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American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

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American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is a coal industry front group formed by merging Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) and the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED).

A press release from ACCCE on April 17, 2008 announced "More than 40 leading U.S. companies from the electricity generation, transportation, coal production, energy technology, and equipment manufacturing industries have aligned to create the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). ... ACCCE believes that the use of coal, America’s most abundant energy resource, is essential to providing affordable, reliable electricity for millions of American consumers and a growing domestic economy. ACCCE also supports enhanced public and private sector efforts to develop and deploy new, advanced clean coal technologies that protect and improve the environment. The formation of ACCCE results from a consolidation of the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED) and Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC).[1]

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The Front Group Previously Known As ABEC

Formed in 2000 to develop astroturf support for coal-based electricity, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) promotes the interests of mining companies, coal transporters, and electricity producers. A domain name search reveals that ABEC's website is registered to the coal industry trade organization Center for Energy and Economic Development. (ABEC originally used the www.balancedenergy.org domain but later switched to a website titled America's Power).

From ABEC's website: "Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) is a national, non-profit organization designed to promote a dialogue with community leaders across the U.S. on issues involving America's growing demand for electricity. ABEC will advocate in support of policies that strike the proper balance between protecting the environment and providing for continued economic growth and prosperity for America's working families.

"Because they recognize the essential role that electricity from coal plays in protecting the environment while providing over half of the electricity used each day in the U.S., America's coal-based electricity industry (producers, transporters, and electricity generators) have provided the primary initial funding for this worthwhile project." [2]

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Activities

ABEC's promotion of coal-generated electricity ignores or downplays concerns about current industry emission levels and their links to health and environmental concerns.

Outreach by ABEC has included program underwriting on National Public Radio in the spring of 2002 promoting coal as America's energy source of the future. [3] ABEC also produced a short subject video that played on United Airlines flights. According to ABEC, the video "discusses coal's role in providing reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean electricity for American homes, schools, and businesses."

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Clean coal ads

According to Issue Ads @ APPC, ABEC sponsored three TV ads that ran a total of 845 times in Washington, D.C. in 2002.

"One ad stated that Americans 'are learning that advancements in clean coal technologies are effectively making our environment cleaner.' According to a second ad, 'electricity from coal is an increasingly clean source of energy.' The ad said that according to the U.S. Department of Energy, 'new coal-based power plants built beginning in about 2020 may well use technologies that are so advanced that they'll be virtually pollution-free.' Another ad, which aired in 2001 as well as 2002, stated that over 50% of the American energy supply comes from coal. The ad advocated coal power as a principal energy supply, noting that $50 billion was invested in creating technologies that make coal power cleaner and safe for the environment."

In 2001, ABEC ran one TV ad a total of 940 times in Washington, D.C. "The ad, which also appeared in 2002, stated that over 50% of the American energy supply comes from coal. The ad advocated coal power as a principal energy supply, noting that $50 billion was invested in creating technologies that make coal power cleaner and safe for the environment.[4]

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2008 presidential campaign outreach

In September 2007, ABEC released "requests for proposal," seeking public relations help "in targeting the public, politicians, interest groups, and the media" on the national level, and also in Pennsylvania and Nevada. In the proposals, ABEC stated "Nevada (DOC) is perhaps one of the most volatile states in the west regions for ABEC's industry," so its PR work in the state includes issues management, as well as presidential candidate outreach and identifying "cities and communities critical to helping shape policy at the grassroots level." ABEC's Pennsylvania (DOC) PR campaign is less intense, involving "regulatory / legislative communications," "grassroots assistance," and various types of media outreach. [5]

The National Journal reported that ABEC's budget for PR, advertising and "grassroots" organizing quadrupled, from $8 million to $30 million a year, from 2007 to 2008. "Two words sum up why" the coal industry and its allies "opened their checkbooks," wrote the Journal -- "global warming." [5]

In 2007, ABEC advertised during the CNN/YouTube Republican presidential candidate debates.

