Enviromental groups fear Supreme Court ruling impact on climate change

A major environmental group said Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling that pares back limits on corporate election spending will prompt a surge in oil industry cash that influences energy policy.

“This decision will open the floodgates for oil companies like Exxon to spend vast sums of money to influence the outcome of federal elections in favor of candidates who stand with them and against a clean energy future,” said League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski in a statement. “With unlimited spending in the electoral arena, misinformation campaigns by Big Oil and other special interests will be amplified and more lethal, potentially drowning out the voices of the majority of Americans who support investing in clean American energy and reducing harmful carbon pollution.”

“With this decision, opponents of energy reform will become especially empowered in federal elections. For-profit corporations such as Exxon Mobil now have the ability to tap into their general treasuries for their electoral work, as opposed to having to work through more restricted connected federal PACs,” he added.