ConocoPhillips spent US$4.3M lobbying federal government in Q2 on oil and natural gas drilling techniques and other issues

Mathew Kearney

WASHINGTON , September 30, 2011 (Associated Press) – ConocoPhillips spent $4.34 million in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on oil and natural gas drilling techniques and other issues, according to a disclosure report.

That's less than the $5.52 million that Conoco spent in the same period last year and the $6.23 million it spent in the first quarter of 2011.

The Houston oil company also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving the Clean Air Act, greenhouse gases, international sanctions against Libya, Canadian oil sands mining, tax laws, Wall Street reform bills, drinking water regulations and other issues, according to the report filed on July 20.

Like many of its peers, ConocoPhillips is pushing to tap oil and natural gas fields in North America using controversial techniques like hydraulic fracturing. Those techniques have been criticized by community and environmental groups that blame them for polluting the groundwater.

In the April-June period, Conoco lobbied Congress, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Trade Representative, the State Department, the Treasury Department, the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the report filed with the House clerk's office.

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