[Graeme]

How Cheap Wind Energy Threatens To Upend The Kansas Governor’s Race And Upset The Koch Brothers

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback once supported wind energy, but that was before petrochemical billionaires and Kansas natives Charles and David Koch became his largest campaign donors. Now, Brownback and the Kochs find themselves enmeshed in a highly competitive governor’s race, one that has become a referendum on the much-heralded notion that scaling back government and slashing taxes for the wealthy will lead to economic growth.

A key aspect of this debate hinges on the role of renewable energy in the state and the future of the Kansas’ Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), a law requiring a certain portion of a state’s energy mix come from renewable sources. The Koch brothers have devoted a significant amount of time and money into repealing the standard and as of late, Brownback has wavered in his support. His Democratic opponent, Paul Davis, has taken a stand, saying he would “veto a bill that repeals our RPS” during the first gubernatorial debate.

“Kansas has some of the greatest potential for wind energy in the United States, but the future of wind in Kansas depends upon the continuation of the RPS,” Davis said in an email. “If Kansas were to repeal the RPS, it sends a very strong message to the wind industry that we are not open for business, and you will see people back away from Kansas in a big way.”

Davis said the RPS repeal is being championed by a very narrow group of far right special interests with heavy investments in the oil industry. He said this is despite the fact that the policy remains incredibly popular among everyday Kansans and public and private sector leaders who understand the importance of diversifying the state’s energy portfolio. In fact, Kansas’ RPS — which requires investor-owned utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020 — is almost entirely fulfilled several years ahead of schedule.

“Frankly, the RPS has become controversial because those who want to repeal the RPS have poured millions into Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign, which has caused him to suddenly change his position,” said Davis.

thinkprogress

[dohboi]

As prices drop for renewables, it becomes harder and harder of Koch candidates to make economic arguments in favor of ffs to their constituents, especially their fiscally conservative base.

[ROCKMAN]

dohboi - Since I'm not there what exactly are the "Koch candidates" arguing over with respect to ff and renewables? We're having elections coming up in Texas also and I haven't heard a single word from the conservative or liberal candidates about either issue. As far as Kansas goes it sounds that the complaint is without state govt subsidies/mandates wind isn't economic in there despite its "great potential". If the potential is that good why wouldn't someone, including the Koch boys, be investing in it? As I just pointed out to Monte Texas wind power is booming and no one in the fossil fuel extraction industry cares. Even with Texas having as much wind power as the #2 and #3 states combines we haven't shut down 1 Mw of fossil fuel generated electricity. All our power gain from wind has been to supplement our demand and not replace ff. Texas is both the leading wind power generator and coal burner in country by a wide margin. And both industries are just fine with those stats.

[Graeme]

It's not only the Koch brother's. The entire industry is running scared and looking for advice on how to counter the threat from environmentalists.

Oil and Gas Industry's "Endless War" on Fracking Critics Revealed by Rick Berman

Leave it to Washington's top attack-dog lobbyist Richard Berman to verify what many always suspected: that the oil and gas industry uses dirty tricks to undermine science, vilify its critics and discredit journalists who cast doubt on the prudence of fossil fuels.

In a speech at an industry conference in June, surreptitiously recorded by an energy executive, Rick Berman, the foremost go-to guy for Republican smear campaigns, gave unusually candid advice to a meeting of drilling companies.

“Think of this as an endless war,” he told executives in a speech, which was leaked to The New York Times by an attendee at the conferenece who was offended by Berman's remarks.

“And you have to budget for it.” He said the industry needs to dig up embarrassing tidbits about environmentalists and liberal celebrities, exploit the public’s short attention span for scientific debate, and play on people’s emotions.

“Fear and anger have to be a part of this campaign,” Berman said. “We’re not going to get people to like the oil and gas industry over the next few months.”

Berman also advised that executives continue to spend big. “I think $2 to $3 million would be a game changer,” he said. “We’ve had six-figure contributions to date from a few companies in this room to help us get to where we are.”

