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Subscribe to RSS“Environmentalists punish companies without protecting people” is the headline of a column that appeared on the website of the American Action Forum a year ago.
The group has called for increased domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas. Officials there have criticized President Barack Obama’s “eagerness to speed our progression to a low-carbon economy” and argued that the administration is “regulating coal out of existence.”
The American Action Forum is also connected with a nonprofit and a super PAC that have spent millions of dollars on ads backing anti-regulation Republican candidates since 2010.
So why did the Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization that funds the Sierra Club, the National Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice give the conservative nonprofit a six-figure donation last year?
Records obtained by the Center for Public Integrity show that the Energy Foundation, touted as the “leading funder of projects that address climate change,” awarded the American Action Forum a $125,000 grant in 2011 for “high-level outreach and communications around carbon policy.”
Jenny Coyle, a spokeswoman for the Energy Foundation, says her organization is “proud to fund a wide variety of organizations whether they are viewed as progressive or conservative.”
“Clean energy is not a partisan issue,” Coyle continued. “We believe that all demographics and groups will see the benefits of a prosperous and healthy clean energy economy.”
Officials at the American Action Forum declined to comment about the grant.
Center for Public Integrity: Donation tough to figure
According to records filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the Energy Foundation doled out more than $97 million in grants in 2010 to projects aimed at the adoption of stronger fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, the promotion of renewable energy technologies and the retirement of existing coal-fired power plants, among others.
Against that backdrop, the American Action Forum stands out as an unlikely beneficiary.
The group is not known as an environmental advocate. One of its projects tracks coal plants in the U.S. that are likely to close down under the Obama administration’s new “regulatory burdens.”
American Action Forum’s president is Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who headed the Congressional Budget Office under President George W. Bush, served as top adviser to 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain and has had stints as a visiting fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. Its board includes former Nixon operative Fred Malek, former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, former GOP Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida.
Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the consumer group Public Citizen — which has also received grants from the Energy Foundation — says the American Action Forum “is not dedicated to clean energy.”
He says the group favors deregulation and ending federal subsidies for renewable energy technologies that would tilt the playing field toward “established, traditional dirty sources of energy.”
Catrina Rorke, the director of energy policy at the American Action Forum, argues that federal subsidies “are not the best tool to integrate new fuels into the market.”
“We don’t want to preferentially support one kind of energy over another,” Rorke said.
Organized under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code, American Action Forum is focused on policy research and is affiliated with the American Action Network, which engages in advocacy as a “social welfare” group organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The groups are also linked to a super PAC called the Congressional Leadership Fund.
All three organizations share office space and personnel, with Coleman and Malek playing leadership roles in each.
Malek founded both the American Action Network, where he is still a board member, and the American Action Forum, where he serves as chairman of the board. He also is a board member of the Congressional Leadership Fund.
Coleman, meanwhile, is a board member of the American Action Forum and is the chairman of both the American Action Network and the Congressional Leadership Fund.
Veteran GOP operative Brian Walsh — who served as the National Republican Congressional Committee’s political director during the 2010 election cycle — is the president of both the American Action Network and Congressional Leadership Fund, which have run a plethora of attack ads against Democrats.
Records filed with the Federal Election Commission show that during the 2010 election cycle alone, American Action Network reported spending more than $18 million on political advertisements — more than any other “social welfare” nonprofit, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In this fall’s hotly contested race in Minnesota’s 8th District, it has attacked Democrat Rick Nolan for siding with the Environmental Protection Agency against a mining company. Nolan’s campaign has said the former congressman will support the mining industry “without rolling back environmental and safety regulations for workers."
Similarly, in the highly competitive race in Ohio’s 16th District, the Congressional Leadership Fund has spent more than $1 million on ads blasting Democratic Rep. Betty Sutton. Among the reasons given to oppose Sutton in November? Her vote during the 111th Congress in support of the so-called “cap-and-trade” legislation, which sought to establish both a cap on carbon emissions and a requirement that large utilities in each state increase the percentage of electricity they produce from renewable sources.
