administration's pause on LNG exports and undoing a rule requiring the climate to be taken into account in major infrastructure projects. The group also wants to see an executive order that promotes fossil fuel production.
AXPC spokesperson Mark Bednar, who previously worked for then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, told the Post that "our board documents make clear that our priorities are the same regardless of who is in the White House."
Yet the plan, which runs in contradiction to Democratic Party aims, will only be actionable if Trump returns to power.
Trump has phoned oil and gas executives regularly in recent months "to hear their wishes and raise campaign cash," the Post reported. As a group, AXPC hasn't contributed to the Trump campaign, but leaders of its member companies are Trump donors and fundraisers.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), which released a major report this week showing that the world's nations were not on track to achieve crucial climate goals, has documented the dangerous rise in global methane emissions—making the agency a target of the fossil fuel industry.
At a fundraiser this summer, fossil fuel executives told Trump he should push for Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director, to be replaced, according to the Post, citing an anonymous attendee.
ExxonMobil distanced itself from the leaked documents, telling the Post that it doesn't agree with all AXPC positions and that it has sharply reduced its methane emissions and supports the methane fee.
ConocoPhillips didn't reply to a request for comment by the Post but has said in filings that it supports the AXPC's position on methane.
Donald Trump’s Project 2025 would cost the economy billions, jack up household bills, and rob us of a safer climate future. It isn’t just a policy proposal—it’s a full-scale assault on progress.
Vice President Kamala Harris recently unveiled her new economic plan, a vision for America that not only charts a path to tackle climate pollution but harnesses it as an opportunity to build a more affordable, prosperous country. Her plans and record shows we can tackle the climate crisis while creating a more equitable economy. In fact, the Biden-Harris administration’s climate law has already spurred over $372 billion in investments and created more than 334,000 new jobs—with nearly half of the benefits going to historically marginalized groups, including low-income households and Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.
At Evergreen Action, we’re fighting to enact policies to tackle the climate crisis head-on while making people’s lives better. One way we do that is by holding politicians accountable to their climate commitments and shining a light on the impact of climate policy, good or bad. This election, the choice could not be more stark.
This election isn’t just about choosing between two candidates—it’s about choosing between two radically different futures.
Donald Trump’s Project 2025 would cost the economy billions, jack up household bills, and rob us of a safer climate future. It isn’t just a policy proposal—it’s a full-scale assault on progress. It would dismantle clean energy programs, roll back pollution standards, and undermine America’s global leadership in the clean energy economy.
If Trump’s Project 2025 becomes reality, America could lose 1.7 million jobs by 2030, and household energy costs could rise by $32 billion. The health impacts could be even more devastating: hundreds of thousands of new asthma cases and over 25,000 premature deaths by 2050, with marginalized communities bearing the brunt.
This election isn’t just about choosing between two candidates—it’s about choosing between two radically different futures. Vice President Harris offers a path where clean energy fuels economic growth, cuts costs, creates jobs, and protects our communities. Trump’s Project 2025, on the other hand, represents a future where corrupt polluters run the show, slamming the door shut on saving our planet—and blocking all the benefits that would come with it.
We don’t have to settle for Trump’s outdated, short-sighted approach. Continued climate leadership, supported by actionable policies, offers a pathway to a prosperous and healthy future. Earlier this year, Evergreen Action published a roadmap for the next president, built in collaboration with climate, environmental justice, and labor partners, to build on the Biden-Harris administration’s historic climate achievements and fight climate change while building a thriving clean energy economy.
This plan would set us on track to achieve 100% clean energy, revitalize American industry by onshoring manufacturing, create millions of good-paying union jobs, and ensure we lead the world in clean energy. And, our plan would make polluters pay, finally holding Big Oil accountable for its role in fueling the climate crisis.
Our plan would make polluters pay, finally holding Big Oil accountable for its role in fueling the climate crisis.
