California Carbon Capture Coalition
The “California Carbon Capture Coalition” is a fossil fuel industry front group that lobbies policymakers and regulators in California to pursue an expansive role for carbon capture in the state’s climate and energy policies.
California Carbon Capture Coalition is funded mostly by Chevron
The California Carbon Capture Coalition website lists the group’s members as Aera Energy, California Business Roundtable, Calpine, Chevron, Clean Energy Systems, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, Independent Energy Producers Association, SoCalGas, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, Western States Petroleum Association, and Boston Consulting Group.
But a review of lobbying disclosure reports shows that during the 2021-2022 legislative session, only four of those entities reported making any payments to the California Carbon Capture Coalition: Chevron, Western States Petroleum Association, SoCalGas, and Aera (a joint venture between Exxonmobil and Shell).
Lobbying disclosure reports show that Chevron paid $450,000 to the California Carbon Capture Coalition, including $150,000 in 2021 and $300,000 in 2022. Western States Petroleum Association paid $50,000 in 2022; Aera Energy paid $50,000 in 2022; SoCalGas paid $50,000 in 2021. None of the other entities listed as members of the California Carbon Capture Coalition reported making any payments to the group during the 2021-2022 legislative session.
The $450,000 from Chevron accounts for 75% of the total $600,000 in payments to the California Carbon Capture Coalition that were reported by its members during the 2021-2022 legislative session.
California Carbon Capture Coalition is run by former advisor to CARB Board Chair
The Executive Director of the California Carbon Capture Coalition is Virgil Welch, a lobbyist with Caliber Strategies. Before becoming a lobbyist, Welch was Special Counsel and Chief Advisor to California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols until March 2021. Although Caliber Strategies doesn’t include the California Carbon Capture Coalition on its list of clients, lobbying disclosure reports show that Caliber Strategies began lobbying for the California Carbon Capture Coalition in July 2021. Welch did not respond to a request from Capital and Main about his efforts to influence his former agency.
Emails obtained through public records requests show that while he worked at the California Air Resources Board, Welch advised a campaign to influence his own agency to focus on carbon capture in its five-year scoping plan to reduce emissions in California. Environmental justice groups in California have urged the California Air Resources Board to pursue a different approach, arguing that “CCS should have no role for enhanced oil recovery, refineries, or power plants, and more promising mitigation should be prioritized for industrial decarbonization.”
In addition to lobbying the California Air Resources Board, lobbying disclosure reports show that the California Carbon Capture Coalition has lobbied Governor Newsom’s office and the California legislature. For example, Welch lobbied to expand a California bill, originally designed to focus on carbon capture projects at cement plants, to instead encourage carbon capture projects at fossil fuel facilities.
