Energy & Environment

Green group plans to spend $40M in election

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund is planning to exceed $40 million in spending for this election cycle, smashing previous records.

LCV Action President Gene Karpinski told The Washington Post that the $40 million total is “by far, our biggest investment in a political cycle to date,” and the bulk of it is going to support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for president.

{mosads}“The stakes have never been higher, and the contrasts have never been starker,” Karpinski said.

Along with other major green groups, the environmental movement is set to exceed $100 million in election spending this year, the Post said.

LCV Action will spend at least $10 million in the presidential election, for Clinton and against Republican nominee Donald Trump, Karpinski said. It is spending another $15 million to elect Democrats in tight congressional races, mainly in Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina.

The group spent about $25 million in the 2014 election cycle, $15 million in 2012 and $5 million in 2010.

The major environmental groups, which include NextGen Climate, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund and the Environmental Defense Action Fund, collectively spent $85 million in the 2014 elections. That cycle, Democrats lost the Senate majority.