Donors to the Congressional Leadership Fund include Alpha Natural Resources, one of the country’s leading producers of coal, which made a $5,000 donation from its corporate treasury in April.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Congressional Leadership Fund has also received contributions from the political action committees connected to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Edison Electric Institute, energy conglomerate Koch Industries, oil refining giant Valero Energy and Exelon, which is the largest nuclear power plant operator in the U.S. and last year was awarded a $646 million loan guarantee by the Department of Energy for one of its solar generation subsidiaries.
Super donors Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino owner from Nevada, and Bob Perry, the millionaire home builder from Texas, have both given generously to the Congressional Leadership Fund.
Neither American Action Forum nor American Action Network is required to publicly disclose donor information.
A review of IRS filings by the Center for Responsive Politics, however, found that donors to the American Action Network include the Republican Jewish Coalition, the American Natural Gas Alliance and Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit sister organization of conservative super PAC juggernaut American Crossroads.
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit independent Investigative news outlet.
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One day, we will run out of oil.
On that same day, the sun will still be shining.
If we fail to prepare, then we must prepare to fail.
I don't see anything wrong with equating conservatives with clean air and water !! The LIBERALS want to drive that bus at the American people no matter what the cost were as conservatives want the real cost to middle income workers to be brought to the table before legislation is rammed through !!!!
Actually, as long as the sun shines and plants grow, plants will also die and as they decompose oil will be produced. We cannot stop using oil without causing much pain and misery to everyone. If we were to stop using oil tomorrow, millions, if not, billions of people would die because we would not be able to produce enough food for them and/or they would not be able to stay warm in the winter.
If we ever do actually start getting close to the point where we are in low supply on oil (which we are getting farther and farther away from, we actually have more known oil reserves now than ever before since we keep developing new technology to find it and get it out of the ground), then the market place will come up with alternatives because people will demand them. Right now, people are not demanding these alternatives so they are not being developed by anyone actually trying to serve consumers which are everyone.
Tiggle, I think you probably mean well, but what you advocate will hurt people and cause major pain, suffering, and death.
The path to prosperity and sustainability is not through forcing people to behave in certain ways. The path to progress is through understanding and creating an environment for freedom to flourish. Freedom and free markets are probably the most misunderstood concepts in the world. The idea behind freedom and free markets is not anarchy and simply doing whatever you want if you can get away with it survival of the fittest type mentalities.
Freedom and free markets mean free from having force used against you. They are about property rights and most importantly the non-aggression principle. Competition is the only thing that rewards consumers with the best quality at the lowest prices, and prices are the only way we can tell if consumers demands are being met.
The American people are not special, everyone in the world has "American exceptionalism" within them. It is what happens when people have the right incentives which are 1) being allowed to keep what you have, keep your property, and 2) being able to reap the rewards of your efforts. Those two things combined motivated people from all over the world to come to America and improve their lives by finding ways to improve the lives of those around them. We ahve lost this incentive and are quickly becoming a blame others society instead of a take responsibility for myself society and losing our greatness as quickly as we are losing our freedom. Become a libertarian, or at least learn about it because it is the only way to get back to improving the quality of life for everyone in society.
P.S. On a side note, debt will be our true destruction and even more than fiat money, the problems and economic instability of the business cycle are caused by fractional reserve banking. If we could end fractional reserve banking we would be on the right path to really improve everyone's lives, especially the poorest within our society.
It is funny how groups will pay for the WHORES in the senate and congress. Why else would Harry Reid spend $25 million to run for a job that only pays $248,000 a year for six years. You do the math, then shake your head. Would you pay your boss $3 million for a $25.00 an hour job???? This is why the age limit for holding office in the congress and senate should be 50. Fresh not stale paid for minds. After that you need to get a real job and stop living of the lobbyist teat!
Why don't you tell Paul Ryan that! He's spent his whole life in government. And his wonderful words of wisdom are based on what???
I wonder how he would react if one of his daughters was raped!!! Not like what he tells the rest of the female constituency.
Is your favorite pastime acquiring more money, more sex or just preaching to the 47%
It was not Ryan that made the rape comment that was Todd Akin.
Paul Ryan did not spend his whole life in government. He did marketing for companies after working in the family business. His family owns a small business (his mother and father) and therefore he knows what small business face daily more so than Obama who has never held a real job. He states he worked for a university as a professor which is a lie.............he had an office there to write a book and gave occassional lectures when asked by other professors to give them or stand in for them (which means a substitute teacher/professor). Biden too has never worked in a really job.