But always cover your tracks, he suggested, adding that no is better equipped at doing so than his firm. “We run all this stuff through nonprofit organizations that are insulated from having to disclose donors. There is total anonymity,” he said. “People don’t know who supports us. We’ve been doing this for 20-something years in this regard.”

desmogblog

Rick Berman Caught on Tape; Hear His 10 Tactics to Aid Dirty Energy Corps

And here's the response from one of those pesky enviros who was attacked:

Why Dr. Evil Is Targeting Anti-Fracking Activists as ‘Big Green Radicals’

The Oct. 30 New York Times ran a story about how the oil and gas industry and its high-priced lobbyist/publicist Richard Berman are personally targeting Colorado activists who are working in anti-fracking campaigns. The story is based on a secretly recorded speech given by Berman and his colleague to industry officials in Colorado Springs in 2014 during which he described how the industry was going hard negative and using personal attacks against activists and how the industry must prepare for an “endless war” against environmentalists about fracking.

I am one of the activists targeted by Berman. If you go to the website Berman highlighted in his speech, BigGreenRadicals.org, then click on “Colorado,” then click on “Gary Wockner,” you’ll see Berman’s hit job (it’s not very accurate or insightful). I’m in good company there, joined by my Congressman Jared Polis, Yoko Ono, Mark Ruffalo and other local Colorado activists with whom I’ve been proud to work over the past couple of years.

A few environmental leaders are taking Berman and industry to task for their tactics targeting me and others. After reading the story in the Times, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said, “You know climate deniers and big polluters are desperate when they turn to the tired old tactics of the tobacco industry to try and save themselves.” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. called Berman “The Oil Reich’s Minister of Propaganda” in this tweet:

ecowatch

[Graeme]

Leaked Internal Presentation Details the Oil Industry's Campaign to Stop Clean Energy

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) — whose members include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, BP, and others — was caught red-handed late last month when a leaked internal presentation revealed a coordinated campaign to stomp out climate and clean energy progress in California, Oregon and Washington by propping up over 15 front groups that purport to represent the views of concerned citizens and the broader business community.

The leak comes on the heels of NRDC’s report released this month, which unmasked eight of the front groups that are campaigning against California’s climate and clean energy laws, as having direct ties to the oil industry.

Fortunately, Californians have shown they can see through Big Oil’s smoke and mirrors tactics. In 2010, voters rejected an oil-funded ballot measure to derail the state’s pioneering clean energy law, AB 32, by a margin of more than 2 to 1. And just recently, Chevron’s $3 million campaign to influence the outcome of the city of Richmond’s local elections (which just happens to be the home of a Chevron refinery) completely backfired.


The 15-plus WSPA-backed front groups include:

AB 32 Implementation Group
CA Fuel Facts*
California Drivers Alliance*
Californians Against Higher Oil Taxes*
Californians Against Higher Taxes*
Californians for Affordable and Reliable Energy (CARE)*
Californians for Energy Independence*
Concerned Mineral Owners of California
Fed Up at the Pump*
Fueling California*
Kern Citizens for Energy
Oregonians for Sound Fuel Policy
Save Our Jobs
Tank the Tax
Washingtonians for Sound Fuel Policy
Plus multiple local hydraulic fracking campaigns

The concentrated interests invested in dirty energy are powerful, well-funded and committed to protecting the status quo. WSPA’s metastasizing colony of anti-clean energy front groups is a startling reminder of the length to which the oil industry will go to protect their market share. As reported by the Northwest News Network radio news team, WPSA spokesperson Tupper Hull described the graphic above as “just an attempt to sort of put on a single slide a graphical depiction for folks as to how many issues we’re involved in and the various coalitions that we’re working with to represent the industry’s point of view.”

renewableenergyworld

WSJ’s attack on wind energy fails to disclose Koch connection

The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers throughout the country are throwing their support behind the Koch brothers’ campaign against wind energy, publishing Op-Eds that blast federal wind credits without revealing the authors’ financial ties to the oil industry.

Media Matters reports on the phenomenon, represented most notably in this Sunday WSJ column calling for Congress not to renew the federal wind production tax credit (PTC), which is needed, for now, to make the job-creating renewable energy source viable — and which has bipartisan support. It’s written by Tim Phillips, who’s identified only as the president of Americans for Prosperity (AFP). It makes no mention whatsoever of AFP’s deep financial ties to the Koch fossil fuel empire, or of the fact that the group is currently spending $200,000 on an ad campaign attacking the PTC, all factors that just might be influencing Phillips’ opinion that the credit “is one of America’s least-known wealth-redistribution schemes,” or his portrayal of the construction of 12,000 megawatts worth of new wind farms after the credit was extended in January 2013 as a bad thing.

salon

ALEC doubles down on anti-environmental agenda

[Graeme]

Polluter group ALEC doubles down on environmental attacks; 111 groups send joint letter in protest

Right now, the shadowy American Legislative Exchange Council is gathering in Washington, DC, for its annual policy summit. ALEC has not been humbled by Google and other tech companies cutting ties over ALEC’s climate denial. On the contrary, with roughly two-thirds of state legislatures now under Republican control, ALEC is redoubling its attacks against the environment, and especially against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In preparation for state legislatures convening in January, this week ALEC corporate and legislative members are finalizing new model legislation to block EPA limits on carbon pollution and smog.

