Friends of LittleSis,

We have been reporting on the fossil fuel industry’s efforts to block, delay, and water down climate action in New York State for more than a decade. From the effort to kill the bill that became New York’s nation-leading climate mitigation law to the astroturf campaign to weaken the state’s plan for implementing the law once it passed, we have tracked how polluters have spent millions of dollars to try to lock New Yorkers into paying them billions for dirty energy for generations to come.

We analyzed lobbying filings from 17 polluting corporations and industry lobbying groups, including utilities like National Fuel and fossil fuel advocacy groups like the American Petroleum Institute. These corporations and groups spent a combined $15.9 million on lobbying from 2021 through August 2025, with lobbying spending increasing by more than 52% from 2021 through 2024. 

Polluters lobbying against climate action have hired some of the best-connected lobbying firms in Albany, including Bolton-St. Johns and Greenberg Traurig. Bolton-St. Johns partner Michael Keogh is married to Governor Hochul’s top aide. Greenberg Traurig recently employed former state Senator Todd Kaminsky, who chaired the NYS Senate Environmental Conservation Committee and co-authored the 2019 climate law his clients are now seeking to undermine.

Moreover, polluter lobbying firms were major fundraisers for Governor Hochul during a critical moment early in her administration as she faced an election year just a few months after taking office. Bolton-St. Johns, Greenberg Traurig, and three other polluter lobbying firms held closed-door fundraisers for Hochul, with ticket prices as high as $25,000 per plate, which helped Hochul to raise record amounts of campaign cash in the first four months of her administration.

Onward,

LittleSis