This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
One of America’s most powerful and outspoken opponents of climate change regulation received election campaign contributions that can be traced back to senior BP staff, including chief executive Bob Dudley.
James Inhofe, a Republican senator from Oklahoma who has tirelessly campaigned against calls for a carbon tax and challenges the overwhelming consensus on climate change, received $10,000 from BP’s political action committee (PAC).
Following his re-election, Inhofe became chair of the Senate’s environment and public works committee in January, and then a month later featured in news bulletins throwing a snowball across the Senate floor.
Before tossing it, the senator said: “In case we have forgotten — because we keep hearing that 2014 is the warmest year on record — it is very, very cold outside. Very unseasonal.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E0a_60PMR8]The BP PAC is funded by contributions from senior U.S. executives and company staffers who sent in contributions to the PAC totaling more than $1 mil... Read more
