Mike Sommers

• Sommers was the Chief of Staff for Speaker of the House John A. Boehner. He previously also worked as his policy director, legislative director, and press secretary.

• Sommer’s wife, Jill Sommers was a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including during the 2008 financial crisis

• Sommers was the Special Assistant to President George W. Bush at the National Economic Council where he advised on agriculture & trade policy

• Through the American Petroleum Institute, Mike Sommers has connections to staff and board members who have also held government positions. This includes:

  • Rex Tillerson is an API board member who was an ExxonMobil Chief and then became Donald Trump’s Secretary of State. 

  • Ryan Meyers is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for API. He also served as Counsel for Senator Jon Kyl and Elizabeth Dole. 

  • Megan Bloomgren is the Senior Vice President of Communications for API. She also served as the Director of Communications for the US Department of Interior, Press Secretary & Deputy Director of Public Affairs for the US Department of Energy, White House Council on Environmental Quality, Deputy Press Secretary for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Press Lead for Bush and Chaney’s Presidential Campaign. 

• API spends millions of dollars a year on political donations to members of Congress. 

  • So far in 2024, affiliates of API have contributed $3,560,477 to congressional candidates or political action committees, with nearly 95% of these donations going toward Republican candidates. $3,500,000 of these dollars were funneled into two Republican Super PACs, The Senate and Congressional Leadership Funds. This muddies the direct target of their donations and helps candidates hide the visibility of their oil and gas industry funding. 

• Kevin McCarthy, former Speaker of the House, was the top recipient of money from the oil and gas industry in 2022. API’s Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer, Amanda Eversole, said that they chose candidates who  “align with our policy priorities and recognize the importance of the U.S. natural gas and oil industry.” Kevin McCarthy continually sponsored deregulation bills like the H.R. 1 Lower Energy Costs Act (2023) that would expand oil and gas drilling on public lands, repeal clean energy investments passed into law last year, undo a methane fee, and speed up exports of liquid natural gas. McCarthy also has assets in the fossil fuel industry in their household portfolios. 

• Ted Cruz was the top recipient of oil and gas money for the 2017-2018 cycle with $881,456 and the third top in 2024 with $362,000. As stated on his website, he fights to maintain the oil and gas industry, protect Texas’ oil and energy sector, and fight back against the Biden administration.

• Ryan Zinke received $6,500 from API’s affiliated individuals in 2024. Ryan Zinke is a current member of Congress and was the Secretary of the Interior Department for Donald Trump, however, he resigned due to a series of investigations. As of 2018, he had seven investigations into him about alleged misconduct and ethically questionable behavior like alleged censorship in a climate change report and alleged retaliation against a whistleblower who spoke out publicly about the effects of climate change on Alaska Native Communities. As of 2018, he also was involved in one congressional investigation about his spending of $139,000 in taxpayer funds for office doors, and one misconduct investigation regarding official government trips that included his wife and “official” boat tours. 

• API also donated around $6,000 to the National Republican Senate Committee which works to take back the Senate by recruiting candidates, raising and distributing funds, and assisting with communication and strategy.

• The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) is the GOP’s top Super PAC with the goal of building a Republican Senate majority. As a Super PAC, it can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money, however, it cannot contribute directly to a politician or political party, but it can make independent expenditures. The SLF spends hundreds of millions of dollars that it receives from donors on advertisements to influence Senate races. In the fall of 2024, it is planning on booking nearly $83 million worth of airtime to try to unseat Democratic Senators in Ohio and Montana. The SLF is closely aligned with Minority Leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell. The SLF raised and spent close to $500 million in 2020 and close to $300 million in 2022. It spent 90% of its independent expenditures against Democrats, 7.4% for Republicans, and only 2.5% for Democrats. 

• The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) is a Super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the House of Representatives. The CLF is closely associated with former Speaker of the House John Boehner, whom Mike Sommers formerly worked for, Paul D. Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy. Similarly to SLF, it runs ads either in support or opposition of candidates. In 2022, the CLF spent over $240 million. In 2022, the CLF spent 84% of its expenditures on media and smaller percentages on campaign expenses, strategy and research, and fundraising. In 2022, the CLF spent 90% of its independent expenditures, communication costs, and coordinated expenses against Democrats, 8.8% in support of Republicans, and 1.16% against Republicans. The CLF is known for its bigoted and partially false media and advertisements. The CLF receives most of its donations from investment managers because of how the Republican party protects the tax advances that private equity firms and hedge funds enjoy like the carried interest loophole that Mike Sommers formerly worked to protect as a part of AIC. That being said, oil and gas companies and their trade associations, like API, donated $27 million to CLF during the 2022 election cycle. 

