New report on Big Oil’s front groups in California exposes a 'decade of deception'

he Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the most powerful corporate lobbying group in California, has spent tens of millions of dollars creating and funding faux “grassroots” organizations”— “Astroturf” groups — according to a new report by the Last Chance Alliance.

WSPA has done this to mislead the public on climate, derail public health and environmental policies, and protect Big Oil’s profits at taxpayers’ expense, 

The full report is available here: lastchancealliance.org/decadeofdelays/.  

At the helm of WSPA is Catherine Reheis-Boyd, WSPA’s President and CEO, who oversees the trade organization’s operations and advocacy in five Western states – California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon.

In a major conflict of interest cited by grassroots environmentalists, anglers and Tribal members, Reheis-Boyd served as the Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” in Southern California from 2009 to 2012 at the same time that the oil industry was lobbying for new oil drilling off the West Coast. She also served on the task forces for the Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast from 2004 to 2012.

Oil giant Chevron contributed 63% of the California influence spending money for the front groups over the decade, spending $10.9 million (37%) during the 2023-2024 legislative session alone, the report revealed.

In response to the unveiling of the new report, Nicole Ghio, California Director of Food & Water Watch said, “This report reaffirms what we already know: Big Oil spends big to deceive the public in its campaign to profit by ripping off consumers, attempting to rob Californians of a decade of progress on climate action.”

“Ten years after WSPA’s infamous slide deck leaked — outlining a strategy to deploy astroturf groups to create the illusion of grassroots support for Big Oil — advocates are updating the public on these front groups,” the Alliance wrote. “The new report exposes how the oil industry continues to wield influence in California politics, even as genuine grassroots movements push for bold climate measures to hold polluters accountable, protect community health, and end drilling.”

“This is textbook astroturfing,” said Jamie Henn, Executive Director of Fossil Free Media. “Since they don’t have any legitimate grassroots support, WSPA uses a network of front groups with intentionally misleading names, like Californians for Energy Independence, to lobby on behalf of oil and gas companies and against the public interest. With the world looking to states like California to help lead the climate fight, it’s more important than ever to shine a spotlight on these industry villains who are standing in the way of progress.” 

The Alliance said the past decade of WSPA’s front group deception is “just one chapter in a much longer history.” Newly released documents reveal that WSPA’s first front group dates back to the 1950s, playing a key role in obscuring the true causes of smog in Los Angeles. Even more alarming, the documents show that WSPA knew fossil fuels would drive climate change but chose to cover it up. 

Key findings revealed in the report include:

• “A Network Built to Deceive: WSPA’s 2014 leaked slide deck revealed a sprawling web of misleadingly named groups, such as Californians for Energy Independence and Californians Against Higher Taxes, aimed at fighting public health protections and climate action while shielding oil companies from accountability. Many of those groups remain active today, spending millions aiming to derail crucial climate justice policies.  
• “Massive Spending on Influence: Front groups linked to WSPA spent nearly $32 million on California political influence since 2014, with nearly 67% of this spending occurring in the last two years alone. They have amassed over $115 million in contributions and grants since the slide deck leaked. 
• “Chevron as the Chief Financier: Chevron contributed 63% of the California influence spending money for the front groups, the lion’s share of funding over the decade, spending $10.9 million (37%) during the 2023-2024 legislative session alone. 
• “Misinformation Blitz: Tax forms show an over $41.3 million spend on deceptive advertising campaigns from over the last 10 years, including ads opposing measures to prevent price gouging at the pump and legislation aimed at compelling Big Oil to pay to clean up its toxic idle wells.”  

“Big Oil and WSPA continue the charade of using front groups to feign a sense of popular resistance to the energy transition that simply doesn’t exist,” said Ilonka Zlatar, organizer with Oil and Gas Action Network. “Californians at large understand the need to end our reliance on fossil fuels. We know that when actually having to face the public, they have withdrawn ballot initiatives statewide–as with the measure aiming to repeal the ban on neighborhood oil drilling–and locally in Richmond where they settled in giving the city $550 million rather than face voters on a refinery tax. They know if they actually had to face the public, they will lose; that’s why they continue to funnel millions through fake groups.” 

The Alliance noted that the state has taken steps to hold polluters accountable — like the recent lawsuit by the CA Attorney General against major oil companies, including members of WSPA, for “decades of climate denial.”

“This report underscores the urgent need to dismantle WSPA’s influence machine. Further, it serves as further evidence for Attorney General Rob Bonta in considering adding WSPA as a defendant in the state’s climate deception litigation, as Multnomah County, Oregon did recently, citing the leaked slide deck in doing so. Advocates are further calling for greater transparency and accountability measures to ensure that communities, not polluters, shape the state’s future,” the Alliance wrote. 

