Huge surge of lobbyists for climate change WASHINGTON

House Democrats opened the congressional debate on climate change Tuesday by unveiling an ambitious plan to boost renewable energy and simultaneously slash domestic greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent over the next decade. And California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is poised to lead the fight in the Senate.

But the new focus on climate change in the nation's capital has been accompanied by another kind of change: an explosion of lobbyists trying to influence the final shape of proposals by Boxer and Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, and Ed Markey, D-Mass.

The number of climate change lobbyists has more than tripled in the past five years to roughly 2,340 in 2008, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure forms. Climate change lobbyists now outnumber members of Congress by more than a 4 to 1 margin. The explosion comes at a time when the overall number of Washington lobbyists has declined from 15,397 to 15,139 over the past year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

'Huge, huge deal'

"The bottom line is, this is a huge, huge deal," said Jeffrey Holmstead a lobbyist with Bracewell & Giuliani, a top climate lobbying firm. "In terms of its importance to the U.S. economy and the energy sector, (climate change) is really a much bigger deal than anything that has come before Congress. The stakes are very, very high."

The climate change cadre spans the political spectrum, from environmental activists and Hollywood stars on the left to conservatives who argue global warming is a hoax. But at the center of the debate are California environmentalists.

Environmental groups have stepped up their lobbying efforts and have about 180 lobbyists on Capitol Hill, as opposed to less than 50 five years ago.

San Francisco's green giant, the Sierra Club, spent more than seven times as much money on environmental lobbying in last year than it did five years ago, up from $100,000 in 2003 to $730,000 in 2008.

The Environmental Defense Fund, which has regional offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento, filed 21 lobbying reports under the issue "environment and superfund." It filed only four in 2007.

Even so, business and energy lobbyists outnumber environmental lobbyists and alternative energy lobbyists by a margin of 8 to 1, says Marianne Lavelle, a staff writer for the Center for Public Integrity.

The increase in corporate lobbying is "alarming," says Frank O'Donnell, president of the environmental watchdog group Clean Air Watch. Because it will be too difficult to satisfy the demands of large numbers of lobbyists and their clients, it will be more difficult for Congress to pass legislation, he said.

"Blocking controversial legislation is always easier than passing it," he said.

Tony Kreindler, an Environmental Defense Fund spokesman, says his organization is well aware of the challenge.

A bit of David and Goliath

"It is a bit of a David and Goliath situation," he said. "We may be outnumbered compared to industry muscle, however we do have quite a bit of forward-looking companies who are pushing for action."

The bill introduced Tuesday by Waxman and Markey would tie the reductions to a mandatory cap-and-trade system, under which oil refineries, manufacturers and other industrial operations could comply with escalating new nationwide limits on carbon dioxide by buying and selling allowances to release the heat-trapping pollutant

Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, says she'll do her best to work with anyone who seeks to move legislation quickly.

"The lobbying activity is divided into two: those who understand the need to act to avert catastrophe, and those who are pushing for no action," she said. "What guides me is the science, and therefore I am doing everything I can to move forward on an action plan."

The boom in climate change lobbying, some experts say, can be traced to the passage of an energy bill in late 2007 when members of Congress wrangled over whether to require utilities to use renewable energy sources. The provision was eventually dropped from the bill, but it pointed the way the green debate was going. During the presidential campaign, both candidates Barack Obama and John McCain endorsed a significant shift in Bush-era climate policies, forcing companies to face a new political reality no matter which candidate prevailed.

Waxman and three other Democratic House leaders sent an open letter to President Obama Friday declaring "now is the time for Congress to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation," calling it "both economically and politically achievable."

The House bill introduced Tuesday could be the best shot at getting climate legislation passed, O'Donnell said. The Senate, including the Boxer's committee, "is lying low for now" and letting the House move first, he added.

Cap-and-trade is costly

The approach to climate change favored by the Obama administration and top congressional Democrats, called cap-and-trade, would significantly increase the costs of doing business for energy companies. Businesses that are heavy energy consumers also would be forced to pay higher taxes.

With so much at stake, energy companies are bulking up by hiring the top lobbying talent available. Chevron, for example, hired Drew Maloney, who served as legislative director for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Dynegy Inc., a Houston-based natural gas and coal giant, paid Bracewell & Giuliani $200,000 for "strategic advice on energy and environmental issues" and other lobbying, according to reports from the Senate Office of Public Records.

But while just about every energy company has a stake in the game, they're not all on the same side.

ConocoPhillips and Shell Oil, for instance, are working with the Environmental Defense Fund in a coalition called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. It is pushing for Congress on greenhouse gas reduction.

"There are more people saying 'Yes, we've got to do something' than there are saying 'no,' " EDF's Kreindler said.

With the battle about to begin, Boxer also is optimistic.

"At the end of the day, when we act, we will not only avert the catastrophe of global warming, we will also create millions of green jobs," she said, "and so we are pushing harder than ever to address this issue."