• In 2023 API contributed $7,202,950, placing it in the top 100 of all organizations to contribute to congressional candidates that year.

• API spent over $750 million on public relations, advertising, and communications contractors from 2008 to 2019, accounting for nearly half of the total trackable spending from all trade associations. 

• From 2017 to 2019, API’s primary PR group was GSD&M, spending nearly $32 million in 2018. In 2019, they also paid close to $15 million to Main Street Media Group. Before 2013, they allocated the majority of their PR spending to Edelman. In 2013 API switched the majority of their funding to Blue Advertising, even though it was a subsidiary of Edelman at the time. A year later, Edelman claimed that they would stop working for climate change deniers, but Blue Advertising “divested” from Edelman and continued working with API. They paid around $327.4 million to Edelman from 2008 to 2012 and $112.4 million to Blue Advertising from 2013 to 2019. While Blue Advertising was not receiving direct payments from API before 2013, their website still claims awards for advertising work done for them dating back to 2008.

• In 2011, API hired FleishmanHillard to work on their Energy from Shale project, a pro-fracking campaign. They received a total of $96.6 million from API from 2011 to 2016. FleishmanHillard has also been hired by the Canadian Government to promote tar sands; Friends of Science, an advocacy organization that rejects the notion that humans are largely responsible for global warming and promotes skepticism, and the National Association of Manufacturers. 

• CIC research shows that many Energy Citizens (API’s front group) websites and petition pages are hosted by the PR firm DDC Advocacy. They are designed to look like they are run by concerned citizens but are a part of API’s ongoing front group campaign. API has been contracting with them since 2011 and paid them around $43.2 million from 2011 to 2017. They are known for creating front groups for their clients. A trove of DDC front group websites were found to be hosted at the same IP address, including many defunct Energy Citizens webpages.

• API has a rich history of behind-the-scenes PR campaigns to promote fossil fuels and was one of the earliest players in the campaign to deny early signs of climate change. 

  • As early as the 1950s, API was hiring its own scientists to speak out against leading scientists in environmental health and climate science, a popular climate denial tactic. 

  • They are currently running an 8-figure communications campaign called “Lights On Energy” that seeks to convince voters and lawmakers, specifically those in the Beltway, that oil and natural gas are “vital” to our future and to “dismantle policy threats”. 

  • API’s ads and digital media show images of farm vehicles, concerts, and football field lights to illustrate the essential role that fossil fuels play in everyday life. The campaign also claims that increased usage of natural gas is the “key reason” that the US carbon emissions have declined, rather than conservation measures and transitions to clean energy. 

  • Mike Sommers has been at the forefront of this campaign, stating that “oil and natural gas will be needed for decades” and clean energy can only play a limited role. He also continues to routinely post about this campaign on his social media. 

• API is also capitalizing on the ongoing war Gaza and tensions in the Middle East to stress that American-produced oil and gas are crucial to global security.

API lobbies on behalf of the oil and gas industry. So far in 2024 API has spent $1,800,000 on lobbying. Since Sommers was appointed CEO in 2018, API has spent a total of $47,940,000 on lobbying. Overall, API has spent $141,515,067 on lobbying since 1998. 

API has actively pushed a deregulatory agenda over climate policy and continues to advocate in favor of oil and gas expansion and dependence. 

• They showed support for methane regulation on their website, but they wrote comments to the EPA opposing the methane tax set in the Inflation Reduction Act. In the comments, they contested the EPA’s legal authority to apply standards on existing sources. 

• They opposed fuel efficiency policies like the proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and the proposed GHG emissions standards. In the API’s comments to the EPA, they argued for technology-neutral regulations instead of a focus on electrification. 

API continues to lobby for the expansion of fossil fuel production. 

• In 2024, they filed a legal challenge against the US offshore leasing program for issuing a record low amount of lease sales.

• In 2024, they opposed the government’s decision to pause permits for LNG export facilities.

• In 2022, API released a “10-in-2022 Plan” which included 10 policy recommendations for the US federal government to support oil and gas production including lifting development restrictions and revising the National Environmental Policy Act permitting process. 

