Oil and gas companies spent more money fighting California’s environmental justice and climate policies in 2024 than ever before. 

Lobbying and influence spending disclosures show that Big Oil spent $6.6 million in the fourth quarter attempting to shape statewide policy measures. That brings the annual price tag for last year to $38 million, shattering the annual state lobbying record for the industry by 31%, which stood at $26.2 million in 2017. Spending by two groups alone, Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and Chevron, broke the previous record, coming in at $31.6 million in 2024. WSPA and Chevron accounted for 83% of the industry’s expenditure.

The top five 2024 Big Oil influence spenders can be seen below.

Beyond annual spending, Big Oil also smashed its two-year legislative session record as well, spending $65.8 million during the 2023-2024 legislative session. This far exceeds the $44.1 million spent during the 2017-2018 session.

During the fourth quarter, Chevron disclosed influence spending contributions of nearly $426,000 alone to the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), as well as another over $231,000 to the front group Californians for Energy Independence, and over $77,000 to a Washington, DC-based PR firm named DDC Public Affairs that is notorious for its creation of industry front groups and deception campaigns. WSPA, for its part, paid over $19,500 to the notorious Chevron-tied law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher currently defending a handful of its Big Oil member companies in the landmark climate deception lawsuit filed against them by Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2023. It also forked over $33,000 to the legal administrator of its front groups, the Bay Area law firm Nielsen Merksamer. 

Direct lobbying remained a cornerstone of Big Oil’s strategy in Sacramento. They concentrated heavily in 2024 on blocking the Make Polluters Pay legislative package, targeting bills like AB 1866 (idle wells reform), AB 2716 (reforms for low-producing wells), and AB 3233 (reaffirming localities’ authority to regulate or ban oil drilling)—all of which were ultimately signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act, AB 1497, also earned Big Oil’s lobbying attention and did not pass in 2024. Climate justice advocates, responsive to the historic wildfires, have called for similar legislation to be introduced in 2025 building off the momentum amassed after New York passed climate superfund legislation at the end of 2024.

“Big Oil is spending gobs of money lobbying to kill climate legislation when they should be paying for the widespread damage from L.A’s deadly fires,” said Christina Scaringe, California climate policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “California should be using every tool available to hold these polluters accountable. That includes passing a climate superfund bill to take billions in climate costs off Californians and put it on polluters where it belongs.”

A study released this last week by World Weather Attribution found that climate change—driven by the extraction and burning of fossil fuels—made the extreme fire weather conditions behind Los Angeles’ recent deadly wildfires 35% more likely. The escalating cost of climate emergencies is leaving Californians across the state struggling, while oil and gas production drives billions of dollars in revenue to fossil fuel companies responsible for the climate conditions fueling these disasters. With the new administration’s commitment to a “Drill, Baby, Drill” agenda, advocates say it is more important than ever to expose industry’s influence over California politics and policymakers. 

“At a time when Angelenos are still reeling from massive, destructive wildfires – fires that we know were made worse by fossil fuel-driven climate change – the greed shown by Big Oil companies is astounding,” said Food & Water Watch California Director Nicole Ghio. “These companies knew that climate change was real decades ago, but instead chose to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a massive disinformation campaign so they could keep profiting from their pollution. Polluters like Big Oil, not Californians, must pay for the costs of climate change, and we need a robust Superfund to make sure that happens.”    

In the past decade, the oil industry has spent tens of millions creating and funding astroturf organizations to mislead the public on climate, derail public health and environmental policies, and protect profits at taxpayers’ expense. Just one day after the devastating fires erupted in Los Angeles, WSPA launched a series of social media ads falsely claiming that the state’s environmental policies drive up the cost of energy in the state.

Meanwhile, California’s oil industry benefits from hundreds of millions of dollars in tax subsidies and loopholes, including a lucrative tax avoidance scheme called Water’s Edge that was the subject of a recent report published by The Climate Center.

“If oil corporations already have millions to spend on lobbying and PR campaigns, they don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars per year in taxpayer subsidies,” said The Climate Center Chief Operating Officer Barry Vesser. “While oil and gas executives subvert our democracy to protect their profits, working Californians are paying the price. It’s time for Governor Newsom to eliminate all state subsidies and tax breaks for Big Oil and reinvest in clean, affordable, and reliable energy for all.”

As climate justice advocates gear up for a new legislative fight in California for 2025, they are doubling down on efforts to combat industry misinformation and build a powerful movement to hold the industry accountable for the climate damage they are fueling. 

“Californians are tired of Big Oil’s manipulation of state politics. Increasingly, they want politicians who refuse dirty money and put the health and safety of California communities before fossil fuel profits. How do we know? Following demands from their constituents, over 650 California politicians from all levels of government have signed onto the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, vowing to reject contributions from fossil fuel CEOs, lobbyists, and industry groups. Pledge signers won their Assembly, State Senate, and U.S. House races in California in November at significantly higher rates than non-signers,” said Collin Rees, United States Campaign Manager at Oil Change International. 

“When wealthy corporations spend millions, more in 2024 than ever before to influence state lawmakers, it will never be for the benefit of you and me. Oil and gas companies in California are buying off politicians and hijacking our democracy in order to protect their profits by killing critical climate and environmental justice advancements,” said Zachary Norris, California Climate Director at Greenpeace USA.

“Are we okay with Big Oil spending almost $40 Million to pressure lawmakers to cave to their demands – the most they’ve ever spent in a single year? This is the question facing Californians right now. Are we okay with Big Oil throwing that much money around on fancy lunches and to kill life-saving public health legislation when they should be spending it on cleaning up the mess they’ve made? Thousands of Angelenos are still trying to rebuild their lives after some of the most destructive wildfires we’ve ever seen, fires made worse by the climate crisis. Big Oil clearly has plenty of money to spend. That money should go to the people in a Superfund,” said Kobi Naseck, Coalition Director of VISIÓN (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods).

Additional details on oil industry lobbying spending, campaign contributions, and recipients of the campaign dollars are all available upon request. Please email Blake@sunstonestrategies.org for more information. 

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METHODOLOGY

The numbers for this press release came from the list of lobbyist employers categorized as “oil and gas” by the California Secretary of State compiled by the California Secretary of State’s Political Reform Division and then removing any companies which are part of the biomass, compressed natural gas marketing, and/or carbon removal industries with one exception: Oxy Low Carbon Solutions, was not excluded. It’s a subsidiary of oil giant Occidental Petroleum and is lobbying the California Air Resources Board to allow Direct Air Capture financial credits generated under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to be used for offsetting emissions for its oil drilling in West Texas’ Permian Basin.

Two organizations were then added to the list: The California Carbon Solutions Coalition because it is heavily funded by the oil and gas industry and serves as the industry’s leading voice to promote this false climate solution. The California Fuels and Convenience Alliance is also on the list because they serve as a seller of petroleum-derived gasoline, are lobbying against implementation of a price gouging penalty for oil refiners, and share a lobbying firm with Chevron — which in turn served as the top funder of its 2024 annual conference. Oxy Low Carbon Solutions, too, has been placed on the list because it is a subsidiary of oil giant Occidental Petroleum and is lobbying the California Air Resources Board to allow Direct Air Capture financial credits generated under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to be used for offsetting emissions for its oil drilling in West Texas’ Permian Basin.

LCA LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We acknowledge that Sacramento is the traditional home of the Maidu, Miwok and Nisenan people. Part of our commitment to decolonizing ourselves, our language, and our organizations is a commitment to learning and better understanding the history of Indigenous Peoples of so-called California, including the history of contact, colonization and the extraction of resources from Indigenous lands which has been part of the continuation of modern colonization.