Republican attorneys general who are fighting the Clean Power Plan in court and their national organization have received $4.7 million from the fossil fuel industry since 2014, according to a report released Thursday.
Americans United for Change, a liberal nonprofit group that supports Democratic causes, released the report, called “Polluter Impunity: Republicans Attorneys General Attack on the Clean Power Plan,” as an attempt to show that the top law enforcement officers in the states challenging the regulation are working on behalf of industry donors.
The report states the Republican Attorneys General Association has received $1.9 million from fossil fuel sources since January 2014 and the 22 Republican attorneys general challenging the regulation in court have received a total of $2.8 million in donations from similar sources. The report cites information from the Republican Attorneys General Association’s Internal Revenue Service filings and Freedom of Information Act requests.
The report does not cover any of the Democratic attorneys general who have sued to block the rule.
Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change, said the donations were proof that the attorneys general are working for donors, not constituents.
“If you ask me, that’s pretty damning,” he said. “And it really does indicate who these attorneys general are working for on this issue.”
Woodhouse said Democrats weren’t included in the report because stopping the Clean Power Plan is predominantly a Republican issue.
“There are always exceptions to the rule, but if you look at the broad political context, if you look at the presidential race, if you look at the Senate races from 2014, if you look at this issue as it’s debated in Congress, if you look at the preponderance of states that are suing to stop the Clean Power Plan, this is a 99 percent or 98 percent Republican position,” he said.
The Clean Power Plan is President Obama’s signature environmental regulation on power plants. Under the rules, the Environmental Protection Agency has directed states how much to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
The regulation has been under attack since the EPA announced its formation two years ago. Thirty states are suing to block the rule with a number of interest groups.
Bill Holland, state policy director for the League of Conservation Voters, said the EPA has given states the opportunity to come up with their own plans instead of handing down a one-size-fits-all solution.
But the Republican attorneys general are hurting their states by trying to block the rule, he said.
“Voters deserve better than having the top law enforcement officer for their states working on a high-powered legal team for the oil and gas industry,” he said.
Frank Maisano, an energy industry spokesman representing several groups suing to block the Clean Power Plan, said the Republican attorney generals are more within their rights as their state’s top law enforcement officers than the attorneys general investigating Exxon Mobil. Four attorneys general have announced probes into the oil company to find out what it knew about climate change and when.
“It is important to remember that the bipartisan group of 29 attorneys general, yes there are three Democrats, challenging the Obama Clean Power Plan rule were supported in their challenge by both the Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals,” Maisano said.
“It also seems like there’s a big difference between suing a federal agency for exceeding its statutory authority and secretly urging state officials to use government resources to ‘investigate’ companies that disagree with your views about climate change.”