• In 2023, API lobbied in favor of the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2023 which would expand the sale of ethanol blends higher than 10%.

API has also lobbied in opposition to the decarbonization of the electricity and transport sector.

• In 2023, they submitted comments to the EPA opposing the proposed rules for power plants and advocated for flexibility to ensure a long-term role for fossil gas. 

• In 2023, they wrote a letter to President Joe Biden opposing a zero-emission vehicle mandate. 

• They lobbied for the Preserving Choice In Vehicle Purchases Act which would amend the Clear Air Act to prevent the elimination of the sale of motor vehicles with internal combustion engines. 

• They lobbied in state governments, like in Connecticut, against the electrification of transport and argued that consumers should be able to choose their vehicle type. 

API, along with other major players in the oil and gas industry, heavily lobbied for compromises to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, one of the nation’s biggest climate spending packages ever. The industry lobbied for provisions that require the government to auction offshore leases to oil and gas companies before issuing permits to offshore wind and solar projects. This trade-off was included as part of a deal between Senate Democratic leadership and Senator Joe Manchin, one of the biggest receivers of money from the oil and gas industry. The IRA also ensured that four offshore leases that had previously been halted would proceed. 

API employs Brown & Weinraub, one of the top-paid lobbying firms in New York, to help with their lobbying efforts. Brown & Weinraub represents other fossil fuel companies like Shell America, Koch Companies Public Sector LLC, and Liberty Utilities. The firm also represents other companies, universities, and cities that claim they are committed to environmental causes like Google and Syracuse University. Brown & Weinraub present themselves as environmentally conscious and alternative energy-focused while representing and profiting from many fossil fuel companies. This allows the firm to generate positive PR with legislators and mask their work with polluters. 

• Some lobbyists from Brown & Weinraub who represent API include:

• Michael Cassidy: He has also worked for the New York State government in many different positions.

• Maryann McCarthy: She has worked with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security in the past. She represents both fossil fuel companies like API, Shell America, and Kinder Morgan and renewable energy companies like Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc. 

• David Weinraub: He is the co-founder and managing partner of the firm. He was a member of Governor Mario M. Cuomo’s senior staff, Counsel to Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine, and Director of Regional Services for the Department of State. He represents fossil fuel companies while representing social programs, universities, like Northeastern University, and renewable energy companies like Orsted.

• Jonathan Federman

• John Harris

• Patrick Lespinasse
  

API also employs other lobbying firms like Capitol Focus LLC and Brownstein, Hyatt et al and individual lobbyists like Jake Highfill who also represents both fossil fuel entities and renewable energy coalitions like The Coalition for Community Solar Access. They also personally employ many revolving door lobbyists. Revolving door lobbyists have been shuffled back and forth between federal government positions and the private lobbying, consulting, or strategy sectors. Some revolving door lobbyists employed by API include:

• Alexander Dominguez: He worked for the EPA as a senior advisor in their Office of Air and Radiation. 

• Jack Cramton: He worked for the Department of Energy as their Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary and Legislative Affairs Advisor. He worked for Senator Bill Cassidy as his Policy Advisor. He also worked as Director of Correspondence for the US Senate. Early in his career, he worked as a Senior Director and Manager for Total Spectrum, a lobbying firm. 

• Kelley Hudok: She worked for Cassidy & Associates, a government relations firm. She also worked for Steve Scalise, the Majority Leader of the House.

• Lance Jr. West: He worked for Senator Joe Manchin as his Chief of Staff. He worked as the Deputy Staff Director on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He worked as a Director of Federal Government Affairs at the National Marine Manufacturers Association.  

• Amanda Eversole: She is the Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer at API. She was also the President of the Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation and the Senior Vice President of the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness. 

• Philip Cooney: A lobbyist for API in the early 2000s who then went on to serve under Bush as his Chief of Staff for the Council on Environmental Quality. He was forced to resign in 2005 after tampering with government climate assessments to attempt to downplay scientific evidence of global heating and to sow doubts about climate change. After he resigned, he was hired as a lobbyist for ExxonMobil. 

The American Investment Council, where Sommers worked as president and CEO for two years, is a lobbying group that works to maintain the Carried Interest Loophole. The loophole, based on 16th-century shipping law, allows investment managers to pay the capital gains rate on money they gain by managing other people’s money, rather than the ordinary income tax rate. This tax loophole protects the incredibly wealthy by allowing them to pay incredibly low taxes. In a 2016 Letter to the Editor, Mike Sommers argued that the loophole “encouraged American entrepreneurial risk-taking” and that it would be “discriminatory and ill-advised” to recharacterize it.

