Oil and Coal Companies Spent $427.2 million This Year to Sway Public Opinion

Oil and Gas companies are madly spending to influence public opinion...

Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving America's campaign finance laws, released a new analysis finding that the oil and coal industries spent $427.2 million so far this year of the year to shift public opinion and to capture the eyes, ears, and support of Congress on critical energy issues.

They looked at political contributions, lobbying expenditures, paid advertising, and other political spending to come up with their total.

A total of $37.4 million were given in political contributions. $129 million was spent lobbying Congress and the White House. $208.6 million was spend on paid advertising.

All of this money was spent from January 2008 to June 2008.