The Coal Industry's $47 Million PR Spending Spree
| Fri Nov. 20, 2009 4:00 AM PST
The coal industry's major lobby group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, shelled out a stunning $47 million last year on lobbying, advertising and "grassroots outreach" efforts to fight climate legislation and tout the benefits of "clean coal." Its efforts to actually develop clean coal technology, however, were a lot less impressive.
ACCCE's most recent IRS filing, obtained by Greenwire (sub. req'd), lists the contributions to the coalition by the nation's biggest coal companies. Arch Coal Inc., Consol Energy Inc., and Peabody Energy Corp. each chipped in $5 million; Foundation Coal Corp. gave $3 million, Southern Co. $2.1 million, and American Electric Power Co. Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. (which has since left the group) gave $2 million. ACCCE is among the biggest spenders when it comes to influencing the debate on climate and energy.
But for all their expensive efforts to sell the public on the wonders of clean coal, ACCCE isn't working quite as hard to make the technology a reality. The coalition's members have committed the comparatively paltry sum of $3.6 billion to research the technology between 2003 and 2017, according to an April report from the Center for American Progress. That's just $257 million on average each year to develop the technology to capture and sequester carbon. To put that in perspective, ACCCE's members made a combined total of $297 billion in profits between 2003 and 2008—meaning, as the report notes, that they're spending less than two cents on clean coal research for every $1 of profit.
Advertisement
Advertisement
In fact, the climate legislation that ACCCE fought—and fought dirty—to defeat in the House would devote far more money toward developing clean coal than the companies have. (Its "grassroots" efforts hit the news after one of its subcontractors, Bonner and Associates forged letters to Congress opposing a climate bill.) If the Waxman-Markey legislation becomes law, it would hand the coal industry $60 billion for so-called carbon capture and storage (CCS) research and development through 2025. The House measure provides an additional $1 billion each year for demonstration and deployment of this technology, to be funded by a fee on consumers. Plus, early adopters of CCS would get bonus carbon credits for every ton of carbon dioxide sequestered by electric utilities.
Yet just days after Waxman-Markey passed the House, a number of ACCCE's biggest funders were complaining to the Senate in public hearings that the bill doesn't give enough money to the coal industry. They also griped that carbon capture and storage technology is more than a decade away from viability, so it would be unreasonable to demand big emissions cuts from the sector anytime soon. "I don’t think CCS will be widely deployed until 2020 or after," Chris Hobson, senior vice president of research and environmental affairs at Southern Company, told senators in July. You'd never guess that from the coalition's website though, which still proudly proclaims: "The technology isn’t 20 years away—some of it is here today."
Comments
UGG Classic Cardy
Submitted by UGG Classic Cardy (not verified) on Fri Nov. 20, 2009 5:06 AM PST.
Find Cheap ugg bailey boots?UGG boots On Sale ,Enjoy free shipping + bargain sale now!UGG Classic Short,100% Authentic UGG Australia Boots!ALL of UGG Classic Cardy are the cheapest and best for you!Enjoy yourself of shoping in Find Cheap Sheepskin UGG New Boots IN Ecwarm Boots.com!
Good catch Kate
Submitted by ericf on Fri Nov. 20, 2009 10:54 AM PST.
Thank you for keeping their feet to the fire. Or is that feet to the solar panel?
http://www.ravensblog.net
Coal no longer needed to produce electricity
Submitted by AVE_fan (not verified) on Fri Nov. 20, 2009 11:43 PM PST.
FYI--
A alternative to electricity production using coal has been invented and patented which uses a clean and abundant resource--CAPE. CAPE is the same energy source which powers thunderstorms. See http://www.tornadochaser.net/capeclass.html
The technology which CAPTURES CAPE and turns it into electricity is described at http://vortexengine.ca
The only thing dirtier than
Submitted by christmas stocking fillers (not verified) on Sun Nov. 22, 2009 8:00 PM PST.
The only thing dirtier than their coal is their money, used to pay bribes and fund propaganda.These will secure another decade of worry free profits.
Comparison flawed
Submitted by LisaMiller on Mon Nov. 23, 2009 1:25 PM PST.
Kate,
We know that you’re not for coal-generated electricity and that you spend a good amount of time writing about our organization. But we hope at some point, there will be some areas in which we agree.
The report you use in your comparison is flawed. The Center for American Progress report counted the total profits for companies that are involved in energy technology, railroads and even the generators, then lumped them together as “coal companies.” The study lacked the context of how much other energy sectors had invested in their own technologies. It’s important to clarify that historically the industry cost-share for coal R&D projects has been much higher than other energy sectors.
If you want to debate who is doing the most research, there is no question that the coal industry leads the way in innovation.
Lisa Camooso Miller
Vice President, Media Relations
ACCCE
Post new comment
MoJo Comments: Send Us Your Feedback
We changed our spam software to better filter comments. Should you encounter any issues, please let us know.
