If a nest of orcs like ALEC is distancing itself from climate denial, you know there’s a shift going on.
Facing a loss of high-profile corporate sponsors, a conservative state-level policy group — the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — threatened action in recent weeks against activist groups that accuse it of denying climate change.
Attorneys for ALEC sent letters to Common Cause and the League of Conservation Voters asking them to immediately “cease making false statements” and “remove all false or misleading material” suggesting that ALEC does not believe in global warming.
ALEC officials insist that their nonprofit state-level policy organization does not deny climate change and that they have been overhauling their organization to be more transparent and more welcoming to divergent views. ALEC’s attorneys cite the organization’s model legislation, distributed to state lawmakers, acknowledging that “human activity has and will continue to alter the atmosphere of the planet,” which “may lead to demonstrable changes in climate.”
ALEC is panicking because so many corporations that have formerly supported their promotion of anti-environment, anti-climate, anti-science legislation and ideas have been fleeing recently, as polls show majorities of Americans now get it that climate change is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, and that groups like ALEC are, in the words of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, “literally lying”, about the science of climate change.
In August, Microsoft announced that it’d be severing ties with ALEC, citing its opposition to renewable energy projects; in September, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said his company would be leaving as well, in part because ALEC is “just literally lying” about climate change (the group tried, and totally failed, to reform its stance). But despite the tech exodus that followed — Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp are no longer ALEC-affiliated — the group is sure to be buoyed by the favorable results of the midterm elections, Nick Surgey, of the Center for Media and Democracy, told reporters during a press call Wednesday.
And according to Aliya Haq, the climate change special projects director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, it ”will actually be escalating its attacks on environmental safeguards.”
The “most extreme” proposal getting attention at this week’s conference, according to the NRDC, is a plan to have Congress disband the EPA, slash funding for environmental protections by 75 percent and replace the federal agency with a group of 300 state agency employees — even though the entire point of having the EPA is because pollution extends beyond state boundaries.
A quick look at ALEC’s website shows handy templates available for state legislators eager to stop a tax on carbon, withdraw from the Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, or oppose the President’s efforts to rein in greenhouse gas and other pollution from coal fired power plants.
“Nest of orcs,” I trust, rather than “Next,” right? (Wow, you are on a tear early this morning)
No “tear” involved for anyone who is familiar with the massive damage ALEC has done to the country in so many areas and not just on climate change denial. When I opened my Post this AM and saw the article, I smiled, said “YES!”, and told my wife about it (she said, “That’s nice, dear”).
“Nest of orcs” IS fitting, and they should be put to death rather than merely “defunded”. Up with the Elvish!
Just to be clear … the down thumb vote was by accident, it should have been a up thumb vote. Sorry
Thanks for clarifying that—that thumbs down had me contemplating suicide for a while. I’ve returned the favor—we’re even. LOL.
A revealing story; nothing new here except for the fact that even the g-string has come off. That wasn’t supposed to be part of the act, damn it: we’re trying to eliminate the EPA and block any action on GHG emissions, but we’ll sue you if you keep saying we deny climate change. Our greed and ruthlessness must stay secret (except to our members, who profit from it). The ‘free press’ and freedom of speech cannot be allowed to get in the way of real $$$.
I’d like to see Google, Microsoft and the other companies that dumped ALEC form a legal shield to defend activist groups against threats from ALEC.
That should give them pause, but it won’t stop the whining.
Now, I am not a lawyer, but if they made good on their threat, wouldn’t that open them up to having their insider dirty laundry being aired in the discovery process?
It would seem that access to their private emails and memos (if this could be accomplished) would almost certainly expose their true intentions, rather than what they say publicly, which is bad enough just on the face of it.
Yep, and that’s why those who wield two-edged swords have to be careful.
IMO, they’re just blowing smoke—-they can’t be so stupid as to open themselves up to what you suggest. (Although a lot of their “stuff’ has come out, and that hasn’t slowed them down much)
Divide & Conquer. State elections are cheaper and there are fewer watchdogs. States’ Rights
And it’s at the state level that ALEC has done its dirtiest and most harmful work. The proverbial octopus (or cancer that has metastasized).
I would be willing to bet that prior to ALEC’s issuing these legal threats, that there was a huge uptick in their organization of email purging, hard drive wiping, paper shredding, and renewal of proprietary information non-disclosure agreements for their employees to sign and swear to on pain of legal action against them.
The words “belief” and “believe” really need to be removed from any discussion about AGW. You either accept the available science or you don’t. Belief is irrelevant.
The WashPost is really getting its act together on climate change. A column today by Dana Milbank puts some nice icing on the column by Mooney et al. ALEC is in trouble.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/climate-change-deniers-are-in-retreat/2015/04/06/942eb980-dc9f-11e4-be40-566e2653afe5_story.html
Total troll infestation in the comments – really poked the hive with that!
Hard work smacking them down though.