August Pfluger, an Air Force veteran and House member, representing a small district in West Texas, isn’t exactly a household name on the national political scene, with little media coverage over the past two months in outside of a recent appearance on Fox News.
But he is the largest recipient of campaign contributions from the nation’s oil and gas industry — among all federal candidates, including President Biden, Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — who received $573,721 over the course of the current election cycle, according to compiled campaign finance data. by OpenSecrets. Pfluger is running for re-election, although it is not a competitive race in this heavily Republican district.
But Pfluger has been a staunch ally of the industry, leading congressional opposition to the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas exports. When Pfluger entered Congress in 2021, his first bill proposed prohibiting the Biden administration from requiring a moratorium on the issuance of new oil and gas permits for drilling on federal lands. He said on the House floor: “My primary concern in Congress is protecting our oil and gas industry from the radical Democrats who will soon control the House, Senate and White House. »
His concern mirrors that of the industry, which heavily favors Republicans when it comes to campaign donations. Still, the sector is booming under the Biden administration – US oil production is expected to reach record levels in 2024, with employment growth in the sector outpacing that of the overall job market – but this performance is due less to government policy than to global factors. such as the war in Ukraine and an increase in prices resulting from post-pandemic demand.
Biden has angered the industry with his ambitious climate agenda and many Democrats have pushed for renewable energy to replace fossil fuels, to accelerate the transition to a clean energy future and erode profits from industry. In contrast, Trump has supported removing many regulations on oil, gas and coal companies, and Republicans have generally supported policies that help the industry.
This divide is clearly reflected in the industry’s campaign contributions: Oil and gas companies contribute more than seven times as much money to Republican candidates and conservative groups as to Democrats and liberal groups, also according to OpenSecrets. During the 2024 election cycle, the industry has contributed more than $25 million to the Republican Party and conservative groups, compared to $3.6 million to Democrats as of April 16; at this rate, the distribution of donations will be even wider than during the competitive 2020 elections. Among certain oil giants, the divide is even more marked. Koch Industries, the Kansas-based conglomerate, has so far contributed $1.3 million to Republicans and just $710 to Democrats. Among the sector’s top 20 contributors, only Wyoming-based oil producer Samson Energy gave more to Democrats than Republicans. .
Along with Pfluger, the other top five recipients of oil and gas money this cycle are all Republicans: Trump ($501,014), his ex-rivals Govs. Ron DeSantis ($496,927) and Nikki Haley ($431,817) and Cruz ($445,232).
In contrast, the renewable energy sector (which includes solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biofuels) contributed almost twice as much to Democrats ($3.92 million) as to Republicans ($2.15 million dollars) during this cycle.
“Despite the fact that oil is doing incredibly well under President Biden, the industry and its allies have continued to press the misleading argument that Biden is engaged in a war on oil and gas. The reality is that he tried to come up with modest rules on the industry,” said Alan Zibel, an analyst at Public Citizen. “The industry prefers Republicans because they will do what they want them to do.”
Party distribution of oil and gas contribution recipients by electoral cycle, 2010-2024
OpenSecrets/FEC
In some cases, lawmakers are going even further than the industry, “pushing industry giveaways” into inflation-reduction legislation, Zibel said. In 2023, Pfluger introduced legislation that would have repealed a tax intended to discourage methane emissions, a tax that was actually supported by several oil and gas companies.
Among the industry’s largest political contributors is the powerful American Petroleum Institute (API), which has contributed about $3.7 million so far this cycle, the vast majority to conservative groups and Republican candidates. The group is also spending eight figures on a national television and digital advertising campaign, dubbed the Lights on Energy campaign, which aims to further promote domestic oil and gas production and “dismantle” political threats, including parts of the Biden administration’s climate agenda.
In response to questions about why he favors GOP candidates, American Petroleum Institute spokesman Scott J. Lauermann responded:
“API supports leaders in both parties who align with our policy priorities and recognize the importance of American natural gas and oil in supporting millions of American jobs, meeting the demand for affordable and reliable energy, and reducing emissions through cleaner fuels.”
The group also exerts its influence through lobbying spending, spending more in Pennsylvania in 2022 than in any other state. In the first three months of this year, he has already spent more than $500,000 lobbying state agencies and lawmakers. Pennsylvania, the second-largest natural gas producing state, offers significant benefits and tax breaks to the industry and is a key target for groups such as API as its Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, faces pressure from environmental groups to make set back the state’s economy. from fossil fuels.
In Pennsylvania, industry donations have been more bipartisan, with lawmakers from both parties attracting campaign contributions from oil and gas producers. The only campaign contributions from First Energy, an electric utility that recently abandoned its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 because it cannot replace two coal-fired power plants, have were paid to Joanna McClinton, Democratic Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Representatives. One of the state’s largest gas producers, Range Resources, has so far directed its donations only to Republican candidates, including State Treasurer Stacy L. Garrity and several state officials who sit on the powerful Environmental and Energy Resources Committee, which oversees the industry.
In one of the state’s most competitive battles, incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey has so far raised about $50,000 from the industry, less than half of what has been raised (119,521 $) by his Republican opponent, David McCormick. Part of McCormick’s appeal is his strong opposition to the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas exports (he recently vowed to flood the global market with natural gas) and his criticism of of Casey for voting to subsidize electric vehicles and solar panels through reducing inflation. Act.
In a sign of the scale of Pennsylvania’s liquefied natural gas problem, the state’s Democratic senators, Casey and John Fetterman, have both been outspoken in their opposition to the ban, expressing “concerns about the long-term impacts that This pause will impact thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry.
Pennsylvania will see an “influx of money from industry,” Zibel predicted. “Decisions made by its lawmakers will determine the future profits of the state’s oil and gas producers.”
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