A Case of Lowered Expectations

Center for Public Integrity by Marianne Lavelle | Nov. 16, 2009 (Special Report)
Washington Gets Serious about Climate, but Businesses Push To Curb U.S. Commitments

... senators won’t be deciding anything until they hear from those denizens of the Capitol corridors — the lobbyists. Many of them are ex-government officials and staffers and professional campaign fundraisers who now plead the case of special interests with former colleagues and legislators who are nearly constantly running for re-election. Full Story »

Posted by Kaizar Campwala

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Derek Hawkins
4.3
 by Derek Hawkins - Nov. 16, 2009

Top-notch explanatory reporting about the web of competing interests that surrounds U.S. climate change policy. Center for Public Integrity sought input from sources in a range of fields on all sides of the debate. The issues are examined fairly and in depth, and given both domestic and global context.

By the time the House of Representatives narrowly passed climate legislation in June, more than 1,150 companies and advocacy groups had hired an estimated 2,810 lobbyists on climate change, according to an analysis of disclosures filed with the Senate Office of Public Records. That amounts to five lobbyists for every member of Congress, an increase of more than 400 percent from six years earlier, when Congress considered its first major comprehensive climate change legislation. U.S. regulations do not require filers to itemize how much they spend on climate, but even if global warming consumed only 10 percent of their efforts, they would have spent more than $47 million on climate issues in the first half of the year.

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Derek's Rating

Overall
4.3

Good
from 12 answers
Quality
4.3
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4.0
Fairness
4.0
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4.0
Style
4.0
Context
5.0
Depth
5.0
Enterprise
4.0
Relevance
4.0
Popularity
4.0
Recommendation
4.0
Credibility
4.0
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