It's the money - stupid

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeBig Oil and Coal Spent $500 Million to Kill Climate Bill

The oil, gas, and coal industries have spent over $2 billion lobbying Congress since 1999. These three industries combined spent a whopping $543 million on lobbying in 2009 and the first two quarters of 2010 ...
The 20 biggest-spending oil, mining, and electric utility companies shelled out $242 million on lobbying from January 2009 to June 2010 [2]. Trade associations that generally oppose clean energy policies spent another $290 million during this time. This is over $1,800 in lobby expenditures a day for every single senator and representative.

Never realized it costs so much to keep that soot spewing. Wonder who ends up paying? That's right - we all do in so many different ways.