There’s a lot of money at stake for oil companies that want to frack California’s Monterey Shale, so it’s no wonder Big Oil is spending big to forestall any new environmental regulations from biting into profits.

Here’s a particularly striking case in point: Just a week before the California State Senate voted on a bill that would impose new regulations on fracking activities, the Western States Petroleum Association (which represents the likes of Exxon, Chevron, BP, Occidental, Valero, Phillips 66, etc.) treated a dozen lawmakers to a lavish $13,000, 5-course meal at The Kitchen, one of Sacramento’s fanciest restaurants.

Two weeks later, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, but by then lobbyists had managed to weaken the bill to the point that many environmentalists had withdrawn their support.

“Before they passed [the bill], lawmakers accepted new amendments from the oil and gas industry – amendments that undermine the original intent… changing it into a bill we simply can’t support,” said the California League of Conservation Voters.

That $13,000 dinner is a drop in the bucket, of course.

So far in 2013, the oil and gas industry has already spent over $11.5 million on lobbying efforts in California, and it’s not just fracking regulations that are in Big Oil’s crosshairs.

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is also particularly vexing to fossil fuel profiteers, especially companies like Valero and Phillips 66 that are hoping to receive more tar sands crude from Canada at their refineries in the Golden State.

According to NRDC’s Brant Olson, “For their investment, the [oil and gas] industry has succeeded in placing a range of bills onto the floor of the State Legislature to either weaken or repeal the LCFS.”

Image credit: money falling from the sky via Shutterstock.