“Big Oil has spent multiple millions over multiple decades to hide its climate crimes. Using deceptive front groups to delay common-sense pollution protection in our communities, it has cynically blamed climate regulation for high gas prices, even as corporate profits achieved record highs,” said Meghan Sahli-Wells, California Director for Elected Officials to Protect America and Former Mayor of Culver City. “WSPA should not get away with its continued blatant lies to the public. We urge the addition of WSPA to Attorney General Bonta’s Climate lawsuit.” 

“Oil companies can hide but they cannot run,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “For the last decade oil companies have tried to hide their influence in phony front groups but they have also seen California enact the greatest accountability laws in American history from reining in refiner profiteering to limiting drilling near communities to ending fracking. California voters and policymakers saw through the front groups and did the right thing for our climate, our health and our wallets.”

Again, you can read the full report here: lastchancealliance.org/decadeofdelays/    

WSPA sponsors dinners and awards receptions for journalists   

As WSPA spent millions of dollars creating and funding “Astroturf” groups as revealed in the Last Chance Alliance report, the organization has also embarked on a campaign to sponsor dinners and awards receptions for journalists.  

In one of the clearest examples of the collaboration between Big Oil and the media, the Western States Petroleum Association, the largest and most powerful oil industry lobbying group in California and the West, sponsored a “media dinner” on February 28, 2023, in Sacramento as part of #BizFedSactoDays.

The flyer for the event stated, “Journalists who play an outsize role in shaping narratives about state politics and holding lawmakers accountable will join business leaders to pull back the curtain on how they select and tell stories about California policies, policy and power.”

Featured speakers at the program included Colleen Nelson of the Sacramento Bee, Laurel Rosenhall of the Los Angeles Times, Kaitlyn Schallhorn of the Orange County Register and Dan Walters of Cal Matters.

In a tweet, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” in Southern California, gushed:

“One of our favorite times of year is #BizFedSactoDays- when @BizFed helps amplify the presence and power of business in California. And we're honored to host the Media Dinner and featured media speakers! @DanCALmatters @LaurelRosenhall@ColleenMNelson @K_Schallhorn”

The Western States Petroleum Association sponsored the media dinner again this year on June 3 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the WSPA headquarters in Sacramento.

On X, formerly Twitter, @BizFed proudly proclaimed: “Journalists and business advocates. We have more in common than you might think. It all boils down to people and their stories. What a privilege to host guest journalists @conanNBCLA @davelesher @Elex_Michaelson, and @EytanWallace at our BizFed Media Dinner in Sacramento.”

WSPA, the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento, describes itself as “non-profit trade association that represents companies that account for the bulk of petroleum exploration, production, refining, transportation and marketing in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.”  

The Sacramento Press Club has also teamed up with WSPA. On March 16, 2023, the Sacramento Press Club announced in a tweet that WSPA was the new “Lede Sponsor” of the Club's Journalism Awards Reception that was held on March 29: “Thank you to our new Lede Sponsor @officialWSPA! WSPA is dedicated to guaranteeing that every American has access to reliable energy options through socially, economically and environmentally responsible policies and regulations. Learn more more at http://wspa.org”

In response to this tweet, investigative journalist Aaron Cantu tweeted back on March 20, “As the recipient of @SacPressClub ’s environmental award last year, it’s concerning to see fossil fuel industry talking points passed off uncritically here. WSPA becoming lede sponsor happened in the context of a global PR turn as the climate crisis worsens.”

Unfortunately, Cantu is the only journalist other than me with the integrity to contest the sponsorship of the Sacramento Press Club’s Journalism Awards Reception by WSPA.

This year the Western States Petroleum Association was again one of the “lede sponsors” of the Sacramento Press Club’s Annual Journalism Awards Reception on April 11: sacpressclub.org/..

In addition to sponsoring journalism events in California, WSPA has expanded its campaign to influence journalists nationally. WSPA and the controversial waste management firm Veolia North America sponsored events at last year’s Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) conference in Boise, Idaho, according to a report from DeSmog: scq.io/... 

“The agenda for the conference, which is being hosted in Boise, Idaho, shows that the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and the waste management company Veolia North America are sponsoring two of the “beat dinners” hosted on Friday, April 21 — the third day of the event,” the article by Sam Bright reported.

Fortunately, WSPA and Veolia’s sponsorships of the SEJ conference spurred condemnation by at least one group, Fossil Free Media.  

“There’s no excuse for these sorts of conflicts of interest,” Jamie Henn of the campaign and communications group Fossil Free Media told Bright. “By letting the fossil fuel industry sponsor events, groups like SEJ lend credibility to bad actors” that are attempting to “influence coverage and maintain their social license by pretending to be well-meaning supporters of the free press.”  

‘Readers for Sale: The Media's Role in Climate Delay’ 

For over 15 years, I have covered the capture of media outlets, journalists, politicians, regulators and environmental NGOs by the fossil fuel industry in California and the West.