Biden according to the definition of middle class...........came from a middle class family. He graduated college worked briefly as an attorney (for himself---not with others for a few months) and then immediately jumped into politics.
I work for a small coal company. The EPA regulations Obama has but into place along with the taxes he wishes to implement and along with Obama Care.................I will be one of those 47% if he is reelected.
I've made a good living at this company for years and without coal there would be no electricity.
One thing you and the other dem posters have proven to me is that stupid can't be fixed.
Unfortunately, the individual to whom you responded appears to be one of those who rejects facts unless they are obtained from an approved source, like the non-FOX media. The things they made up about Ryan, Romney and any other non-liberal are typical of the type.
@Debbie, I've looked into the Coal and Electricty Plants and I'm sure you are aware of what's going on with your industry. The truth as I can find it to be is Natural Gas. They are converting Plants to Natural Gas from Coal. Natural Gas is Cleaner, Does the same job as Coal and ,Above all, is cheaper to use. The one thing here is the Your Own Indusrty is implimenting The Change Over. There is nothing Political about it. You'll probably just have to learn to convert Cubic meters of Gas to energy. I have cousins in the coal mining industry and some of them will have problems. (They're miners). We do have better Electric Producing Equipment and You Own Industry is using them. Also we have the Power Grid and Power Stations like Gas Stations need to be in Key Locations to make it work. Also back up stations need to be in key locations. Right now your industry is about half way on Natural Gas and their intention is to be 100% on Natural Gas.
Natural gas is not entirely available coal has been for decades and the production is much cleaner...too
Combinations of what is available signifies the priority of not having US Military around the world having their lives disposed of for the elites OIL and WAR stocks: and all while we have Open Borders Criminal Illegal ALien Invader swelcomed and rewarded...to the fruits of our labors and our ancestral choices; especially all the illegals replaciing our US D E A D M I LI TARY in our TAXPAID Universiites via the DREAM ACT giveaway theft
This site is filled with comments from the incoherent right wing. They all live in some alternate universe. It is a shame they waste what little intelligence they have with drivel from rush limbaugh and the republican propaganda network (faux).
Hard to figure??? Not really. Republican Cloak and Dagger!!
I hope word gets out about this and their donations dry up. I'd feel duped if I had contributed to an environmental group who did that!
Sort of reminds of the Susan Komen Foundation, ahem... Fat cat salaries, posh living, national walks to cure breast cancer and wouldn't even give a grant to a small non-profit that they didn't like. No chance of getting any money back, apparently...
Bills Catz. You have made the one comment with which I can agree. The Susan Komen Foundation gives those hard-earned donations to scientists who STILL waste the money by testing on animals. Anything tested on an animal is NOT going to give you 100% perfect results for getting the product to cure human diseases. The physiology is completely different and crossing the two species to test one for assumed effectiveness for the other is insane. Most top medical universities have stopped using animals completely when testing for a human disease. There are many types of alternatives that can be utilized instead of torturing an animal. Donors rarely, if ever, question HOW the money will be spent, only the feel-good comaraderie with others is their true goal. When I have spoken up to these people privately they always say they cannot get out of doing a walk or whatever the event is, because they have committed to a group. They do not want to hear that they have made a mistake and they will go on giving the guilty non-profit money, unless you tell them to donate their pet for the charity to test on, since their convictions run so deep. I have researched which charity does and does not use animals in their testing for a cure for a human disease. When asked, in a store, if I would like to donate to such and such charity, I respond loudly: "No, that charity wastes your money testing on animals. I would rather give to such and such charity which looks for the same cure without wasting resources torturing animals."
Do you know why? I'll tell you why. ----- We all love clean air, but we also like a roof over our heads and something to eat. Fire and the wheel changed the world. Do you want to go backwards?
Some day, we will figure out alternative energy, but we are not there yet. Even our electric cars burn coal or oil in a round about way. I'm not religious but I do not believe in coincidences and all those dead dinosaurs are here for a reason, so lets use them till we find a better solution.
