Drops ALEC

Oil Giant BP Drops Membership With ALEC

The oil-and-gas super company is just the latest big firm to leave the conservative group in recent months.

By Dustin Volz

Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned.

A BP spokesman confirmed that the company had chosen to not renew its membership in ALEC, a controversial coalition of corporations and state legislators that actively opposes environmental regulations, at the end of the year.

"We continually assess our engagements with policy and advocacy organizations, and based on our most recent assessment, we have determined that we can effectively pursue policy matters of current interest to BP without renewing our membership in ALEC," the spokesman said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for ALEC said the organization was made aware of BP's departure in December. The group attributed the decision to economic challenges in the business sector and said it "looks forward to future partnership with BP."

A string of high-profile tech companies bolted ALEC last fall, an exodus that began when Google Chairman Eric Schmidt accused the council of "just literally lying" about climate change and said the search giant would divorce itself from the controversial nonprofit.

A fleet of other tech giants soon followed, including Yahoo, Yelp, Facebook, and eBay. The departures soon spilled over into other industries, as Occidental Petroleum, a large oil-and-gas company, and defense-contracting juggernaut Northrop Grumman also announced they had divested from ALEC.

BP's departure is likely the most substantial yet, because ALEC works aggressively on climate issues and relies heavily on funding from huge fossil-fuel companies. The London-based company is among the world's largest players in the oil-and-gas arena, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue annually.

While some companies have overtly acknowledged that ALEC's controversial views on climate change contributed to their departures, others have been more opaque. Occidental attributed its departure to "changing government-relations strategies."

BP would not comment directly on what motivated its decision to sever ties with ALEC. The oil industry has adopted several cost-cutting measures in recent months, however, as international oil prices have plunged dramatically.

ALEC, long a prime target of liberal activists, has endured a wave of corporate-partner defections before. In 2012, a smattering of major corporations, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo, left ALEC amid public scrutiny of the group's then-sponsorship of controversial "Stand Your Ground" laws, which gained attention during the Trayvon Martin case. ALEC says it no longer works on legislation related to firearm policy.

Environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, have long condemned ALEC for denying climate change—a charge the group adamantly denies. But model legislation it offers to state lawmakers states that it remains unclear whether human emissions are changing global temperatures, in disagreement with the overwhelming scientific consensus.

Liberal activists quickly cheered BP's decision.

"BP made the right decision in joining the over 100 companies that have left ALEC, which misleads taxpayers and the IRS about its extensive lobbying activities," said Arn Pearson, vice president of Common Cause, a progressive group that opposes ALEC.