Oil and gas interests have given an estimated $75 million to Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, the Republican National Committee and affiliated committees, far more than has been previously known, according to a new analysis of federal campaign data.
The billionaires Harold Hamm of Continental Resources, Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer Partners and Jeffery Hildebrand of Hilcorp Energy Co. are among the highest-profile oil and gas contributors to Mr. Trump, giving along with their spouses and companies more than $15 million this cycle.
But the total amount of money flowing to Mr. Trump and his allies from donors with links to fossil fuels is more than five times greater, according to an analysis by the environmental group Climate Power. It comes from mine operators, shipbuilders, engineering firms, hedge funds and little-known oil producers.
That is just the campaign cash that can be found in public records; donations made to nonprofits such as 501(c)(4) organizations, also known as dark money, are usually not publicly disclosed.
“It’s important to start by looking at this systematically and structurally,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who is investigating oil industry campaign donations.
Mr. Whitehouse referred to an analysis by the International Monetary Fund that found American fossil fuel companies receive $700 billion of subsidies each year, when accounting for federal tax breaks and undercharging of environmental costs. He was not surprised by the contributions from oil interests to Mr. Trump.
“To protect a $700 billion subsidy, what is the amount that would be economically reasonable to spend in its defense?” Mr. Whitehouse asked.
Mr. Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
He has promised the oil and gas industry unfettered access to drilling on public lands and in federal waters, reducing his energy platform to “DRILL, BABY, DRILL.”
At an April 11 dinner with oil executives at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club in Florida, he asked them to donate $1 billion to his campaign, saying they would save far more than that in avoided taxes and legal fees after he repealed environmental regulations, according to several attendees who requested anonymity to discuss a private event.
Mr. Trump has not raised anywhere near his $1 billion goal. But oil and gas is nevertheless one of the top industries funding his campaign, according to the watchdog group Open Secrets. Spending from the industry is outpaced only by conservative interest groups, which themselves are heavily funded by oil and gas interests.
Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, a supporter of Mr. Trump and fossil fuels, said the industry’s contributions were a response to the Biden-Harris agenda. The Biden administration has made it more difficult for coal plants to run, oil to be pumped, pipelines to be built and liquefied natural gas to be exported overseas, he said.
“Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris administration has openly and proudly attacked American oil and natural gas production,” Mr. Barrasso said in a statement. “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Americans who work in energy or simply oppose high prices are working hard to stop the assault and are supporting President Trump.”
While the coal industry in the United States has been declining since 2008, oil and gas production are at record levels under the Biden administration. The nation is the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas and is producing 12.9 million barrels of crude a day, compared with about 11 million barrels per day in 2020 when Mr. Trump left office.
In the campaign’s final weeks, Mr. Trump has sought still more support from the industry, attending fund-raisers in Houston and Midland, Texas. His son Eric Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba attended a private fund-raiser on Oct. 10 in Oklahoma City hosted by Carol Hefner and her husband Robert Hefner IV, the president of Envision Exploration, an oil company.
Senator JD Vance, Mr. Trump’s running mate, attended a fund-raiser in New Orleans on Oct. 11 sponsored by Donald Bollinger, the retired chairman and C.E.O. of Bollinger Shipyards, which builds vessels for the offshore oil industry. Mr. Bollinger has contributed more than $200,000 to Mr. Trump’s various committees and the Republican National Committee.
Mr. Vance also attended an Oct. 22 Dallas fund-raiser hosted by several oil executives, including the president of Moncrief Oil, a Fort Worth-based company, and Heather and Ray Washburne. Mr. Washburne is the C.E.O. of Charter Holdings, a Dallas-based private investment firm, but also is chairman of the board of Sunoco LP, a gas distributor. Together, the couple has donated more than $550,000 to Trump 47, a joint fund-raising committee, and another $11,600 to the Save America PAC, which pays Mr. Trump’s legal bills.
Tim Dunn, the billionaire chief executive of CrownQuest Operating, an oil and gas company, gave $5 million to Mr. Trump’s MAGA committee. Last year Mr. Dunn, who is influential in Republican politics in Texas, spoke on a panel titled “Fighting Climate Extremism,” sponsored by the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank that he helps fund. At the event, he called on a future Trump administration to “curb all this silliness about CO2 emissions.” He could not be reached for comment.
Other donors with less obvious ties to the fossil fuel industry include John Catsimatidis, the chief executive of Gristedes. He also runs United Refining Company, an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products in Pennsylvania. Mr. Catsimatidis and his family gave more than $700,000 to the Trump 47 PAC.
