Fwd: The fossil fuel money behind the GOP’s wildfire blame game
Loretta Lohman
The fossil fuel money behind the GOP’s wildfire blame gameAs smoke from Canadian wildfires chokes the United States, Republicans are blaming everyone but the industry heating the planet. Guess why?
Polling released Saturday by Data for Progress shows that 64 percent of U.S. voters—nearly two thirds—understand that wildfires are being worsened by climate change. The survey of 1,164 voters across the political spectrum showed that only 27 percent don’t think climate change is exacerbating wildfires, and 9 percent don’t know. Interestingly, Republican voters were split down the middle: 45 percent recognized the climate-wildfire connection, while 45 percent rejected it.
But here’s something revealing: While Republicans in the real world are split on the climate-wildfire connection, Republicans in Congress are not. In fact, every GOP lawmaker who’s spoken up about last week’s air quality crisis has squarely blamed the wildfires’ intensity on poor Canadian forest management, and left out the climate component entirely. Gosh. I wonder why that might be?
Some
might explain it as simply another example of
following Trump, who has been doing the same thing very
loudly over the last couple of days.
And sure, I’m willing to say that fawning their
unstable validation-obsessed climate-denier
president is probably part of the equation.
I
point this out just to reinforce a couple things
that most people here probably already know, but
that I think bear repeating as we continue
through this hellish Super El Niño summer
of compounding climate
disasters.  The
Climate BrinkOver
the past week smoke from Canadian wildfires
has once again poured into cities across
Canada and the northern US. Toronto briefly
had the worst air quality of any major city on
Earth, Thunder Bay’s readings went off the top
of Canada’s air quality health index scale,
and unhealthy air alerts…
4 days ago ·
219 likes · 114 comments · Zeke Hausfather
Second, Donald Trump isn’t the only politician whose grasp on power is predicated on never challenging the fossil fuel status quo. The entirety of the Republican Party is captured by this industry, and a large number of Democrats are, too. If you look at that big list of Open Secrets oil and gas recipients, you’ll see a lot of Ds next to some of the top names. Coincidentally, those Democrats rarely lead the fight for policies that would seriously make a dent in reducing emissions. Of course, direct campaign contributions aren’t the only way fossil fuel money influences politics. The industry has an almost unthinkably large political infrastructure of super PACs, dark money organizations, trade groups, lobbying operations, think tanks, and advertising campaigns. A lawmaker doesn’t necessarily have to directly receive a giant check to kowtow to Big Oil. It
just so happens that, in some cases, lawmakers
do receive giant checks. This is why I’ve come
to believe the No Fossil Fuel Money
Pledge is so important—not just
heading into these midterm elections, but in
every election. Because, at least in my years of
covering this issue, I’ve found there’s simply
no way to have an honest conversation about the
climate problem when you have fossil fuel money
stuffed down your throat. I would bet a decent amount of money that some of these lawmakers know it, too. And that may be the most tragic part. The fossil fuel industry’s great political achievement is not that it has persuaded every Republican that climate change is a hoax. It is that it has made the truth unspeakable among Republican politicians—even when their constituents are choking on it. “The best way to solve it is to just stop burning fossil fuels.” - climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck speaking to the CBC about worsening Canadian wildfires. Last note: As I explained in the last two letters, we’re in the middle of our annual churn—the time of year when we see the biggest drop in revenue. We are SO CLOSE to the goal that will help us maintain our revenue base, and keep HEATED independent, unpaywalled, and free from ads, sponsors, corporate owners, and wealthy donors deciding what climate stories are worth telling. We just need about 20 more people to step up and join the paid subscriber community. Annual subscriptions are currently 20 percent off for the first year—just $5 a month to help keep unbought, unbossed, accessible climate reporting and analysis alive. If you’re financially able, help us get over the hump so I can stop fundraising! (I hate it!!) You're currently a free subscriber to HEATED. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
©
2026 Emily Atkin
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