The American Petroleum Institute
What API says about climate change: The American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said in March that it supports a carbon tax. On its website, the group says that “API and its members commit to delivering solutions that reduce the risks of climate change while meeting society’s growing energy needs. We support global action that drives greenhouse gas emissions reductions and economic development.”
API’s response to the budget bill: API has waged a massive campaign against the bill, spending seven figures to run broadcast and digital ads in specific Congressional districts and states in the hopes of souring public opinion. When it comes to the budget bill’s tax on methane—a greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term and has scientists very freaked out—API is especially not down. Its ads focused on the methane fee say it would harm workers and ruin the fossil fuel industry—something some oil and gas companies represented by API supposedly want to see regulated.
“This is a misguided and punitive tax on natural gas. And it’s not only duplicative on top of federal regulation, but we think it will also harm our economic recovery by increasing energy costs on Americans,” the group’s president and CEO said in a statement.
