The Best Bill Oil Money Can Buy

Earlier today, forty-four Senators introduced legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. This bill would would approve the Keystone XL pipeline despite the Obama Administration’s rejection of its permit following months of intensifying protest against it and numerous studies revealing its vastly inflated economic impact.

Our colleagues at Public Campaign and 350.org revealed that those Senators who co-sponsored the bill have received $22.3 million in oil and gas money since 1989.

We also ran the numbers through our Dirty Energy Money database and found two additional notable facts:

Those Senators who co-sponsored this bill have taken more than three times as much oil and gas money on average in this current Congress than those who did not co-sponsor;
Seantor Joe Manchin (W.Va), the only Democrat to sponsor, has received more money from the oil industry so far in the 112th Congress than any other Democrat – $42,250.  That is more than 5 times the average amount of oil industry donations than his fellow Democrats in the Senate.

Download our analysis here.  It’s worth noting that our database only goes back to 1999, while the earlier analysis went to 1989.

It’s also worth noting that TransCanada has spent more than $1.3 million in lobbying in Washington over the last year.