aJoe Biden warns that ‘an oligarchy is forming in America’ in his farewell address as president, new report finds wealth of US fossil fuel billionaires has increased by 15% in past nine months It became clear. Some of those wealthy individuals will attend a party celebrating President Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Monday, hoping for further rewards for his “drill, baby, drill” energy policies.
The report by the research group Climate Responsibility Research Project (Karp) was released just days before climate change denier Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration. Oil and gas representatives and Trump donors plan to celebrate at a glitzy industry party in Washington, D.C.
Chuck Collins, co-founder of Carp and one of the report’s authors, said: “The ‘oil garchs’ are already benefiting from political donations and pro-Trump activities, but there’s much more to come. I know that.”
The oil and gas industry donated more than $75 million to the Trump campaign. Fossil fuel financiers such as energy giant Chevron and Citibank also contributed to President Trump’s inaugural fund.
The sector is expected to benefit greatly from President Trump’s second term. In his second term, President Trump has vowed to reverse Biden’s climate policies, roll back decades of environmental protections, withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord and eliminate green financing programs.
The industry is also making specific demands of the incoming administration. On Tuesday, for example, the American Petroleum Institute, the top U.S. oil lobby, released an energy “roadmap” for the Trump campaign and the Republican-controlled House and Senate.
The list of demands includes expanding oil and gas extraction areas and reversing Biden-era crackdowns on vehicle emissions and fossil fuel exports, steps that Trump is expected to take soon.
“There are a number of steps the Trump administration can take from day one,” Mike Somers, the lobbying group’s chief executive officer, told a news conference.
These anticipated policies will benefit fossil fuel interests. And they will follow the recent increase in oil companies’ wealth, Karp’s new report shows.
For the study, the authors analyzed numbers from the Forbes database, which is updated every five minutes based on stock market fluctuations. The authors list a number of U.S. oil billionaires, including energy company CEO Jeffrey Hildebrand, oil and gas chief Timothy Dunn, pipeline company chairman Kelsey Warren, and fossil fuel CEO Charles Koch. We investigated changes in the assets of the top 15 people after April 2024.
That same month, Trump held a meeting with fossil fuel executives and reportedly asked for $1 billion in campaign contributions, while vowing to roll back dozens of environmental regulations if elected. Since that infamous meeting, the combined wealth of these 15 fossil fuel billionaires has soared by $40.2 billion, from $267.6 billion to $307.8 billion, the report found.
The two oil executives who gained the most were Richard Kinder, CEO and chairman of Kinder Morgan, a major U.S. gas pipeline operator, and Lindal, owner of Texas oil and gas company Diamondback Energy.・It was Mr. Stevens Gress. Right behind them were Charles Koch, chairman of fossil fuel conglomerate Koch Industries, and Julia Flesher Koch, widow of former Koch Industries executive David Koch.
Billionaire oil and gas executive Harold Hamm, who founded the Oklahoma-based oil company Continental Resources, was an anomaly in the report. His net worth was consistently $18.5 billion.
But Hamm funneled $4.3 million to a pro-Trump political action committee, helped raise campaign funds from other executives, and even tried to help pay Trump’s bail in the coming months. The report says that the United States stands to benefit greatly from Trump’s energy policies. .
On Monday, when President Trump is inaugurated, Mr. Hamm will host a special daytime party on the rooftop of the Hay-Adams Hotel, one block from the White House. The New York Times reported that Liberty Energy, a fossil fuel services company founded by Chris Wright, whom Trump picked to lead the Energy Department, will also help pay for the party.
The party’s news infuriated climate change advocates. “Oil billionaires spent tens of millions of dollars to put Donald Trump in the White House, hand-picked his Cabinet nominees, and now they’re celebrating the tax cuts Trump promised to give him as president.” said Pete Jones, Director of Activist Research. Group non-profit organization Climate Power.
Each of the 15 billionaires investigated by Karp uses their wealth and power to “deny climate change, fund climate disinformation and disinformation, and block clean energy alternatives.” The report states that For example, Dunn was a contributor to the Anti-Climate, Anti-Regulatory Policy Blueprint Project 2025, while the Kochs have long been criticized for promoting doubts about climate change.
This week, senators also confirmed Trump Cabinet appointees expected to oversee global warming oil and gas expansion. That includes Lee Zeldin, the former New York congressman who will lead the Environmental Protection Agency, who has railed not only on Wright’s fracking efforts but also on Democrats’ “far-left climate policies.”
Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick for Interior secretary, also helped arrange an April meeting between Trump and oil company executives. He had been invited to Monday’s dinner to launch the fossil fuel industry, but reportedly will not attend.
According to Karp’s report, the incoming Trump administration will be the richest in U.S. history, with total assets of more than $300 billion.
