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American Petroleum Institute
Obama's State of the Union speech riddled with oil industry talking points
Test your BS meter with this one question quiz:
Which part of Obama's State of the Union was written by the oil industry?
a) "America is closer to energy independence than we've been in decades"
b) "natural gas – if extracted safely, it's the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon pollution that causes climate change."
c) fracking for oil and gas can be "sustainable"
d) all of the above
The answer is literally, "all of the above."
During his State of The Union speech, President Obama said:
"The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today, America is closer to energy independence than we've been in decades."
The phrase "all of the above," which the president used in his 2012 State of the Union address as well, is the creation of the oil industry's most powerful lobbying and public relations arm, the American Petroleum Institute (API). According to the New York Times, the phrase was introduced in 2000 by API to advocate for oil drilling. API's position at the time was "that an effective national energy policy must, at a minimum, allow for all of the above." API, proud of the hegemony of their ideas, actually predicted the president would champion the pro-fossil fuel message in this most recent State of the Union address, the day before the speech was given.
After The American Petroleum Institute debuted the phrase in 2000, it was quickly picked up by republicans with wells to drill. John Mccain made it a central part of his 2008 campaign for president. Republicans in the house and senate used it to promote offshore drilling. The former governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, now under federal indictment for corruption, listed the phrase on his campaign website.
ExxonMobil, the most profitable corporation in world history, continues to use the phrase in advertisements today.
This isn't just etymological trivia. The use of oil industry talking points by the president indicates how ingrained and powerful the fossil fuel industry is in the U.S's energy conversation.
It also casts a revealing light on other pro-fossil energy comments made by President Obama in the speech, like promoting "Energy Independence." The idea is, if we allow oil and gas corporations to exploit our land and water to extract fossil fuels, it will benefit the average citizen by lowering energy prices and reducing dependence of "foreign" energy supplies. This is completely false, as Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil will tell you. The oil industry wants to sell it's product on an open market, to the highest bidder, no matter who that is. Currently there are plans for 25 Liquified Natural Gas export terminals in the US, and the American Petroleum Institute is spending millions of dollars to undo a decades old law that prohibits the export of crude oil. As more oil and gas is drilled from American soil and water, more gas and oil will be exported. We will continue to import oil and other goods from around the world, regardless of how much drilling happens in the U.S.
Another energy myth promoted by the Obama administration and the fossil fuel industry is natural gas as a bridge fuel to renewable energy.
The truth is that gas is primarily comprised of methane, an extremely powerful greenhouse gas. Some scientists believe that methane could be up to 105 times as destabilizing to the global climate as carbon dioxide. When fully burned, gas releases less CO2 than coal or oil, but currently huge amounts of methane are escaping unburned into the atmosphere. An increase in spending on gas infrastructure, like pipelines, Liquified Natural Gas export terminals, or vehicle refueling stations, is not a bridge to renewable energy. It is the same old fossil fuel infrastructure that poses serious threats to the earth's climate and local environments. The U.S doesn't need more spending on fossil fuels, it needs a real commitment to renewable energy, efficiency, and cutting carbon pollution.
Ohio Clean Energy still in Koch & ALEC crosshairs
Crossposted from Greenpeace's blog: The Witness.
Ohio is currently fighting this year's final battle in a nationally-coordinated attack on clean energy standard laws, implemented by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other groups belonging to the secretive corporate front group umbrella known as the State Policy Network (SPN).
ALEC and SPN members like the Heartland Institute and Beacon Hill Institute failed in almost all of their coordinated attempts to roll back renewable portfolio standards (RPS) in over a dozen states--laws that require utilities to use more clean energy over time. After high profile battles in North Carolina and Kansas, and more subtle efforts in states like Missouri and Connecticut, Ohio remains the last state in ALEC's sites in 2013.
ALEC Playbook Guides the Attack on Ohio Clean Energy
After Ohio Senator Kris Jordan's attempt to repeal Ohio's RPS went nowhere, ALEC board member and Ohio State Senator William Seitz is now using ALEC's new anti-RPS bills to lead another attack on the Ohio law--see Union of Concerned Scientists.
ALEC's newly-forged Renewable Energy Credit Act allows for RPS targets to be met through out-of-state renewable energy credits (RECs) rather than developing new clean energy projects within Ohio's borders. RECs have varying definitions of renewable energy depending on the region they originate from, lowering demand for the best, cleanest sources of power and electricity.
Sen. Bill Seitz's SB 58 takes advantages of existing provisions of Ohio's RPS law and tweaks other sections to mirror the key aspects of ALEC's Renewable Energy Credit Act. His RPS sneak-attack is matched by House Bill 302, introduced by ALEC member Rep. Peter Stautberg.
