"Half a Billion Dollars Gets You a Gentler Climate Plan"

"There could be half a billion reasons for the concessions President Barack Obama’s clean-power plan made to a defiant energy industry.

Electric utilities, oil companies and their allies spent $502 million on lobbying in the year since the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new regulations on carbon emissions from power plants, according to disclosures reviewed by Bloomberg. That’s 22 times more than renewable energy companies and environmentalists spent.

Industry groups swiftly condemned the plan and vowed to fight it in courts and statehouses. Yet they had won changes to final rules announced Aug. 3, such as later deadlines for compliance, less emphasis on cutting energy consumption and gentler cuts to coal-fired power."

Isaac Arnsdorf reports for Bloomberg August 5, 2015.