In my travels and interviews with midwestern farmers over the last 6 years, I have been continually struck by the similarities of the stories I am hearing of harassment, intimidation, onerous FOIA requests, reputational slurs in local media, and even physical threats they and local governing boards have received when they sought to site clean energy on their land, and in their communities.
The similarities to accounts of scientists like Michael Mann, (above) Malcom Hughes, Ben Santer, James Hansen, and others are not a coincidence. As Mann wrote in his book The New Climate War , as the fossil fuel industry gradually lost the fight to obscure the science of climate change, they moved from climate denial to solutions denial.
A decade ago, one of the primary bad actors in the attacks on scientists, the “American Traditions Institute”, which had been leading attacks on scientists, began to focus on mobilizing right wing extremists against what the coal industry then recognized was an existential threat, the suddenly-economically-competitive wind industry, and the prospect that solar would soon follow.
ATI has been rebranded as “E&E Legal” in recent years, and continued from the same playbook.
Continue reading “What Do Climate Scientists and Midwest Farmers Have in Common? Both Under Attack by Fossil Fuel Interests”A network of ultra-conservative groups is ramping up an offensive on multiple fronts to turn the American public against wind farms and Barack Obama’s energy agenda.
A number of rightwing organisations, including Americans for Prosperity, which is funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, are attacking Obama for his support for solar and wind power. The American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), which also has financial links to the Kochs, has drafted bills to overturn state laws promoting wind energy.
Now a confidential strategy memo seen by the Guardian advises using “subversion” to build a national movement of wind farm protesters.
The strategy proposal was prepared by a fellow of the American Tradition Institute (ATI) – although the thinktank has formally disavowed the project.