Big Oil pumped $34 million into influencing lawmakers in Sacramento in 2025, allowing fossil fuel corporations to stonewall and roll back critical health and climate policy in a year marked by the Los Angeles fires and climate disasters across the planet. Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) are not only the biggest spenders in the fossil fuel industry in Sacramento, but have been the top spenders on overall lobbying most years. Californians for Energy Independence, an oil industry front group, Phillips, and Marathon Petroleum Corporation also spent heavily on lobbying.

Chevron, known throughout the world for its complicity in the Gaza genocide and its long record of human rights violation and environmental devastation from Richmond, California, to the Amazon, was among Big Oil groups pushing back against key climate bills like the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act. This landmark law would hold major corporate polluters accountable for their fair share of the climate damages facing the state. Shell and WSPA also lobbied against the bill, resulting in its failure last session.

"Last year, Big Oil spent big on lobbying in California – and it worked," said Faraz Rizvi of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN). "Oil lobbyists used refinery closures and a campaign of misinformation to pressure the Governor and legislature into big giveaways to the oil industry which do absolutely nothing to benefit the communities living near California’s refineries or the workers who operate them."

Chevron and Big Oil spent $34 million to roll back climate policy in California in 2025

See Also: Boycott Chevron Picket (Apr 5) | Retirees, CA Workers Testify and Hold Vigil Urging CalPERS to Divest from Big Oil | Boycott Chevron Banner Drop (Mar 1) | Boycott Chevron Picket (Mar 1) | Boycott Chevron Picket (Feb 1) | Boycott Chevron Virtual Action Training (Jan 28) | Community Forum on Make Polluters Pay and Threats of Offshore Oil Drilling (Jan 21) | Kayaks Join in Protesting Chevron War Profiteering | Protest at Richmond Chevron | Hands Off Venezuela at Chevron Refinery (Jan 10) | Big Oil spent over $26 million to lobby California officials in first 9 months of 2025 | California students walk out to support Make Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act