• Finnegan is an intellectual property firm that represents many oil and gas companies and has successfully defended API in numerous court cases. They defended them successfully in a SLAPP trademark infringement suit by Choose Energy regarding a similar campaign slogan.

• API has been represented by many law firms, including Kirkland & Ellis. Kirkland & Ellis was given an F grade by “Law Students for Climate Accountability” and was listed as one of the top ten worst firms for transactional work for the fossil fuel industry from 2018 to 2022. They have also been represented by other law firms like Womble Bond Dickinson, Bullivant Houser Bailey, Riker Danzig, and Hogan Lovells who also received an F grade by “Law Students for Climate Accountability” and were listed in their top five worst firms for lobbying work for the fossil fuel industry.

Below is the tip of the iceberg of some notable lawsuits against API or lawsuits where their members were involved: 

• “Slippery Six” Investigation: The US House Committee on Oversight and Reform launched an investigation into API and five other oil and gas companies regarding their long-running, well-documented campaign to spread disinformation about climate change and greenwash their role in causing the climate crisis. In a committee hearing in 2021, the leading executives of six major fossil fuel companies, including Mike Sommers, refused to commit under oath that they would stop spending money to oppose efforts to reduce emissions and combat climate change. In a second hearing in 2022, a panel of climate scientists and experts testified that the entities are driving the climate crisis. 

• City & County of Honolulu v. Sunoco LP: The first climate liability lawsuit against fossil fuel companies to be greenlit for trial. The City and County of Honolulu are accusing several fossil fuel companies, many of whom are members of API, of misleading its citizens about the environmental consequences of fossil fuels and are seeking compensation for damages to the region. API and other groups filed petitions urging the US Supreme Court to step in and prevent the trial from moving forward. 

• Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute: Action brought by Minnesota against API for allegedly causing climate change harms by misleading the public by downplaying the threat of climate change and their role in causing climate change for decades. Minnesota alleges that API was at the heart of a “disinformation campaign” after the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. This case was appealed to the US Supreme Court where they denied Certiorari in January of 2024 after several amicus briefs were filed by Republican-leaning organizations, some of which benefit from the oil and gas industry like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

• Bucks County v. BP PLC et al:  The complaint was filed on March 25, 2024, less than a year after flash floods that left 7 dead in Bucks County. They filed a lawsuit seeking to hold the fossil fuel industry defendants, including API, liable for impacts allegedly arising from the defendants’ “disinformation campaign” regarding their products’ contributions to climate change despite having known the consequences of fossil fuels’ production since at least the 1950s. The county argues that the defendants took action to protect their own investments from climate change impacts. The county seeks monetary damages to pay for storm damage. 

• The People of the State of California v. Exxon Mobil Corporation et al: Lawsuit against fossil fuel companies, including API alleging that the defendants concealed and misrepresented the risks of climate change and delayed a societal response to address climate change. The complaint was filed in September of 2023. California is now the largest economy and geographic entity to file a lawsuit against the fossil fuel industry. Similarly to other lawsuits, California claims that these oil companies have known since at least the 1960s that burning fossil fuels would worsen climate change and purposefully downplayed the risks, leading to major disasters, unclean air, heat waves, and the cost of billions of dollars. 

• Several other states and cities like Baltimore, New York City, King County, and Hoboken County, which explicitly called out the industry’s front groups and deceptive advertisements, have filed lawsuits similar to these listed above, however, not all municipalities sue API directly. 

Recent lawsuits filed by the American Petroleum Institute: 

• American Petroleum Institute v. Department of the Interior (2024): API filed a lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the Biden Administration’s 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program that only proposed three federal offshore oil and gas lease sales. 

• State of Louisiana et al v. Haaland et al (2023): The state of Louisiana, API, and Chevron challenged the US Department of Interior’s decision to hold the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale. They alleged that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had made “arbitrary and unlawful last-minute changes” to the terms of Lease Sale 261. The Fifth Circuit ruled in November of 2023 that the State of Louisiana et al lacked standing to appeal a preliminary injunction.  

