The fossil fuel industry is spending record amounts to keep California from regulating it
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- Fossil fuel companies spent $17M+ on California lobbying in H1 2026 — a record $10.3M in Q1 and another $6.8M in Q2 — according to the Last Chance Alliance's analysis of state filings.
- Western States Petroleum Association led spending at $4.3M, followed by Chevron at $3.7M and Phillips 66 at over $500K, with money flowing to consultants and groups like Californians for Energy Independence that present themselves as grassroots operations.
- Industry lobbying pushed regulators to approve free pollution permits under California's cap-and-invest program, which covers 80% of the state's economy and funds transit and housing projects.
- Oil and gas lobbying helped defeat SB 982, which would have let the attorney general sue for damages from climate-intensified disasters like wildfires, plus SB 1245 on gas supply and a bill targeting the 100,000+ methane-leaking wells companies routinely abandon.
- Chevron posted $12 billion in Q2 net profits — nearly five times its year-ago quarter — while Exxon Mobil earned $14.5 billion, both boosted by the months-long Strait of Hormuz closure.
- Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told CNBC in late July that "every day that goes by, the situation gets more difficult," even as his company blamed California's energy policies for high gas prices.
- Hollin Kretzmann of the Center for Biological Diversity and other advocates called for caps on lobbyist spending and limits on public subsidies like free cap-and-trade allocations and tax loopholes on global earnings.
Why it matters: Oil companies posted record war-fueled profits — $12B for Chevron, $14.5B for Exxon in Q2 alone — while spending a record $17M in H1 2026 to kill California climate and worker-safety bills. Industry won key victories including regulatory approval for free emissions permits and defeat of disaster-liability legislation, exposing how the world's fourth-largest economy can't pass modest transparency measures against organized fossil fuel opposition.
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