Big Oil’s Favorite Lobbyist Wants to Represent North Carolina

Raleigh, N.C. —  Longtime oil and gas lobbyist Michael Whatley is making plans to run for U.S. Senate in North Carolina. He’s spent his career fighting for Big Oil, not North Carolinians, and his Senate bid is nothing more than an attempt by billionaire fossil fuel CEOs to install a loyal ally in Congress. From working to gut critical health protections,  to working hand-in-glove with oil giants like ExxonMobil and BP, Whatley has always put polluters over people.

Whatley’s deep entanglement with Big Oil is no secret. He co-founded HBW Resources, a powerful oil and gas lobbying firm that pushed dirty energy projects and blocked clean energy reforms across the country. Under his leadership, HBW represented some of the world’s most notorious petrochemical companies and worked aggressively to gut critical health protections against pollution. 

The Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is expected to raise North Carolinian’s energy bills to $220 by 2030, and Michael Whatley would do nothing to stop it. As recently as 2012, Whatley penned an op-ed defending fracking and claiming—against overwhelming scientific evidence—that fracking chemicals didn’t pollute our drinking water. He also helped spearhead opposition to bipartisan efforts to adopt cleaner fuel standards in the U.S. Now, backed by Donald Trump and fossil fuel interests, Whatley wants to bring his polluter-first agenda to the Senate. 

North Carolina deserves a senator who will fight for clean energy jobs and a livable future, not another lobbyist trying to rewrite our laws to benefit Big Oil and their billionaire CEOs. As climate change continues to endanger communities and strain public health and infrastructure, Whatley’s record shows he can’t be trusted to put the people of North Carolina, or the planet, first.