• API has allegedly given millions of dollars to think tanks such as the Cato Institute and the George C. Marshall Institute, now CO2 Coalition. Both of these think tanks have denied or downplayed the growing environmental crisis. They both acknowledge that global warming exists and that humans have impacted this, but oppose climate policy and sow doubt about climate change and the fossil fuel industry’s role.

• In 1998, a secret plan leaked that showed a detailed strategy by the oil and gas industry, including API, to instill “uncertainty” in the public policy arena. This included funding allocations by API and its members to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Frontiers of Freedom, and the George C. Marshall Institute. 

• API is a trade group in itself. The organization’s PAC and its affiliates donate primarily to Republican party organizations, other PACs, and politicians. 

• API has previously donated to One Nation, a dark money group “masterminded” by Karl Rove, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, as a part of his network of conservative advocacy and fundraising. 

  • In 2020, One Nation was one of the top outside spenders, injecting nearly $200 million into ad campaigns and the Senate Leadership Fund. One Nation is one of the biggest funders of SFL and also operates out of the same office as them and shares employees. 

  • One Nation also uses its money to advance right-wing policies. They have given to anti-abortion groups and published an incendiary report about how COVID-19 relief funds are being used to make learning more equitable. 

• API has also previously given money to the Republican Attorney General Association (RAGA) which supports the election campaigns and ambitions of Republican AGs. 

  • Over the last decade, RAGA accepted more than $10 million from fossil fuel companies and their trade groups, like API. Different amounts of donations provide different tiers of access to the organization. For example, higher donations allow companies to have private meetings with AGs and invitations to in-person events. Their high donations have given the oil and gas industry major influence in the RAGA and have encouraged them to adopt an anti-regulatory agenda. 

  • In a recent lawsuit against several fossil fuel companies including API, 20 Republican state attornies general who were all elected with RAGA’s help, signed an amicus brief in support of the fossil fuel companies. Additionally, RAGA has successfully sued the EPA over its power plant emissions rules, the Department of Labor over retirement funds, and the Securities and Exchange Commission over its climate disclosure rules. 

• API’s PAC receives many donations from individuals each year. In 2024, individual donors gave 124 ($200+) contributions to their PAC. These individuals include members of API’s staff like Mike Sommers and Ryan Meyers who both contributed $5,000.

A board member of API, James Day, was also a director of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. This foundation has numerous ties to and is a loyal supporter of The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank that works to undermine climate policy and deny climate change. 

Mike Sommers went to Miami University in Ohio. He has one child who currently attends Miami University, one who attends the USC Thornton School of Music, and one who attends the University of Southern California. 

• API has a front group called Energy Citizens that presents itself as a grassroots collective worried about energy security in the US. They have loudly protested EPA decisions, including hosting in-person rallies. A look at the organization’s participation demonstrates a long list of oil, gas, coal, and transportation interests. Their website writes: “From all 50 States, we come together to make our voices heard… See and hear the stories of Energy Citizens just like you.”

• In 2009, Energy Citizens was exposed after a leaked memo detailed their plans to launch a nationwide astroturf campaign including staged events to attack climate legislation. The memo leaked that the president of API at the time, Jack Gerard, asked their member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors, and contractors to attend “Energy Citizens” rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide. In 2012, Energy Citizens created the Vote4Energy campaign aimed at the 2012 elections. Greenpeace researchers discovered the initiative before it was launched and spoofed the campaign.

• API also helped mobilize an astroturf coalition called New Yorkers for Affordable Energy which is pushing for fossil fuels in New York and is aggressively lobbying against climate action. This front group is backed by a slew of major oil and gas companies, lobbying groups like API, and other corporate front groups. The same interests that tried to block the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act are now trying to slow climate action through this astroturf coalition. New Yorkers for Affordable Energy promotes misinformation to further weaken climate action. For example, they launched a TV ad that sought to gain opposition to the All-Electric Building Act by claiming that it would ban gas stoves and furnaces, costing consumers $30,000 to replace them. However, this bill would only apply to new construction. 

• API and other oil and gas companies are currently involved in many lawsuits across the US regarding their use of front groups to promote climate disinformation and denialism from a seemingly objective source.

Mike Sommers is married to Jill E. Sommers, the former Commissioner of the Commodity Future Trading Commission. She currently works as the Independent Director of Cboe Global Markets, which operates as an exchange holding company. She is also a senior advisor to Patomak Global Partners, a financial services consultancy group.