Fossil Fuel Tycoons Spending Millions to Elect GOP President

Fossil fuel companies donated more than $100 million to Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns last year, an unprecedented investment by those “who stand to lose the most in the fight against climate change,” a joint analysis by Greenpeace and the Guardian published Thursday has revealed.

The analysis of Federal Election Commission data found that 124 “megadonors,” all of whom have financial or professional ties to the industry, donated about $107 million to right-leaning Super PACs in 2015—before a single vote was even cast in the GOP primary season. Super PACs are allowed to take in unlimited campaign donations.

As Greenpeace pointed out, that means every one in three dollars spent by the 124 biggest backers can be traced back in part to coal, oil, and gas.

Groups backing Ted Cruz took in about $25 million from fossil fuel interests, making him the biggest beneficiary of the industry’s donation blitz.

Cruz, who is widely seen as the Republicans’ best chance at intercepting Donald Trump’s meteoric rise to clinch the GOP nomination, openly denies climate science and has said he believes it is a fictional notion created by “liberal politicians who want government power over the economy, the energy sector and every aspect of our lives.”

For what it’s worth, Cruz’s go-to temperature data was recently revised to reflect the scientific consensus, making his favorite chart “obsolete,” the Guardian reported separately.

Jesse Coleman, a Greenpeace oil and gas campaigner, said of the organization’s findings on Thursday, “Ted Cruz’s complete denial of climate change science is perfectly in line with the business interests of his biggest funders. These fossil funders have made denying climate change and ignoring scientists a prerequisite for being a Republican candidate.”