Meanwhile, 111 national, state and grassroots organizations sent a joint letter to all state legislators, calling on them not to affiliate with the American Legislative Exchange Council and to encourage their colleagues to cut ties as well.

ALEC cloaks itself in free-market rhetoric, but actually serves as a vehicle for corporations to quietly craft “model” anti-environmental legislation for industry-friendly state legislators to introduce. Based on ALEC’s Energy Task Force agenda this week, ALEC should change its motto to "Limited Government, Unlimited Pollution.” You can take a look at NRDC’s analysis here, which shows the ALEC agenda is really a wish-list for energy companies.

nrdc

[Graeme]

Energy Companies Use Attorneys General In Secret Alliance To Kill Regulations

Energy firms and state attorneys general have established a secretive alliance in an effort to derail environmental oversight and promote fossil fuels, according to an in-depth New York Times’ investigation published this weekend. Having reviewed thousands of emails and legal documents and undertaken dozens of interviews, the Times found that “Republican attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda.”
Using Oklahoma as an example, open-records requests revealed that Attorney General Scott Pruitt delivered a letter to the EPA in 2011 accusing the agency of significantly overestimating the air pollution caused by fracking. Pruitt did not mention that the letter was originally written by representatives of Devon Energy, one of the state’s largest oil and gas companies.
“The attorney general’s staff had taken Devon’s draft, copied it onto state government stationery with only a few word changes, and sent it to Washington with the attorney general’s signature,” reports the Times.
Devon Energy is a major supporter of the Republican Attorneys General Association, whose mission is electing Republicans to the Office of Attorney General. The company has donated significantly to the campaigns of climate deniers, giving $800,000 to former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign in 2013. Devon Energy also gave over a million dollars to the lobbying effort in support of the Keystone XL pipeline in 2012. Pruitt is head of the Republican Attorneys General Association, which has collected $16 million this year — nearly four times the amount it collected in 2010

thinkprogress

[Graeme]

EBay Cuts Ties To Conservative Political Group ALEC

A spokesperson for eBay Inc. has confirmed to Reuters that it will end its association with the conservative political group American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
The confirmation comes two months after a coalition of more than 80 organizations asked eBay to leave ALEC, citing the conservative group’s “extreme agenda” that includes “denying the science of climate change, defunding public services, curtailing workers’ rights and opposing net neutrality.”

“[W]e all know that eBay has been a leader in the fight to protect net neutrality and investing in clean energy alternatives,” the coaltion, — which included Forecast the Facts, the Sierra Club, and the AFL-CIO — said. “Yet eBay has not heeded requests to reevaluate your membership in ALEC, despite the fact that ALEC’s agenda is severely out of step with your corporate culture.”

EBay’s spokesperson did not elaborate on the company’s reasoning behind its decision to leave ALEC. But the mass of other tech companies that have also left ALEC this year have provided reasoning — the free-market lobbying group’s advocacy for climate denial and attacks on renewable energy. In September, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said those positions were harmful to future generations, and a bad investment idea for the tech giant.

thinkprogress

[Graeme]

The 6 Most Ridiculous Attacks on Clean Energy In 2014

This year saw clean energy technologies become cost-competitive with fossil fuels and gain prominence worldwide. The fossil fuel industry, desperate to stymie clean energy's continuing expansion, enlisted conservative media to do their bidding and attack clean technologies in every shape and form. From stoking fears about public transit being a form of "government control," to providing one-sided stories falsely predicting clean energy's downfall, here are the media's six most absurd attacks on clean energy this year.

