When it comes to Big Oil, Congressman Mike Coffman does Big Business. According to Open Secrets.org, he’s received more than a half-million dollars in contributions from the oil industry over his career, and $488,875 in 2014 alone.
Those staggering figures have gone toward oil companies’ fight to dodge their tax burden at the expense of working Americans and to block competition from Colorado’s renewable fuels industry.
Colorado is among the top 5 producers for advanced biofuels nationally. An EPA proposal to gut the Renewable Fuel Standard would risk killing more than 10,000 jobs and $2.7 Billion in economic activity in our state supported by domestic renewable fuels, and allow the oil industry to unilaterally block competition from American biofuels. The renewable fuel standard requires a certain portion of transportation fuel come from renewable sources, including ethanol, biodiesel, and advanced biofuels.
According to an analysis by Fuels America, in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District the renewable fuel sector, including conventional and cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, and advanced biofuels generates $377.1 million of economic output annually. The renewable fuels sector supports 1,322 jobs and generates $87.8 million in wages annually in CD6.
As renewable energy expert, and biofuels advocate, Mike Bowman told the Colorado Independent, “We have the geography to really lead in the biofuel sector…Colorado’s real strength is the network we have — great research minds, pioneering tech entrepreneurs. We have the people, the institutes and the resources to move ahead by leaps and bounds.”
According to Laura Chapin, state director for Renewable Colorado, “Congressman Coffman would rather take checks from his Big Oil buddies than help Colorado renewables and the jobs that depend on them. Dependence on foreign oil puts our national security at risk, but Mike Coffman isn’t interested in backing the renewable fuel standard, which supports homegrown energy and over 800,000 jobs at home.”
Meanwhile, the oil industry reaped $93 billion in profits last year while receiving over $7 billion in government subsidies and $800 million in taxes breaks. And Colorado’s renewable fuels have been a top target of oil industry efforts to block competition from American renewables.
The oil industry has spent over $1 billion on lobbyists and campaign cash since 2008, according to the latest data from OpenSecrets.org. Since 2008, the oil industry has been pumping money into Congress and buying votes at the price of $961 million since 2008. In addition to their lobbying efforts, the oil industry has been spending big on elections nationwide to the tune of a whopping $146 million on campaigns since 2008.
This explains why the oil industry has invested more than a half-million dollars in Congressman Mike Coffman. Coffman has received $94,000 from direct opponents of the Renewable Fuel Standard, including the American Petroleum Institute and other groups in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard Elimination Act. In 2011, Coffman received a score of 100 percent score from Americans for Prosperity for his votes protecting Koch interests, including ending ethanol subsidies. Coffman has signed on to a letter urging House leaderships to let ethanol subsidies expire and refuse to create or increase ethanol subsidies. And he voted in favor of the Ethanol Subsidy Repeal Act (H.R. 2307), a bill to repeal tax credits for ethanol blenders.
So if Coloradans want to stand up for their homegrown biofuels industry, they need to stand up to Mike Coffman and his Big Oil Buddies and support the Renewable Fuels Standard. It matters to the future of Colorado and our energy security.