In January 2008, the Washington Post reported that ABEC "is waging a $35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change." As of mid-January, ABEC had spent $1.3 million on ads in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina. The ads talked about "clean coal" and "70 percent cleaner" coal plants, though those reductions have been mostly in non-greenhouse gases. [6]

ABEC also deployed staffers to the January 15, 2008, Democratic candidates' debate. "About 50 people, many of them paid, walked around as human billboards and handed out leaflets outside Tuesday's Democratic debate in Nevada with questions for voters to ask the candidates," reported the Washington Post. [6]

In August 2008, the group, now ACCCE, planned to spend $2 million at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions promoting "clean coal" as the nation's energy solution. The Center for Public Integrity found that ACCCE spent $4.7 million on lobbying and efforts in the first eight months of 2008 - more than any other organization devoted solely to influencing climate change legislation, and more than five times the amount spent by either the leading wind or solar industry groups.[7]

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PR and lobbying

According to the 2001 "O'Dwyer's Directory of Public Relations Firms," ABEC is listed as a client of the Denver-based MGA Communications. In its agency statement, MGA Communications specializes in "communications planning involving community involvement and education, sitings and compliance issues, public-private partnerships, 'green' product marketing, dispute resolution and crisis communications, media relations, primary research and marketing communications. MGA also has a substantial technology marketing and corporate reputation practice." [8]

ABEC's president Stephen Miller is a registered lobbyists for ABEC on energy and environmental issues, according to Lobbyist.info. CEED and the Willard Group have also lobbied on behalf of ABEC.

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NRDC parody of America's Power website

In 2008, the environmental group NRDC created a website, COAL POWER: Warming America, Warming the Planet, parodying the "America's Power" campaign sponsored by ABEC, the predecessor to ACCCE. The parody website (which is clearly labelled as a project of NRDC), mimics the America's Power website design. It is sponsored by an organization called "Americans for Burning Every Chunk of Coal" (ABECC). On the site are "facts," an "ask the experts" section, and "news."

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Membership

Membership in ACCCE is heavily weighted toward coal mining and transportation companies; i.e., enterprises that are heavily wedded to coal. Rural electric cooperatives, among the heaviest users of coal in the utility sector, are also well represented. In contrast, investor-owned electric utilities are fairly lightly represented, a reflection of the fact that most electric utilites are no longer seeking to build new coal-fired power plants. As of May, 2008, the following organizations were members in ACCCE:[9]

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Coal mining and mining services

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Independent power producers

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Investor-owned utilities

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Rural electrics

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Transportation

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Contact Information

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity Website http://www.cleancoalusa.org/
Phone: 703-684-6292

Address 333 John Carlyle Street, Suite 530
Alexandria, Virginia 22314

Individual contact Steve Gates, Senior Communications Director
Email: SGates AT cleancoalusa.org
Phone: 703-302-1223 (direct), (703) 684-7473 (national office)

Americans for Balanced Energy Choices
P.O. Box 1638
Alexandria, Virginia 22313
Phone: 1-877-358-6699
Web: http://www.americaspower.org

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SourceWatch resources

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External links

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References

  1. ↑ "New Multi-Industry Coalition Aligns to Advocate Energy Security and Environmental Stewardship", Media Release, April 17, 2008.
  2. ↑ "About ABEC", archived version dated August 30, 2004.
  3. ↑ Laura Miller, "is the 'Disinfopedia'?," PR Watch, Fourth Quarter 2003.
  4. ↑ ""Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC)", Welcome to IssueAds@APPC, June 24, 2003.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Coal Group Seeks PR Firms," O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), September 26, 2007.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Steven Mufson, "Coal Industry Plugs Into the Campaign," Washington Post, January 18, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Big Coal's Big-Time Lobby", Matthew Lewis, Center for Public Integrity, August 25, 2008.
  8. ↑ Jack O'Dwyer, editor, "O'Dwyer's Directory of Public Relations Firms," J.R. O'Dwyer Co., 2001 - page 167. (No link available.)
  9. ↑ America's Power,] accessed May 4, 2008
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