Top Stories: Fracking Safe Chemicals Defending the Clean Air Act

Share | | |
Print this page
Frances Beineckes Blog
ALEC and Big Polluters Try to Attack Limits on Climate
Change Pollution One State at a Time
Posted March 28, 2014
Tags: ALEC, carbonstandards, coalindustry, exxonmobil, kansas,
kentucky, koch, oilindustry, powerplants, virginia, westvirginia
Last week the Kentucky legislature passed a bill to undermine national standards to
reduce climate change pollution. The bill would prop up the profits of Kentuckys biggest
polluters while saddling ordinary Kentuckians with higher electricity bills.
A coal-friendly bill may not be surprising in Kentucky, but this effort didnt originate in the
Bluegrass State. The bills language mirrors legislation being pushed in statehouses
across the country by the American Legislative Exchange Councila cabal of corporate
giants and Tea Party supporters including the Koch brothers, Peabody Coal, ExxonMobil,
and other fossil fuel companies.
ALEC is known for creating model bills designed to shrink public safeguards and
protections. Often the bills are drafted by the very industry that would benefit from them
the most. Now ALEC is trying to use state legislatures to block our countrys most
significant effort to clean up the air and stabilize the climate.
Power plants belch out 40 percent of all carbon pollution in the United States. That
pollution drives climate change and threatens our health with asthma attacks and other
respiratory problems. And yet there are no national limits on how much carbon these
plants can dump into our atmosphere.

The Environmental Protection Agency is about to change that. In June it will propose
carbon pollution limits for power plants. Strong limits could yield up to $60 billion in
avoided climate change and medical costs in 2020, according to NRDC analysis. They
would also create a net increase of 210,000 jobs in 2020 and reduce household electric
bills. This is a win-win for our economy and our families.
Yet coal companies and other polluters are fighting carbon limits at every turn, and some
have turned to ALECs model bill factory to thwart them at the state level. ALECs
sample language has already spawned more than a dozen resolutions in state
legislatures, all of them attacking the EPAs efforts to reduce carbon pollution and protect
Switchboard is the staff blog of the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the
nations most effective environmental
group. For more about our work,
including in-depth policy documents,
action alerts and ways you can
contribute, visit NRDC.org.
About 1,450 results (0.54 seconds)
NRDC: Renewable Energy in Virginia
Power Plant Pollution, Clean Air Act |
NRDC
Testing The Waters, Prevent Beach
Pollution - Virginia | NRDC
NRDC: The Renewable Portfolio Standard
- Boosting Kansas's ...
More Like This
About 1,030 results (0.35 seconds)
Power Plants | OnEarth Magazine
Common Sense in Kansas | OnEarth
Magazine
Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American
Top Tags
globalwarming climatechange
smartgrowth energyefficiency
cleanenergy california energy EPA
biogems sustainablecommunities
renewableenergy climate tarsands
gulfspill transportation smartercities
water oil fracking pollution
all tags
Feeds: Frances Beineckes blog
RSS
Feeds: Stay Plugged In
All Switchboard Posts
Twitter
Go
HOME ISSUES CONTRIBUTORS Find NRDC on:
376 Like Like
Email Address Here
Also send me NRDC updates and action
alerts
Feedback on this f eature?
Frances Beinecke
public health.
Legislation based on ALEC language has been introduced in seven states. These bills
would be more legally binding than resolutions, and they would hamstring states ability to
meet their carbon reduction targets. The Kentucky bill, for instance, would favor dirty
coal-fired plants by preventing the state from using the least expensive methods to
reduce carbon pollution.
That bill sailed through the Kentucky legislatureeven though Governor Beshear has
already started a responsible effort to meet national clean air standards and protect
Kentucky energy consumersbut ALEC isnt always so successful. Lawmakers in
Virginia and Florida blocked the polluters bills. Cooler heads prevailed in Kansas and
even in coal-dominated West Virginia where legislatures stepped back from the brink and
passed bills that allow state officials to write a carbon reduction plans that could meet the
nations clean air laws.
ALEC prefers to operate in the shadows, relying on backroom deals and private donor
lists, but when their actions come to light, people mobilize. Last year, ALECs attempts to
repeal state clean energy standards failed in every state because residents value clean
energy resources that make their air safer to breathe and creates jobs. Kansas and
North Carolina, for instance, beat back ALEC-funded attacks, in part because wind farms
have created more than 12,300 jobs in Kansas, and the clean energy economy has
generated more than 11,500 jobs for North Carolina in the past two years alone.
People also see the value of holding polluters accountable for dangerous carbon
emissions. More than two-thirds of voters in battleground states say the EPA should limit
carbon pollution from power plants, according to a recent poll conducted for the NRDC
Action Fund.
This groundswell of support is the most effective weapon against ALECs stealth agenda.
Ask your local representatives if there is an ALEC model bill in your state and call on
them to put public health, clean energy, and a stable climate above the interests of a few
polluting industries.

Photo credit: Tim Hoeflich



permalink comments (2) trackbacks 0
Comments (Add yours)
Michael Berndtson Mar 28 2014 04:30 PM
I'm guessing the oil and gas wouldn't be helping out coal (via ALEC), if renewables weren't doing
as well as they are. For awhile I thought O&G was throwing coal under a bus - acting all
concerned about the environment and stuff - to move into the electricity generation market. At
this point in time, it appears that renewables are nipping at the heels of gas and coal on price
alone. Nevermind environmental issues.
You'd think O&G would embrace other energy sources. Then again, O&G doesn't do research
and development, much. They hardly even do petroleum and chemical engineering anymore.
Even its core technical is increasingly contracted out. What's left is commodity trading and
politician arm twisting. That's also where the money's at.
anonymous Mar 28 2014 09:45 PM
You keep referring to ALEC's actions as "their". That bestows corporate personhood. Until Texas
executes a convicted corporation, I cannot accept that a corporation is a person.
So please, when referring to ALEC or any other corporation, use the correct pronoun--it.
Join the Conversation
Comment on this post:
Sign in to comment, or comment anonymously.
Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American
Power | OnEarth Magazine
Virginia on Their Minds | OnEarth
Magazine
More Like This
Share | | | 376 Like Like
Climate Change is a Looming Threat:
Time to Fix Our Fragile Energy
Infrastructure
First and Last Name:
Email (Your email address will not be published or shared):
URL (optional):
Comments (please note comment policy, below):
Submit
All pertinent comments offered in the spirit of civil conversation are welcome! Off-topic comments,
commercial spam, obscenity and other rude behavior are not, and will be removed. We are also
required to remove any express or implied statement endorsing or opposing any political party or
candidate for political office. Valid email addresses are required. (NRDC respects your privacy;
we will not use, lend, or sell your email address for any reason.)
Older Posts | Archives
home about this site about NRDC/contact NRDC donate www.nrdc.org
Natural Resources Defense Council