Big Oil spent over $26 million to lobby California officials in first 9 months of 2025

Chevron and WSPA again dominate lobbying spending in California

The oil and gas industry spent $26,095,530 in the first three quarters of 2025 in their successful effort to stop the Make Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, AB 1243 and SB 684, and other climate legislation, from moving forward this year.

The huge gusher of fossil fuel cash enabled the industry to pressure legislative leaders to pass Governor Gavin Newsom’s trailer bill, SB 237, to expand oil drilling in Kern County by 2,000 new well permits per year, despite intense political opposition to the bill by a coalition of environmental justice, community and public interest groups.  

On September 19, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 237 as part of a climate package at a carefully staged press conference at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  

Big Oil spent $7,217,466 in the third quarter of the year, less than the $9,713,408 they spent in the second quarter and the $$9,164,656 spent in the first quarter, but still a huge amount of oily cash: https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Lobbying/Employers/

It’s no surprise that the majority of this fossil fuel cash was spent by Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association, consistently the top lobbying spenders in Sacramento.   

Chevron spent $2,642,118 in the third quarter, less than the $4,396,429 spent in the second quarter and the $3,783,915 spent in the first quarter. That comes to a total of $10,822,462 that Chevron spent lobbying California officials from January 1 through September 30 of this year.

Chevron has refused to respond to growing calls to boycott the company for its operation and co-ownership of Israeli-claimed fossil gas fields in the Mediterranean. At Chevron stations across the country, including in the Sacramento area and the San Francisco Bay Area, local human rights and environmental justice groups have been holding regular protests to highlight the company’s complicity in genocide, as well in environmental destruction and human rights violations across the globe.

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) finished second in the fossil fuel lobbying expenses with $2,375,251, less than the $3,032,226 spent in the second quarter and the $3,471,879 spent in the first quarter.  

That comes to a total of $8,879,356 that the Western States Petroleum Association  spent lobbying California officials from January 1 through September 30, 2025.

When you combine the lobbying expenses of WSPA and Chevron in the first three quarters, it comes to a grand total of $19,701,818.

Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association spend more than any other corporate lobbying organizations in Sacramento every year. 

Last year the Western States Petroleum Association placed first in the Big Oil lobbying spending spree with $17.4 million, while Chevron came in second with $14.2 million. Spending by the Western States Petroleum Association and Chevron alone shattered the previous record, coming in at $31.6 million in 2024, according to data compiled by the Last Chance Alliance: https://lastchancealliance.org/big-oil-smashes-annual-lobbying-spend-records-to-combat-climate-justice-policy-in-2024/ 

Another major fossil fuel industry spender on lobbying was Sempra Energy and its affiliates, including the San Diego Gas & Electric Company and SoCalGas, the company responsible for the Aliso Canyon gas blowout of 2015, the biggest of its kind in U.S. history. Residents of Porter Ranch and nearby communities have been urging Newsom to shut down the SoCalGas underground gas storage facility since he became Governor.

Sempra spent $1,057,159 on general lobbying and another $25,237 on lobbying the California Public Utility Commission in the third quarter. The company spent $604,629 on general lobbying and $2,363 on CPUC lobbying in the second quarter and $430,718 on general lobbying and $953 on CPUC lobbying in the first quarter.

Other big spenders in the third quarter included Phillips 66, $717,802.21; California Resources Corporation and Subsidiaries, $683, 380.58; and Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Its Subsidiaries, $667,003.63.

In addition, Sable Offshore, the corporation that plans to restart the pipeline that caused the devastating Refugio Oil Spill that fouled the Southern California coastline in 2015, spent $120,000 in the third quarter. That comes after they spent $419,000 lobbying state officials in the second quarter of 2025 to fight a bill, AB1448, that would prevent drilling on public lands.

Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) is a “non-profit trade association that represents companies that account for the bulk of petroleum exploration, production, refining, transportation and marketing in the five western states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. WSPA’s headquarters is located in Sacramento, California. Additional WSPA locations include offices in Torrance, Concord, Ventura, Bakersfield, and Olympia, Washington,” according to WSPA’s website.

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.