Just five years ago, Senator Seitz voted for Ohio's RPS law. Now, Seitz calls clean energy incentives "Stalinist."
Attacks on Ohio's Clean Energy Economy: Fueled by Dirty Energy Profits
Most of ALEC's money comes from corporations and rich people like the Koch brothers, with a tiny sliver more from its negligible legislator membership dues ($50/year). This includes oil & gas giants like ExxonMobil ($344,000, 2007-2012) and Big Oil's top lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute ($88,000, 2008-2010). Exxon and API just two of dozens of dirty energy interests paying to be in the room during ALEC's exclusive Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force meetings.
Other polluting companies bankrolling ALEC's environmental rollbacks include Ohio operating utilities like Duke Energy and American Electric Power. AEP currently chairs ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force. Some of these companies (like Duke Energy and the American Petroleum Institute) pay into a slush fund run by ALEC that allows Ohio legislators and their families to fly to ALEC events using undisclosed corporate cash (see ALEC in Ohio, p. 6).
Ohio Senator Kris Jordan used corporate money funneled through ALEC to attend ALEC events with his wife (ALEC in Ohio, p. 7). With electric utilities as his top political donors, Sen. Jordan has dutifully introduced ALEC bills to repeal renewable energy incentives (SB 34), along with other ALEC priorities like redirecting public funds for private schools (SB 88, 2011), and blocking Ohio from contracting unionized companies (SB 89, 2011).
Koch-funded Spokes & Junk Data Bolsters the ALEC Attack
The behavior of Senator Bill Seitz indicates he's more beholden to ALEC and the dirty energy utilities dumping tens of thousands of dollars into his election campaigns* than his constituents. There is support from a majority of Ohioans for utilities to obtain at least 20% of their electricity from clean sources. Ohio veterans spoke up for the RPS for increasing the state's energy security and lowing wholesale energy costs.
Rather than listening to these voices from Ohio, Senator Seitz has sided with out-of-state Koch-funded mouthpieces invited to testify against the Ohio RPS. Back in March, Seitz heard anti-RPS testimony from The Heartland Institute's James Taylor, who repeated false claims that the RPS will make electricity unaffordable.
Taylor's assertions mimicked those made in a debunked series of reports written for ALEC's RPS attacks. The Ohio anti-RPS report was co-published by the Koch-funded Beacon Hill Institute and the American Tradition Institute (ATI), sister group to the Koch-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute. ATI, now known as the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, was largely funded by Montana petroleum millionaire Doug Lair.
Senator Seitz also heard testimony from Daniel Simmons of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), who recited long-debunked statistics from the so-called "Spanish study" and "Danish study." Koch-funded groups have used these two papers for years to stifle clean energy growth in the United States. Daniel Simmons previously worked for ALEC and the Mercatus Center, which was founded by the Kochs. Heartland and the Institute for Energy Research have financial or personnel ties to the Kansas billionaire Koch brothers.
RPS and Energy Efficiency Are Helping Build Ohio's Economy
Thanks in part to energy efficiency incentives and the RPS law, Ohio's clean energy economy is expanding rapidly, with 25,000 Ohioans employed by 400 companies in the sector. Wind energy is set to expand rapidly, with the American Wind Energy Association projecting $10 billion in investments over the next decade, thanks to the RPS targeted by ALEC and its dirty companies through loyal politicians like Senator Seitz.
Not content to just weaken incentives for clean energy growth, Bill Seitz's SB 58 would also undermine energy efficiency standards, another item on ALEC's agenda. This despite a projected $2.7 billion in savings for Ohio by 2012, as directed by the efficiency and RPS laws.
No wonder ALEC got dumped by its wind and solar trade members.
*Since 2007, Senator Seitz has received $46,450 from coal utilities that are ALEC member companies:
- $21,500 from American Electric Power (AEP)
$15,300 from Duke Energy
- $4,800 of this bundled from Duke Employees in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana during the 2008 election cycle
- $4,000 from NiSource
- $3,000 from Dominion
- $2,650 from the Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, a member of the nation's top dirty energy lobbying heavyweight, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
If you add contributions from FirstEnergy, AES subsidiary Dayton Power & Light, and the Ohio Coal Association, Sen. Seitz's coal money since 2007 tops $66,000.
ALEC's December, 2012 meeting in Washington, DC was heavily sponsored by coal companies, including AEP, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), and Edison Electric Institute, the utility trade group whose membership includes Duke Energy, AEP, NiSource, Dominion, AES and FirstEnergy.
Data aggregated by the National Institute for Money in State Politics - FollowTheMoney.org
VIDEO: Climate Denier Willie Soon Dodges Questions of Koch & Exxon Payments...
