ConocoPhillips, BP Leave Greenhouse Gas Lobbying Alliance

Claiming that pending climate change legislation doesn’t do enough to help the oil and gas industry, ConocoPhillips and BP have withdrawn from the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP).

Last year the lobbying group collaborated on a plan for capping carbon emissions that became the model for the climate change bill that passed in the House. In part, it helped ensure that the cost to businesses of carbon caps would not be too acute.

The energy companies’ withdrawal is unlikely to help spur slow-going negotiations over similar measures in the Senate.

In a statement, USCAP said its membership “changes periodically.”

The Houston Chronicle reported that James Mulva, CEO of Houston-based ConocoPhillips, said the proposals in Congress “have disadvantaged the transportation sector and its consumers, left domestic refineries unfairly penalized versus international competition, and ignored the critical role that natural gas can play in reducing emissions.”

The American Petroleum Institute has complained that the oil refining sector would be responsible for paying for 44 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions while only receiving between 2 and 2.5 percent of available emissions allowances. This is because the current plan holds refiners responsible for the transportation emissions ultimately related to their products.

ConocoPhillips had been lobbying for a plan that would entail a retail-level fee for refined petroleum products instead.

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