For all you libs that believe different, turn off your computers, and TV's, throw away your car keys and give your house away to some homeless guy.
It doesn't come from Dinoes it comes from what was Forest back than.
"Fire and the wheel changed the world. Do you want to go backwards?"
Science gave us computers, cars, planes, and TVs. Now science tells us there's a pending climate emergency.
We shouldn't only listen to the scientists when they give us techno-goodies -- but then ignore them when they tell us we need to change in order to survive.
Renewable energy works -- so let's fund, develop, and use it. That's progress.
Do you mean fund renewable energy as Obama did to companies that have not produced the first item.............or the ones he funded that went bankrupt and took our tax payer dollars with them?
Renewable energy is too costly which is why gasoline has gone through the roof during the Obama administration because Obama and the Dems want our present energy to cost as much as renewable, solar, wind energy to make those items competitive.
I have news, when it is cloudy outside, solar energy doesn't at the present time work, batteries for cars can not be mass produced to provide real use to the average automobile owner or those that live more 30 minutes from their job, doctor, hospital, etc., and wind power.............if we rely on that here we will never have energy.
It's funny how other countries can pull on the boots and tighten their belts to do the right thing and you Clowns sre so stubborn to the point of stupidity.
Hey Sickdogs - what countries and which Clowns are you talking about?
Debbie-4338128...why would Beth152 let facts get in the way of a good old conservative bash session? You'll just confuse her.
Nice responses all around though, I know most of us avoid these "articles" that are actually just written to fire up the fall-in-line base, but it's good to know that there are at least some shepherds among the sheep.
Well, a while back I read Obama is killing the Coal Industry and researched Electic Production and in a few minutes found that the Electric Production Industry was making these change on their own. Natural Gas is Cleaner and more economical to use. They are about at the half way point of having all their plants converted to Natural Gas. What Part of THEY DECIDED on their own is so hard to understand.
Makes you wonder which organizations are real and which are fronts or shell games. Who can you trust?
You give money for one thing, they do another. I.e., the Komen foundation. You give think you are supporting breast cancer research; but they give money to Planned Parenthood. I happen to support PP. But they aren't doing research for the cure of cancer. And remember all those who gave to the Red Cross after 9/11 and later found that their donations went to other programs? And these are respected organizations!
Now I only give to very local organizations for specific programs and activities.
Yank, I wouldn't care to be the one to give odds on that, but it's a pretty good bet that the percentage is on the shady side. It's unfortunate that the term 'non-profit' has become so badly abused -- at least at one point there was some literal oversight on what qualified for the designation and what didn't. It seems, like many other aspects of good government, the regulations and enforcement of the whole non-profit segment have been quietly shuffled off into dark corners in favor of big money and exploitation. Right about now, I'd trust the local soup kitchen as long as the director doesn't start driving a new Mercedes any time soon or get to rule on his own pay increases. LOL
I think the reason Komen provides to PP is because that is where many women get almost all of their preventive treatment, which includes breast exams and other cancer screening.
QUOTE: " And remember all those who gave to the Red Cross after 9/11 and later found that their donations went to other programs? And these are respected organizations!"
Wasn't it the Red Cross which was caught red-handed during the Great War, selling cigarettes to our soldiers which had been donated in order to be given free of charge? They got caught at it when one soldier noticed a note attached to the cigarette pack which he'd just purchased from a Red Cross vendor. It was from the young woman who'd packed the cigarettes and it read: "Please accept these cigarettes as a free gift from our community as we have donated them to the Red Cross to be distributed to our soldiers in France." An enormous scandal resulted.
Neither my father nor my father-in-law ever forgave the ARC for selling them cigarettes and donuts during WW II. On about our first date, my wife and I both learned that we had been the only children in our repsective first-grade classes forbidden to give to the ARC. So I guess you can say that the Red Cross brought us closer! (Their excuse was always that the British Red Cross has always charged their soldiers, and we couldn't have the Tommies jealous of our G.I. Joes.)
Maybe the ARC should have been included with Big Tobacco in the lawsuit!
The way I see it, our response to the energy problem falls into two broad buckets: research new alternative energies and use current technology to improve our use of conventional fuels. I believe that the world is doing both of these things and, furthermore, that we SHOULD be doing both of these things.