Here's one climate change denier who really doesn't want you to think twice about his funding from Koch, coal and oil: Dr. Willie Soon, freshly profiled in today's Boston Globe. In the video above, we asked Dr. Soon about his fossil fuel funding at a climate denial event hosted by the Heritage Foundation last month--the event that wraps up Christopher Rowland's article in the Globe.
There is a bizarre sense of urgency in Dr. Soon's statements, both in our video encounter with him and in the Boston Globe article. He is a man whose profession has developed far outside of his actual expertise as an astrophysicist. After Greenpeace revealed that Willie Soon has taken over $1 million in payments from fossil fuel interests on "research" intended to undermine climate science, his credibility has evaporated. Professionals in the field of climate have been hugely critical of Dr. Soon's pre-determined "research."
Highlights from the Boston Globe:
The Boston Globe notes Willie Soon's contrarian stance against basic facts of climate change.
"Polar bears? Not threatened. Sea level? Exaggerated danger. Carbon dioxide? Great for trees. Warming planet? Caused by natural fluctuation in the sun's energy."
Soon's views are considered way outside the scientific mainstream, which makes him a prophet or a pariah, depending on which side you ask. Some say his work simply doesn't hold up to scrutiny, that his data are cherry-picked to fit his thesis.
Dr. Soon's industry-funded interference is contextualized by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI):
Outside the Beltway, the science is largely settled. Yet in the capital, government response to one of the major environmental and economic challenges facing the planet is mired in an endless cycle of conflicting claims and partisan finger-pointing.
The work of Soon, and a handful of like-minded scientists, is seen by a critics in Congress and elsewhere as a case study in how this deadlock has been engineered by energy companies and antiregulation conservatives.
"They are merchants of doubt, not factual information,'' said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who delivers a Senate speech every week demanding stronger air-quality standards. "Their strategy isn't to convince people that the scientists are wrong. Their strategy is simply to raise the specter that there is enough doubt that . . . you should just move onto the next issue until this gets sorted out,'' he said. "It gives credibility to a crank point of view.''
American Petroleum Institute falsely associates Dr. Soon with Harvard
While Dr. Soon's office is on Harvard's campus, Dr. Soon has no formal affiliation with the university and has been forced to acknowledge as much after misrepresenting the relationship as a credential for pro-coal pollution op-eds.
"You have a guy that is aligned and associated with Harvard University, one of the top universities in the United States, and the Smithsonian, also very reputable,'' said institute spokesman Eric Wohlschlegel.
The Globe notes how Harvard requires Dr. Soon to disassociate his unqualified views from the institution's name:
Soon said he is required by the center to recite a disclaimer – saying his views are his own, and not that of Harvard-Smithsonian — each time he speaks or writes on anything outside his expertise in solar radiation. But the complexities of his relationship with Harvard-Smithsonian are often ignored by his sponsors and conference hosts eager to showcase his impressive credentials.
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center's former director, Harvard astronomy professor Irwin Shapiro, said there was never any attempt to censor Soon's views. Nor, he said, was Soon the subject of complaints or concern among the 300 scientists at the center.
"As far as I can tell,'' said Shapiro, "no one pays any attention to him.''
Not Credible, but Not Done Denying Either
Willie Soon continues to attend industry-funded climate denier events and detests questions that highlight the dirty energy companies funding his work: watch Dr. Soon shout at a student asking critical questions last April, at events run by the campus arm of CFACT, a well known climate denial organization.
Dr. Soon's oil- and coal-funded climate "research"
Dr. Soon's grants came from the Koch brothers, ExxonMobil, Southern Company, and the American Petroleum Institute, among others, according to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from Greenpeace to the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Soon's employer. A newer entity called Donors Trust is now helping funnel money from undisclosed donors to Dr. Soon. Donors Trust and affiliate Donors Capital Fund have sent $146 million to groups that deny climate science (since 2002).
Dr. Soon's reaction to Greepeace's request for clarity on the Donors Trust grants doesn't give us much confidence that they aren't simply obscuring more donations from fossil fuel interests, rich political ideologues, or both.
Recognition must be lent here to Dr. Soon's call for an end to FOIA probing of scientists--many legitimate researchers (and their employers) have had their time and reputations wasted by industry-funded attacks from climate denial groups that work closely with the Heartland Institute, like the Competitive Enterprise Institute. These abusive probes do nothing to advance a constructive dialog on solutions to runaway climate change.
The key difference is this: Dr. Soon's work is a platform for The Heartland Institute and other political entities to lie and confuse the public and policymakers alike about the seriousness of global warming, funded exclusively by dirty energy interests. Thanks to the obstruction led by Dr. Soon and other people who sold out the public interest to the highest bidder, it's too late to prevent climate change. The climate is changed, and we're feeling the impact.
