Climate Lobbying Overview: The American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC) is broadly opposed to climate policy in the US. The association has actively pushed a deregulatory agenda over ambitious climate action and continues to obstruct measures to transition the energy mix in line with IPCC recommendations.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: The AXPC has very limited top-line messaging on climate policy, although where it has engaged it appears to have a relatively mixed it stance. On a statement first uploaded on their in 2020 975643, the association explain that Independent producers play an ‘irreplaceable’ role in lowering GHG emissions, although there is ambiguity regarding how producers can support the reduction of GHG emissions. The CEO of AXPC, Anne Bradbury, made a statement in a 2021 press release 977422. More recently in in a joint letter to the U.S. Senate 978676, the AXPC acknowledged the link between climate change and GHG emissions, seemingly indicating a shift towards a more positive stance in the association's positions on top-line messaging.

Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: The AXPC appears strongly opposed to specific climate-related policies, including carbon taxes and GHG emissions regulation. AXPC strongly opposes any form of carbon tax and engaged heavily with the policy area in 2021 on a number of occasions. The most notable instances of this were in a September 2021 Joint Trade letter opposing the proposed methane fees in the Build Back Better Act and reiterated this position in a November 2021 press release where the association opposed the passage of the Build Back Better reconciliation package, which included methane fees. CEO Anne Bradbury submitted a [977416 letter to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural resources the following month in which she opposed the proposed methane tax, suggesting that it would make US LNG less competitive in the global market.

AXPC has a fairly mixed stance on positive GHG emissions regulations. In 2018, the association submitted 976222 to EPA opposing proposed emissions standards for low productions wells. In a press release 975955 the company appears to be supportive of some methane emission regulations, however presents a number of caveats, essentially stating that regulations mustn’t be detrimental to the production of US oil and natural gas. More recently in June 2021, in a with the EPA 976252, the AXPC expressed support for methane regulation in line with the Clean Air Act. Most recently in January 2022, CEO Anne Bradbury comments on the EPA’s Initial Methane Notice 977634, expressing support for efforts to drive to methane emissions.

Positioning on Energy Transition:

AXPC’s position on Energy Transition centered predominantly around its consistent support for the maintenance and development of new oil and gas pipelines. Since at least November 2017, the AXPC has engaged with policymakers regarding the energy mix, where the company submitted a a Joint Letter to the EPA, supporting the SECURE Act, which would have seen the expansion and development of onshore and offshore energy. The AXPC more recently, in February 2021, submitted a letter to Senator Manchin in which they expressed their support of efforts of policy leaders to promote the increased and exports of natural gas. The association maintained this position, most recently submitting a letter to the House committee on Energy and Commerce in April 2022, in which the CEO advocated to the Biden administration for the construction and expansion of more LNG infrastructure including pipelines and export facilities.