Paul Singer, a billionaire hedge fund manager, is a longtime Republican donor not often associated with oil and gas. But his firm, Elliot Management, trades oil products and natural gas. Over the past year, it has invested $500 million in a gas producer, HG Energy, and $1 billion in Phillips 66, a Houston-based energy company. Mr. Singer has donated $5 million to Mr. Trump’s Make America Great Again political action committee, and another $419,600 to the Trump 47 PAC.
Lesser-known fossil fuel executives also donated heavily to Mr. Trump, including George Bishop of GeoSouthern Energy, a Texas oil and gas exploration company, who gave $1.5 million; and Joseph W. Craft III, a billionaire coal magnate helping to lead Mr. Trump’s fund-raising efforts who, along with his wife, gave $2 million.
Businesses that indirectly profit from oil and gas are also in Mr. Trump’s corner. For example, Zap Engineering & Construction Services in Lakewood, Colo., builds compressor stations, processing plants, storage terminals and other oil and gas equipment. Its founder, Stephen Tzap, gave Mr. Trump $123,000.
Syed Javaid Anwar, the founder and chief executive of Midland Energy Inc., gave $500,000 to Right for America, a super PAC started by supporters of Mr. Trump; and another $1.5 million to the Trump 47 PAC.
Of the donors identified by The New York Times and contacted for comment, only Mr. Anwar responded.
“The Biden administration when they first came into office, Kamala was against fracking,” Mr. Anwar said in a phone interview, referring to a technique for extracting oil or gas from shale by injecting water, sand, and sometimes chemicals at high pressure. The practice consumes enormous amounts of water and can contaminate groundwater.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, supported a ban on fracking until 2020 when she joined the presidential ticket with Joe Biden. She says she would not ban the technique, but she has also put an emphasis on developing renewable energy. Mr. Anwar said he is skeptical that wind and solar can support America’s energy needs and believes Mr. Trump understands the importance of fossil fuels.
“Let me tell you in this part of the country, in West Texas, we produce about six and a half million barrels a day, but without fracking, we can’t even produce half a million,” Mr. Anwar said, adding, “You have to let the free market develop the oil fields instead of dictating ‘you cannot drill here, you cannot drill there.’”
Despite record production and profits under the Biden administration, the oil industry has donated only $1.4 million to Ms. Harris, according to Open Secrets. Environmental groups have given more than $19 million to Ms. Harris.
“Donald Trump’s support from the oil industry runs far deeper than people realize,” said Alex Witt, a senior adviser on oil and gas for Climate Power. “There’s so many lesser-known, ultrawealthy oil executives who have paid up, oil services companies and others who have major holdings in the oil industry. They all have one thing in common. They are paying up for this $1 billion request that Donald Trump made because he has promised to do everything in his power to protect their profits.”
Beyond money directly to Mr. Trump and his super PACs and legal fund, major oil gas companies and trade groups also have spent nearly $80 million on independent advertising this election cycle, according to Climate Power.
Most of the major companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron do not typically endorse presidential candidates or donate to their campaigns. Neither do trade groups representing the oil companies.
Some trade groups are running ads in swing states, like those from the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents petroleum refiners, that accuse the Biden administration of “rushing to ban new gas-powered cars.” The ad is referring to the Biden administration’s limits on carbon emissions from new automobiles, which do not constitute a ban.
Those ads are appearing in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, Ohio and Montana, all states that are pivotal in this election to control of the White House or the U.S. Senate.
Another ad, running in the same states, warns “Joe Biden is out of the running, but the Biden-Harris car ban is still coming straight at us.” It includes an animation of Ms. Harris riding a bus with Mr. Biden that rear-ends a presumably gas-powered vehicle. During a recent Michigan State football game, the organization flew a banner that proclaimed the website “DontBanOurCars.com.”
“These policies will have tremendous, economywide consequences and impact every American driver, taxpayer and electricity user,” said Ericka Perryman, a spokeswoman for the manufacturers. She said the group has spent eight figures on advertising in 11 states and Washington, D.C., this year.
“Our ads are issue-based and do not advocate for any electoral outcomes, nor have we endorsed either candidate,” she said.
The American Petroleum Institute, the country’s largest trade association for the oil and natural gas industry, is spending eight figures on an ad blitz this year called “Lights on Energy.”
The ads, which do not name candidates, stress the importance of oil and gas. They have appeared in swing states like Pennsylvania, as well as Colorado, New Mexico and Ohio.
Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, a campaign finance watchdog group, said it is hard to make the case that the Biden-Harris administration has inhibited the oil and gas industry, given the record profits and production levels.
“They are making money hand over fist,” Mr. Slocum said. But he said those in the industry were still fearful that environmental regulations and fees could put a crimp in future profits.
“If they can eliminate all of those marginal regulations, it just returns even bigger financial profits,” he said. “That’s really the game here.”
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