Biden Joins Other Democrats in Refusing to Take Money From Fossil-Fuel Industry
Biden Spurns Fossil Fuel Campaign Donations in Democratic Shift
(Bloomberg) -- Before joining rival Democrats on a debate stage this week, Joe Biden joined the crowded field in another capacity: swearing off donations from the fossil fuel industry.
The former vice president announced Thursday that he had signed a pledge swearing off donations from the oil, gas, and coal industries as a once fringe vow pushed by environmentalists becomes standard operating procedure for Democrats in the 2020 campaign.
“I work for you -- not any industry,” Biden said on Twitter, vowing to “reject support from the PACs, lobbyists, or executives of fossil fuel companies.”
Of the 23 Democratic candidates vying to be the nominee who will face President Donald Trump in next year’s election, 20 have signed a so-called No Fossil Fuel Money pledge to disavow contributions of more than $200 from the oil, gas and coal industries. A once fringe stand has become the new normal for Democrats as climate change takes center stage and they complete to show off their green bona fides.
That marks a significant shift from the 2016 election cycle in which Hillary Clinton angrily snapped at an environmental activist who asked her reject campaign fossil fuel money -- as had her rival for the nomination, Bernie Sanders.
“It’s now mainstream politics,” said RL Miller, the chairwoman of the California Democratic Party’s environmental caucus. “You cannot campaign on wanting to solve the climate crisis while taking money from those who cause the climate crisis.”
The oil and gas industry says it is being vilified unfairly.
“These plans and pledges all seem to pit environmental protection against the working families who rely on affordable American energy in every facet of their daily lives,” said Ben Marter, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute. “U.S. natural gas and oil is the one industry that is actually driving emissions down to their lowest levels in a generation, and API believes in a future where access to energy and opportunity is within reach for all people.”
The pledge’s newfound popularity comes as the issue of global warming has become more important in the party’s primaries than ever.
Candidates have been proposing solutions that would have been politically unthinkable just four years ago, including bans on new federal oil and gas projects and putting a price tag on carbon dioxide emissions. That follows growing concern among voters about climate change amid catastrophic hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires as well back-to-back scientific reports warning that urgent reductions in carbon dioxide emissions are needed.
“The emergence of climate change as a key issue combined with the stigmatizing of corporate donations has made fossil money anathema to many party activists,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser, who know advises the Progressive Policy Institute. “It’s simply not worth the grief for most candidates now.”
Backers of the pledge point to research that found political contributions have been successful in buying access to politicians. The oil and gas industry spent nearly $28 million on contributions to U.S. lawmakers during the 2018 election cycle -- $23 million of which went to Republicans, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
“We are focused on ending the massive influence the fossil fuel industry has on our politicians and our energy policy,” said David Turnbull, a spokesman for Oil Change U.S., one of the environmental groups spearheading the pledge. “This is a part of this question of who are our elected officials fighting for.”
The Democratic presidential candidates who have not signed the pledge are: Montana Governor Steve Bullock, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and former John Delaney, a former Maryland congressman. Their campaigns didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, who is basing his presidential run on fighting climate change, signed in January.
“I’m glad to see so many candidates signing on board,” Inslee said. “Americans deserve a president who will stare the fossil fuel CEOs in the eyes and tell them it’s time to stand down. And that begins with stopping their campaign contributions and billions in subsidies.”
Dan K. Eberhart, chief executive officer of Canary LLC, a Denver-based drilling-services company, said that ignoring an industry with millions of workers was not a way to win back the White House.
“The Democrats retreat from Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy is going to alienate voters in the middle of the country,” Eberhart said. “This repulsion of oil and gas will make it harder for Democrats to hold seats they unexpectedly won in the midterms in places like suburban Oklahoma City and Dallas.”
(A previous version of this story corrected a misspelled name.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Natter in Washington at anatter5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, John Harney
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