As lobbyists for fossil fuel companies and trade associations line up to oppose a bill (SB 1541) that would create a Climate Superfund to help pay future costs of the climate crisis, new research from F Minus finds that many of the state’s fossil fuel lobbyists are also registered to lobby on behalf of local governments who would benefit from a Climate Superfund.
For 2024-25, F Minus found these firms lobbying simultaneously for fossil fuel companies or trade associations, and also local governments:
NW Public Affairs was paid $180,000 by NW Natural, the state’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, while also being paid $142,000 to lobby for Clackamas County. A Jan. 2025 report from F Minus and Breach Collective found that the County’s employment of this firm put County residents in the position of having their taxes fund a NW-Natural-affiliated firm at a time when NW Natural was opposing county efforts to reduce its dependence on gas.
Thorn Run Partners was paid $104,000 to lobby for Portland General Electric, which operates four gas plants in Oregon and owns 20% of a coal plant in Montana, while also being paid $90,000 by the City of Portland, whose climate goals include lowering carbon emissions 50% from 1990 levels by 2030.
Meriweather Strategies was paid $93,500 to lobby for BP America while also being paid $87,000 to lobby for the City of Springfield. Meriweather’s Kylie Grunow also lobbies for the Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District, which has been criticized by climate groups for sharing a lobbying firm with BP.
Two local governments adjacent to Multnomah County–Hillsboro and Happy Valley–share the Proxy lobbying firm with Chevron, despite the fact that Chevron is one of more than a dozen companies named in a nearly $52 billion lawsuit filed by Multnomah County over the region’s deadly 2021 heat dome. For 2024-25, Proxy was paid $85,650 by Chevron, $174,000 by Hillsboro, and $67,812 by Happy Valley.
“It’s unethical for lobbying firms who oppose the creation of a Climate Superfund to be double-dipping and getting paid to lobby for local governments who face staggering climate mitigation costs,” said Aidan Bassett, Oregon Director for F Minus. “The people who’ll live with these impacts are right now seeing their tax dollars go to lobbying firms who’re fighting the creation of a Superfund. This is Exhibit A in Oregon’s lobbyist disclosure crisis.”
“At a moment when Oregon taxpayers are staring down at least $7.6 billion in near-term climate adaptation costs just to protect coastal communities, Oregonians are being forced to watch fossil fuel companies fight accountability using the very lobbying firms paid for by their tax dollars,” said Cassidy DiPaola, Communications Director at Fossil Free Media. “At a moment when communities are desperate for resources to recover from climate disasters, this kind of double-dealing makes clear why a Climate Superfund is not just justified, but overdue.”
“Findings from the Carbon Majors database show that a small number of fossil fuel companies are responsible for a huge share of historic emissions. Yet the pattern in Oregon looks familiar to InfluenceMap findings in other states like California: powerful fossil fuel interests deploying well-worn lobbying strategies to weaken or block a Climate Superfund while quietly shifting climate costs onto local governments and taxpayers,” said Emmett Connaire, Senior Analyst, InfluenceMap. “Coordinated industry opposition only reinforces the urgency of passing SB 1541 and holding major polluters accountable.”
A hearing on SB 1541 will occur in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, beginning at 1pm. F Minus will be live posting the complete client lists of fossil fuel lobbyists who testify at the hearing on Bluesky, @fminus.bsky.social, and highlighting clients who face especially severe climate risks, such as local governments.
A complete list of Oregon local governments sharing lobbying firms with fossil fuel companies is available here.