Big oil sure is taking this whole climate change legislation thing seriously.

Besides organizing "citizen" rallies against impending cap-and-trade legislation, it looks like industry association American Petroleum Institute is getting agressive on Capitol Hill.

API increased its lobbying expenditures 82% in the second quarter, spending nearly $1.9 million to make the Senate's climate-change bill less painful and reduce new taxes on drilling, among other issues.

Associated Press: The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry trade group, increased its lobbying spending 82 percent in the second quarter from a year ago working on issues such as climate-change legislation and increasing access to oil and gas resources, according to a recent disclosure form.

The Washington-based organization spent nearly $1.9 million on lobbying in the April-June period, up from about $1 million a year earlier, according to a recent disclosure form filed with the House clerk's office. API's spending in the most-recent quarter was slightly higher than its $1.8 million tab for the first quarter of 2009.

API and its members - which range from oil majors to small independent producers - have markedly increased spending on lobbying this year as they try to blunt the impact of pending climate-change legislation and new taxes on drilling.

The organization says the House version of the climate bill passed earlier this summer would cause fuel prices to rise and eliminate jobs.

In addition, the industry is pushing for more drilling access on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

In the second quarter, API lobbied on a variety of issues, including the forthcoming U.S. budget, oil-spill prevention and energy taxes, according to the disclosure form filed July 20 with the House clerk's office.

Besides Congress, API lobbied the departments of Interior, Energy, State, Transportation, Agriculture, Defense and Homeland Security, as well as the Internal Revenue Service, Environmental Protection Agency and the White House.