1. 60 Minutes Produces "Poor Piece Of Journalism" To Attack Clean Energy

In January, CBS' 60 Minutes aired a report titled, "The Cleantech Crash," which attempted to label clean energy a "dirty word." The report was widely criticized by reporters, government officials, and clean energy advocates alike for offering a one-sided look at renewable energy and narrowly focusing on a few failures while ignoring the majority of clean energy's success. Two of the guests interviewed in the report later criticized it for selectively airing their comments to provide an overly negative portrait of the industy and for "fail[ing] to do the most elementary fact checking and source qualification."

Further, the report made no mention of climate change, which as energy reporter Dana Hull pointed out is "the whole point of cleantech, after all: using the promise of technology and innovation to try to wean our economy off of fossil fuels."

2. Fox News Warns That DOE's Clean Energy Program Picks "Losers," Threatens Taxpayers
3. Limbaugh: Government Uses Mass Transit To "Totally Control The Movement Of The Population."
4. Fox Pushes False Analogy In Dishonest Attack On Solar Industry.
5. Fox Hypocritically Attacks Apple's Sustainability Efforts.
6. Breitbart.com Twists Google's Words To Label Renewable Energy "A Total Fail."

mediamatters

[Graeme]

Michael Mann: Swiftboating Comes To Science

Michael Mann writes about the ad hominem attacks on scientists, especially climate scientists, that have become much more frequent over the last few decades. Mann should know: his work as a postdoc on the famed "hockey stick" graph led him to be vilified by Fox News and in the Wall Street Journal. Wealthy interests such as the Scaife Foundation and Koch Industries pressured Penn State University to fire him (they didn't). Right-wing elected officials attempted to have Mann's personal records and emails (and those of other climate scientists) subpoenaed and tried to have the "hockey stick" discredited in the media, despite the fact that the National Academy of Sciences reaffirmed the work, and that subsequent reports of the IPCC and the most recent peerreviewed research corroborates it.

Even worse, Mann and his family were targets of death threats. Despite (or perhaps because of) the well-funded and ubiquitous attacks, Mann believes that flat-out climate change denialism is losing favor with the public, and he lays out how and why scientists should engage and not retreat to their labs to conduct research far from the public eye. "We scientists must hold ourselves to a higher standard than the deniers-for-hire. We must be honest as we convey the threat posed by climate change to the public. But we must also be effective. The stakes are simply too great for us to fail to communicate the risks of inaction. The good news is that scientists have truth on their side, and truth will ultimately win out."

slashdot

[Graeme]

The Tide Is Turning Against ALEC In The Renewable Energy Battle

Powerful interests are facing off on the future of renewable energy in North Carolina.

A bill to freeze the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) — a mandate on how much clean energy utilities have to use — was shoved through committee last month, but despite a wide Republican majority (34-16), the bill hasn’t been brought to the Senate floor. Similar legislation has been introduced and shot down in past years.

Environmental and business groups fighting the bill say that reintroducing the same bill until it passes is a classic American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) tactic. The North Carolina bill was brought by a legislator affiliated with ALEC, the conservative group backed by the Koch brothers, whose billion-dollar enterprise is built largely on fossil fuels.

But despite the time and money ALEC is pouring into fighting the transition to renewable energy, it seems that wind and solar have some powerful supporters, as well. Big businesses, including data services and clean energy developers, have paired with environmental advocates to stymie many of ALEC’s challenges.
Last year, ALEC-affiliated legislators in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Ohio proposed rolling back state RPSs. New Mexico and New Hampshire saw efforts, as well. Only the efforts in Ohio were successful, while Kansas reached a different agreement this year.

thinkprogress

[Graeme]

The Climate Deception Dossiers

For nearly three decades, many of the world's largest fossil fuel companies have knowingly worked to deceive the public about the realities and risks of climate change.

Their deceptive tactics are now highlighted in this set of seven "deception dossiers"—collections of internal company and trade association documents that have either been leaked to the public, come to light through lawsuits, or been disclosed through Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests.

Each collection provides an illuminating inside look at this coordinated campaign of deception, an effort underwritten by ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, Shell, Peabody Energy, and other members of the fossil fuel industry.

The climate deception dossiers
Containing 85 internal memos totaling more than 330 pages, the seven dossiers reveal a range of deceptive tactics deployed by the fossil fuel industry. These include forged letters to Congress, secret funding of a supposedly independent scientist, the creation of fake grassroots organizations, multiple efforts to deliberately manufacture uncertainty about climate science, and more.