Rather than tie us to the expensive, polluting fossil fuels of the past, we can grow our clean energy economy that strengthens the middle class. Electing a Harris-Walz administration and advocating for robust climate policies like those in our plan can create 3.9 million jobs, save households $39 billion in energy costs, and protect thousands of lives by 2030 compared to Trump’s Project 2025.
In Pennsylvania, grants through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are propelling the Commonwealth’s clean energy industries, creating thousands of jobs, and ensuring American workers lead in producing clean energy technology. Meanwhile, Michigan is seeing an economic boom supported by federal investments that are projected to cut household energy bills by $713 annually by 2040 and generate $27.8 billion in public health savings.
Trump’s promise to repeal these investments wouldn’t just kill jobs and stunt economic growth—it would destroy America’s competitiveness in clean energy manufacturing and deployment.
Despite Trump’s insistence once again that climate change is “one of the great scams”—even as Hurricanes Milton and Helene brought catastrophic flooding across the South, killing at least 300 people and leaving thousands stranded and without power—climate change is no longer a distant threat. It’s powering a growing barrage of record-breaking weather events every year. Higher ocean temperatures fuel rapidly intensifying storms, making hurricane season even more deadly. Arizona is enduring record-breaking heatwaves, while states like North Carolina and Texas are being hit by once-in-1,000-year rainfalls with alarming frequency.
This is our last shot. If we make the right choice, we’ll not only preserve a safer future for all Americans, but we’ll reap significant benefits—good-paying union jobs, lower energy costs, and a healthier environment. The alternative? A future with rising temperatures, more extreme weather, and higher prices.
A Sludge review of new federal filings shows that the fossil fuel industry has donated a record sum to groups dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. House and Senate.
The investigative outlet Sludge reported Thursday that the fossil fuel industry has pumped a record sum this election cycle into a pair of super PACs dedicated to securing GOP control of the House and retaking the narrowly Democratic Senate next month.
Citing Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings made public earlier this week, Sludge noted that oil and gas giants such as Chevron and ConocoPhillips as well as the American Petroleum Institute—the industry's largest lobbying group—donated more than $20 million total to the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) and the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) in the third quarter of 2024.
"The latest wave of donations brings the fossil fuel industry's total to more than $54.2 million given to the CLF and SLF during the 2023-24 election cycle through September, according to Sludge's analysis," the outlet reported. "The two super PACs have launched tens of millions of dollars of ads in the month before Election Day, with control of both chambers of Congress up for grabs."
The new analysis of Big Oil's spending in the final stretch of the 2024 campaign came months after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump urged major fossil fuel industry players to raise $1 billion for his White House bid. In exchange, Trump—who has campaigned on the slogan "drill, baby, drill"—said he would work to roll back climate rules put in place by the Biden-Harris administration.
One watchdog group called on the FBI and Department of Justice to investigate Trump's offer as possible criminal bribery, and congressional Democrats are currently probing what they described as the former president's "quid pro quo solicitations."
According to OpenSecrets, the oil and gas industry has spent over $152 million on campaign contributions this election cycle, with over 88% of that total going to Republican candidates.
The Washington Post reported in August that Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, "has become Trump's point person in raising funds from oil industry donors and relaying to the ex-president what the industry wants."
So far, the industry has given over $21 million to Trump's campaign committee and PACs supporting his candidacy, and Big Oil lawyers are already reportedly drawing up executive orders for him to sign should he defeat Democratic nominee Kamala Harris next month.
The newly released FEC filings show that Trump's campaign has also received a substantial fundraising boost in recent months from just a handful of billionaires, including Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk and Energy Transfer Partners chair Kelcy Warren.
Joshua Graham Lynn, CEO of the anti-corruption group RepresentUs, said in a statement Thursday that "the latest super PAC filings show that a handful of billionaires are spending staggering amounts of money to influence the outcome of our elections."
"In 2010, the courts opened the floodgates for individuals and corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on our elections," Lynn said, alluding to the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. "It's no coincidence that American politics has grown more and more polarized and divisive since then. Our system is broken, and we won’t be able to fix it until we eliminate the influence of money in politics and root out the corruption that comes with it."