Lobbyists Flock to Climate Issue

From the New York Times Dot Earth blog:

With climate now a high priority issue in Washington, there has been a huge surge in the number of Senate lobbyists working on the issue, according to an online report from the Center for Public Integrity.

The nonprofit group melds investigative reporting with a focus on ethics. Its report, “The Climate Change Lobby Explosion,” describes how hundreds of companies are trying to influence who wins and loses financially as President Obama and the new Congress try to shape federal legislation and spending on climate and related energy issues.

The lobbyists are representing both fossil fuel and renewable energy industries and everything in between. Plug a word like “coal” or “solar” into the search box on the group’s Web site to see what companies or industry groups show up. The list of lobbyists includes a host of former lawmakers and political appointees from the Bush and Clinton administrations.

The take-home summary? According to the report, “more than 770 companies and interest groups hired an estimated 2,340 lobbyists to influence federal policy on climate change in the last year, as the issue gathered momentum and came to a vote on Capitol Hill....MORE

Let's see...2340 lobbycritters divided by 535 Congresscritters = better than four per legislator!