In 2023, it was good to see somebody else beside this journalist step up to the plate on a national and global level on exposing the increasing collaboration between Big Oil and media corporations.

Drilled and DeSmog, in collaboration with The Intercept and The Nation, released a startling new report: Readers for Sale: The Media's Role in Climate Delay.

"As the business model for media has faltered, the fossil fuel industry has increasingly weaponized weaknesses to its benefit," the report begins.

The report, coming out as the ongoing COP28 climate summit continues to generate controversy, goes into detail on how much money some of the biggest media companies in the world are taking in from fossil fuel, and where exactly the money is being spent.

“Reuters is one of at least seven major news outlets that creates and publishes misleading promotional content for fossil fuel companies, according to a report released today. Known as advertorials or native advertising, the sponsored material is created to look like a publication’s authentic editorial work, lending a veneer of journalistic credibility to the fossil fuel industry’s key climate talking points,” wrote Amy Westervelt and Matthew Green in the Intercept on Dec. 5.

“In collaboration with The Intercept and The Nation, Drilled and DeSmog analyzed hundreds of advertorials and events, as well as ad data from MediaRadar. Our analysis focused on the three years spanning October 2020 to October 2023, when the public ramped up calls for media, public relations, and advertising companies to cut their commercial ties with fossil fuel clients amid growing awareness that the industry’s deceptive messaging was slowing climate action,” the authors wrote.

“All of the companies reviewed — Bloomberg, The Economist, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Politico, Reuters, and The Washington Post — top lists of most-trusted news outlets in both the U.S. and Europe. Each has an internal brand studio that creates advertising content for fossil fuel majors that range from podcasts to newsletters, videos, and advertorials, and some allow fossil fuel companies to sponsor their events. Reuters goes a step further, with marketing staff creating custom industry conferences explicitly designed to remove the ‘pain points’ holding back faster production of oil and gas.”

Read the Intercept article here: https://theintercept.com/2023/12/05/fossil-fuel-industry-media-company-advertising/

And view the full report here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24183641-drilleddesmog_mediagreenwashingreport

You will rarely see deep reporting on Big Oil regulatory capture by journalists in the MSM and  “alternative” media. The report by Drilled and DeSmog, in collaboration with the Intercept and The Nation, was very welcome news in a time of increasing collaboration between media and Big Oil.  

There is no doubt that WSPA and Big Oil have for years worked closely with media outlets.

In 2015, I wrote this article about how LA Times and the California Resources Corporation (formerly Occidental Petroleum) teamed up on a propaganda website: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/30/1442947/-LA-Times-and-Big-Oil-team-up-on-propaganda-website. Fortunately, the Times is no longer managing and running that website.

In another example of media collaboration with Big Oil, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, WSPA President,  was on the "shortlist" of nominees for the LA Times "Inspirational Women Awards” held on October 18, 2022.

Can you guess who was one of the sponsors of the LA Times awards? Yes, you guessed right — WSPA was a sponsor.

According to a tweet from @OfficialWSPA, "Today @latimes acknowledged a woman who is already well known in our industry as a trailblazer and inspiration to tens of thousands of women. Congrats to our fearless leader @WSPAPrez for being recognized as a shortlisted nominee for the Inspirational Women Awards." 

WSPA and the oil companies wield their power in 8 major ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) serving on and putting shills on regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups; (5) working in collaboration with media; (6) sponsoring awards ceremonies and dinners, including those for legislators and journalists; (7) contributing to non profit organizations; and (8) creating alliances with labor unions, mainly construction trades.  

When so-called journalism organizations are tainted by the toxic stench of Big Oil money — and very few “environmental” and “climate” organizations have any problem with this — you know that we are in a really dark time in human history.

Big Oil has already spent 56.8 million in lobbying expenses in 2023-2024 session

Big Oil has really outdone itself on lobbying expenses in California this year. The oil industry has spent a record $31.4 million in California lobbying efforts in the first 9 months of 2024 in an effort to fend off polluter accountability and anti-price gouging measures.

California’s 2024 third-quarter disclosures reveal that the oil and gas industry spent an unprecedented $16.1 million on lobbying and influence activities from July through September, according to a press statement from the Last Chance Alliance.

“This spending easily surpasses the previous annual record of $26.2 million set in 2017, with a full quarter of payments yet to be disclosed,” according to the Last Chance Alliance. “With a full quarter left—this year’s oil industry spending has reached new heights. Over the seven quarters of the current legislative session of 2023-2024, Big Oil has already invested $56.8 million in lobbying efforts, far exceeding the previous record of $44 million set during the 2017-2018 session.”

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), Chevron, and Aera Energy—now merged into California Resources Corporation—collectively spent $14.5 million. WSPA topped the lobbying spending spree with an amazing $10,121,571. Chevron came in second in spending with $4,106,389, while Aera Energy came in third with $302,093.