Dems Hire Oil and Gas Astroturf Group Lobbyist for Environment Subcommittee
Kristi Parrott is joining the Subcommittee on Environment from HBW Resources, where she lobbied Congress on behalf of an astroturf group for oil majors.
House Science Committee Democrats have hired a lobbyist for an oil and gas industry front group as a professional staff member for their Subcommittee on Environment.
Kristi Parrott, the subcommittee’s new staff member, comes from HBW Resources, where she was federal affairs director. HBW Resources is a PR, communications, and lobbying firm that specializes in representing clients in the energy industry.
The firm appears to operate Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), an oil and gas company-funded nonprofit that fashions itself as a consumer group and describes its mission as “expand[ing] the dialogue between the energy & consuming sectors to improve overall understanding of the need for a balanced energy policy for America.” CEA’s members include oil companies like Chevron, Shell, and Occidental Petroleum, as well as trade groups like the U.S. Oil & Gas Association and the American Petroleum Institute. Chevron discloses paying the group up to $49,999 annually, Phillips 66 disclosed a payment of $80,000 in 2019, and utility company Dominion Energy disclosed paying the organization $88,000 in 2018.
