Lobbying Increases With Oil Prices

Amid a national backdrop of steadily rising gasoline prices, oil and natural gas interests have pumped up their spending on lobbying while working aggressively to thwart Democratic initiatives in Congress.

The lobbying tab for the industry jumped by nearly 62 percent between 2004 and 2007 — from $51.1 million to $83.9 million — according to disclosure reports analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group that tracks money in politics.

Overall lobbying increased by about 30 percent during the same period, according to the center's Web site, OpenSecrets.org.

The stepped-up oil and gas lobbying comes as the industry has been challenging a number of congressional initiatives, including efforts to repeal old tax breaks, impose new taxes and curb speculation in the energy futures market.

The success of industry lobbyists in fending off proposals that would have levied $18 billion in new taxes on Big Oil over the next decade amounts to a return on investment of 21,454 percent — almost 215 times the industry's outlay.

Leading the corporate lobbying list was Exxon Mobil Corp., according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Exxon Mobil shelled out $16.9 million in 2007, a 57 percent increase over its 2004 spending.

In the first quarter of this year, the Irving-based oil giant spent $3 million for in-house staff and 11 outside firms.

Exxon Mobil's lobbying disclosure forms list a variety of legislation of interest to the company, including measures to curb climate change, the proposed Colombia free trade agreement and a House resolution affirming global leadership to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Because of the size and the number of high-profile issues the company is addressing and monitoring, "our lobbying efforts have necessarily increased at both federal and state levels," said Tony Cudmore, a spokesman for the company.