Fake Outrage Hits Climate Change Debate

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Domestic Issues

(CBS/AP)

While Democrats have complained in recent days about supposedly "manufactured outrage" over health care reform proposals, evidence has emerged of blatantly inauthentic outrage over climate change legislation being discussed on Capitol Hill.

A lobbying firm indirectly hired by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE) has admitted sending fake letters, allegedly from real nonprofit organizations, to congressmen to protest climate change legislation, the New York Times reports.

ACCCE said in a statement that it is considering legal action against the responsible lobbying firm, Bonner & Associates.

"ACCCE has always maintained high ethical and professional standards," the statement said. "In this case, the standards and practices that we require for grassroots advocacy outreach were not adhered to by Bonner and Associates."

The ACCCE contracts out its "grassroots" efforts primarily to the consulting firm the Hawthorn Group, which in turn hired Bonner & Associates to create "outreach" against the climate change bill that passed earlier this year in the House of Representatives.

About a dozen fake letters were sent to Reps. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), Christopher Carney (D-Pa.) and Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.). The letters were purported to be from local minority groups, including Albemarle-Charlottesville chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. -- a group that actually is in favor of the climate change legislation.

"We support making the environment cleaner, but the reason we are writing is that we are concerned about our electric bills," one letter said, the Times reported. "Many of our members are on tight budgets, and the sizes of their monthly utility bills are important expense items."

While the work conducted by Bonner & Associates did not go as planned for ACCCE, the group is continuing its aggressive efforts to make any climate change legislation Congress may finalize more clean-coal friendly.

The group will be running ads this month promoting its agenda over the radio, on billboards, online and probably on television in Democratic states, Politico reports. The group also reportedly plans to send teams to town hall meetings to question senators about the legislation.

The bill which passed in the House calls for a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 from 2005 levels and an 83 percent reduction by 2050. The legislation aims to meet that goal by instituting a price on carbon emissions through a "cap-and-trade" system, which would enable industries to buy and trade permits that allow them to emit certain levels of carbon. About 85 percent of the permits would be given away, however. It also includes billions of dollars for carbon capture and sequestration -- or "clean coal" technology.

Some senators are interested in creating higher environmental standards in its own version of the legislation, but the competing interests that will be impacted make that a challenge, the Washington Post reports.

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by infinityblue August 8, 2009 3:36 AM EDT: I know the guy who is the head of this group. He's a Democrat. That shoots the "GOP-led effort" theory!; Reply to this comment


by andendquote August 6, 2009 12:08 AM EDT: Some of you have said that this is a liberal group of environmentalists.

True environmentalists do not support "Clean Coal" because there is no such thing as clean coal.

No to "Clean Coal." No to falsities.; Reply to this comment


by carlyt1 August 5, 2009 9:22 PM EDT: Time to fire this firm and ban it from working in Washington or anywhere else. There is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588; Reply to this comment


by jab232 August 5, 2009 8:36 PM EDT: Fake outrage is the GOP stock and trade. They have become little more than birthers and yellers. If they represented anywhere near a majority opinion, they wouldn't have to shout down discussion. Finally, these scripted corporation-staged-managed mobs will cause violence.; Reply to this comment


by karenbe111 August 5, 2009 6:59 PM EDT: Upon first reading this, I thought the group was a liberal group for clean energy, but upon a closer reading, this group is aan advocate for the coal industry. More Republican/corporate shenanigans!; Reply to this comment


by partagus7 August 5, 2009 5:11 PM EDT: "Fake Outrage"? What does that mean? Are these protesters pretending to be against something they secretively support?; Reply to this comment