The findings highlight a potential conflict of interest in Washington’s lobbying ecosystem. The analysis, published Tuesday, zeroes in on lobbyists who work both for fossil fuel giants and for municipalities that are increasingly turning to federal aid and legal action to cope with the costs of extreme weather, rising seas, and other climate impacts.

According to the watchdog groups, many of the local governments represented by these lobbyists are located in regions that have experienced severe flooding, wildfires, or hurricanes in recent years. They are actively pushing for additional disaster relief funds or pursuing legal avenues to hold polluters accountable for climate damages—efforts that could directly conflict with the interests of their lobbying firms’ other clients in the fossil fuel industry.

“When the same lobbyists who fight for the oil and gas industry also collect fees from cities trying to recover from climate disasters, it undermines the public’s trust in government,” said a spokesperson for Make Polluters Pay.

The analysis drew on data from the Lobbying Disclosure Act database, which requires firms to list all clients they represent. F Minus cross-referenced these records with lists of local governments that have declared climate emergencies or filed lawsuits against fossil fuel companies. In total, the groups identified 318 municipalities where the cross-representation was clear, with many more where the lobbyists’ work touched on climate-adjacent areas like insurance and healthcare costs.

The fossil fuel industry has long maintained a powerful lobbying presence in Washington, spending millions annually to influence energy policy and environmental regulations. Meanwhile, local governments across the country have been grappling with rising costs from climate-related damages, from repairing roads and bridges to managing public health crises.

Neither the American Petroleum Institute nor any of the named lobbying firms immediately responded to requests for comment. Critics of the revolving-door lobbying culture say the findings are unsurprising but underscore the need for stricter disclosure rules and ethics reforms.

“This is a systemic problem,” said a campaigner at F Minus. “Citizens deserve to know if the people their city hires to lobby in Washington are also working for the very companies that are fueling the climate crisis.”