Democratic National Committee bans fossil fuel industry contributions

The Democratic National Committee has banned contributions from political action committees representing the fossil fuel industry.

The DNC’s executive committee on Saturday passed the resolution submitted by Christine Pelosi, a DNC member from California and the daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. It requires no further action.

The DNC already rejects corporate PAC contributions that conflict with its party platform. This resolution singles out the fossil fuel corporations, that are “drowning our democracy in a tidal wave of dark oily money.”

“They have deceived the public about the impacts of climate change, fought the growth of clean renewable energy, and corrupted our political system,” the resolution states.

From 2009 to 2016, the DNC banned contributions from all federal lobbyists and PACs, under former president Barack Obama. But former DNC Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, lifted the ban ahead of the 2016 election.

Last year, the DNC voted in favor of another Pelosi resolution to reject contributions from corporate PAC money from donors whose goals conflict with the party platform.

The fossil fuel industry doesn't appear on the DNC's list of top industry contributors, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets.org.

RL Miller, co-founder of Climate Hawks Vote, said she helped write the fossil fuels resolution for those in the party who don’t see what’s wrong with taking money from the industry. “We did feel the need to spell it out,” she said.

The next step, she said, will be to propose a resolution at the DNC’s August meeting that would ban large donations from individuals employed by the fossil fuel industry.

“What we want to do is send a message to Democrats that they cannot continue to do business with fossil fuel companies while at the same time caring about climate change,” she said.

WSBTV