The documents clearly show that:

Fossil fuel companies have intentionally spread climate disinformation for decades.

Fossil fuel company leaders knew that their products were harmful to people and the planet but still chose to actively deceive the public and deny this harm.
The campaign of deception continues today.

Download the full report for in-depth information on each of the seven dossiers. The complete collection of documents is available in the sources and resources section below.

ucsusa

Internal Documents Show Fossil Fuel Industry Has Been Aware of Climate Change for Decades

So what is to be done?

There are a number of potential ways to hold large industrial carbon polluters accountable. It remains to be seen whether Sen. Whitehouse's call for prosecuting them under RICO holds promise. But shareholder engagement, divestment campaigns, consumer boycotts and state court litigation all can play an important role in forcing them to curb their emissions, end their disinformation campaigns, and even pay the cost of climate damages, preparedness and mitigation. The most effective tactics remain a subject for debate. But, as the picture of the fossil fuel companies' efforts to deceive the public becomes clearer, it is high time these companies take responsibility for their actions and the damage they've done.

huffingtonpost

Exxon knew of climate change in 1981, email says – but it funded deniers for 27 more years

[onlooker]

http://www.vox.com/2015/7/7/8908179/coa ... ate-change
A prime example of how the planet cannot steer itself away from fossil fuels even in light of the more dramatic signs and evidence that we have reached or are reaching dangerous climate limits and thresholds. A renaissance in coal use around the planet. That says it all.

[Graeme]

New scorecard reveals polluter attacks against renewable energy

Sometimes, it's hard to keep these anti-clean-energy front groups straight without a scorecard. Thanks to our friends at the Energy & Policy Institute, you've got one, titled Attacks on Renewable Energy Policy in 2015. It's a new A-to-Z listing of anti-clean-energy groups, along with a catalog of their funding sources, their principal body of work, and, sometimes, their money-laundering indictments. (About this A-to-Z business: Really, the report reads almost like a kids' alphabet book, except for the scary, heavy-polluter agenda it reveals.) Together, these groups and their corporate polluter sponsors are responsible for almost all of the attacks on state renewable energy standards that have helped drive the exponential growth of wind and solar power in recent years, and for many of the efforts to sabotage solar net metering, which allows solar owners to sell excess electricity back to the grid at a fair price.

The vast majority of these subversive efforts have failed, though, because voters and their elected representatives know that pro-clean-energy policies bring a host of benefits: lower electric costs; good jobs in large numbers; cleaner air for our kids (and the rest of us) to breathe; pollution-free power that can help curb climate change's worst effects.

nrdc

Money Talks: New Climate Pledge Enlists 13 US Businesses Worth $2.5 Trillion

Every time the Obama Administration announces new developments in climate policy, the fossil fuel lobby and its legislative supporters warn of a catastrophic job-killing End Times death blow to the US economy. Well, this oughta take the wind out of their sails. Yesterday, July 27, the Obama Administration assembled 13 major US employers — aka job creators — to launch the new American Business Act on Climate Pledge.

The American Business Act on Climate Pledge is aimed at getting the US business community to back President Obama up on his Climate Action Plan, and to lobby for a “strong outcome” at the upcoming climate negotiations in Paris.

In doing so, it’s a big right back at you to the nation’s powerful fossil fuel lobbying groups, namely the US Chamber of Commerce and ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

American Business Act On Climate Change

The title “American Business Act on Climate Pledge” is awkwardly worded. We’re still not feeling it — did they mean to say Businesses, or maybe Acts — if you have any idea, drop a note in the comment thread. But, it is no empty pledge. The Gang of 13 has committed to specific actions that tote up to at least $140 billion in new low carbon investments.

The Pledge itself is brief and to the point:

We applaud the growing number of countries that have already set ambitious targets for climate action. In this context, we support the conclusion of a climate change agreement in Paris that takes a strong step forward toward a low-carbon, sustainable future.

We recognize that delaying action on climate change will be costly in economic and human terms, while accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy will produce multiple benefits with regard to sustainable economic growth, public health, resilience to natural disasters, and the health of the global environment.

The signers of the Climate Pledge have all established climate action track records and as a group you can find them mentioned regularly on CleanTechnica. They are: Alcoa, Apple, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Microsoft, PepsiCo, UPS, and Walmart.

cleantechnica

Get Ready for Ugly as Markets Begin to Deal With Climate Crisis