We face a climate disaster if we keep using our current energy inefficiently, but we face an imminent economic disaster if we're not careful about how we wean ourselves off of coal and oil. That said, there are already great strides being made in using our energy better, including grid improvements and systems that monitor and improve the energy efficiency of large buildings as well as private homes. Computer technology was uphill going until recently and has exploded in utility over the past few decades, and I think alternative energy will have a similar evolution. Of course, I would always like to see more funding going towards alternative energy research, thought it's going to be a tough slog until their economies of scale lead to lower costs. We'll figure it out eventually, because we HAVE to.
We're going to have to both vastly improve our utilization of conventional resources and develop alternatives. It's not an either/or, it's both!
Wow someone who understands.
To many people in the country look at energy like clothes fashions. You know how it goes, you can't buy last years clothes fashions and have to only buy the latest fashions or you are a low life. They try to do the same with energy. Coal is out this year so no one can use coal. It must be cut off instantly at whatever the cost. Solar is in fashion. So what if it doesn't make sense for every situation? So what if it doesn't work on cloudy days or in the shade? So what if it doesn't work at night? It's in fashion right now and that's all that matters right? Right?
Solar and wind and do great things but they are not and never will be the end all be all producer of all our power needs. Electric car viability is a long way off for most people. The cars need a recharge too quickly and the present power grid won't handle the additional load if everyone bought an electric car. Hybrids are great for some people but not for everyone either. In some vehicles they just don't make any sense.
Push the energy infrastructure in one direction too hard and it will fail for everyone. Won't that just be wonderful for the environment?
Because they know the real secret that Global warming is all a lie...
The truth hurts.
Stop the global warming Propaganda
Media isn't biased. Why put thuis in the story, “regulatory burdens” . Notice it's in quotes. what this is meant to do is make the reader think that the person who said it is not speaking the truth and is using a cliche. the person who used these words is therefore not beleivable. The woed operative was used several times. this of course is meant to convey that the person spoken of is a sneaky, backhanded, Machavelian type person, up to no good and not to be trusted. Journalism is supposed to be about stating the facts. these days it's simply about attempting to make people think a certain way. Too bad most people fall for it because they don't think for themselves. don't get me wrong, both sides do it. I'm just pointing it out in this story.
There is just too much money floating around in these cocktail parties and it seems nobody really cares about what they are trying to achieve anymore. It is all about living a rich lifestyle off the fools that donate money. Why else do have folks that have fought environmental legislation for years are now getting handouts from environmental groups? A lot of these environmental groups have to do a some house cleaning before they can work on what is outside their doors.
Follow the money, which CEO of what non-profit got the two big windfall or the two-week Jamaican vacay? "Non-profit" in no way implies non-corrupt.
The Humane Society of the US is very corrupt. The president, Wayne Purcell, is called the $2 million dollar man, for his obscene salary. HE made the decision that we should all forgive Michael Vick for the brutal treatment of his dogs, because Vick has served his time and is remorseful. Let's ask the Jews if they are ready to forgive the nazis who pushed them into death chambers! Please support your LOCAL animal shelters, they receive NO money from the government or the HSUS; they are funded by community donations and very hard-working volunteers. HSUS has no shelter (unless it is the offshore tax shelter for Purcell,) supposedly spends the millions on getting laws changed for the protection of animals. Yet they sided with the poultry industry which agreed to change their battery cages for hens, instead of 50 hens to a cage, it is only 25. Good work Wayne, you get 2M$ for that? Nice job Brownie, deja-vu.
AS we borrow from the Chinese to pay for oil from the Middle East that supports terrorist groups and then we borrow more money from the Chinese to beef up our military to fight the terrorists.....
If we were to find a way to lower pollution from coal to a level that justifies replacing oil, we should be able to realize substantial savings in the process of disentangling the U.S. from the Middle East, with the exception of Israel.
That suggests that funding the research and the technology to convert coal to a clean source of energy should be a priority for the government. It won't happen with private funding. Which means that we have several hundred years of potential energy that we will not be able to exploit until it is too late.
The problem is that it takes a bipartisan commitment which isn't going to happen while the oil companies own the Republican party.