The question is how radically we can cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal, oil and gas and rapidly shift to a clean economy that doesn't thrive off of the ruin of our planet. This is why it's crucial to leave the obstructionist opinions of Heartland and Dr. Soon out of true scientific conversations.
But with the IPCC 5th Assessment Report coming out the door and Heartland touring the country to undermine what real scientists are saying about climate change, it is time to stand up to the madness and show this country how bought and sold their positions are. When The Heartland Institute came to town with Willie Soon, we pressed president Joseph Bast to acknowledge their funding from Chicago billionaire Barre Seid for the climate denial work:
Look to Greenpeace and PolluterWatch in the coming weeks for ongoing accountability of those who are paid to undermine our future, and help spread the word!
GREENPEACE REPORT: Climate Change Denial Machine vs. Scientists
Written by Cindy Baxter, crossposted from Greenpeace: Dealing in Doubt.
Who likes being lied to by people paid by the oil industry who pose as "experts" on climate change?
Did you know it's been going on for 25 years?
In a couple of weeks, the UN's official advisors on climate change science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will update its global assessment on the issue. Yet in the background, more attacks on the climate science are underway
For the last quarter century, the climate science denial machine, its cogs oiled by fossil fuel money, has been attacking climate science, climate scientists and every official US report on climate change, along with State and local efforts – with the aim of undermining action on climate change.
Our new report, Dealing in Doubt, sets out the history of these attacks going back to the early 90s. These are attacks based on anti-regulatory, so called "free market" ideology, not legitimate scientific debate, using a wide range of dirty tricks: from faked science, attacks on scientists, fake credentials, cherry-picking scientific conclusions: a campaign based on the old tobacco industry mantra: "doubt is our product".
We give special attention to perhaps today's poster child of the climate denial machine's free market think tanks, the Heartland Institute, which is about to launch a new version of its "NIPCC" or "climate change reconsidered" report next week in Chicago.
Unlike the real IPCC, with thousands of scientists involved from around the world, the Heartland Institute's handful of authors is paid. Several of them claim fake scientific credentials. They start with a premise of proving the overwhelming consensus on climate science wrong, whereas the real IPCC simply summarizes the best science to date on climate change.
This multi-million dollar campaign has been funded by anti-government ideologues like the Koch brothers, companies like ExxonMobil and trade associations like the American Petroleum Institute.
More recently, less visible channels of funding have been revealed such as the Donors Capital Fund and Donors Trust, organization that that has been called the "ATM of the conservative movement", distributing funds from those who don't want to be publicly associated with the anti-environmental work product of organizations like the Heartland Institute.
In the last week we've seen new peer-reviewed science published, linking at least half of 2012's extreme weather events to a human carbon footprint in the atmosphere and on the weather and climate.
As the scientific consensus strengthens by the day that climate change is happening now, that carbon pollution is causing it and must be regulated, the denial machine is getting increasingly shrill. But today, while they are being increasingly ignored by a majority of the public, their mouthpieces in the US House of Representatives, for instance, have increased in number.
They're still fighting the science – and they're still being funded, to the tune of millions of dollars each year, to do it.
Dealing in Doubt sets out a history of these attacks. We show how the tactics of the tobacco industry's campaign for "sound science" led to the formation of front groups who, as they lost the battle to deny smoking's health hazards and keep warning labels off of cigarettes, turned their argumentative skills to the denial of climate change science in order to slow government action.
What we don't cover is the fact that these organizations and deniers are also working on another front, attacking solutions to climate change. They go after any form of government incentive to promote renewable energy, while cheering for coal, fracking and the Keystone pipeline.
They attack any piece of legislation the US EPA puts forward to curb pollution. Decrying President Obama's "war on coal" is a common drumbeat of these anti-regulation groups. One key member of the denial machine, astrophysicist Willie Soon from the Smithsonian Institute for Astrophysics, has portrayed himself as an "expert" on mercury and public health in order to attack legislation curbing mercury emissions from coal plants.
This recent history, as well as the prior history of denial by the tobacco companies and chemical, asbestos and other manufacturing industries, is important to remember because the fossil fuel industry has never admitted that it was misguided or wrong in its early efforts to delay the policy reaction to the climate crisis. To this day, it continues to obstruct solutions.
The individuals, organizations and corporate interests who comprise the 'climate denial machine' have caused harm and have slowed our response time. As a result, we will all ultimately pay a much higher cost as we deal with the impacts, both economic and ecological.
Eventually, these interests will be held accountable for their actions.
US Gov't doesn't know exact Keystone XL pipeline route
The U.S. government doesn't know exactly where TransCanada wants to lay pipe for the northern section of its Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, according to the results of a 14-month Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. State Department. In its final answer to a FOIA request by Thomas Bachand of the Keystone Mapping Project, the State Department admitted:
Neither Cardno ENTRIX nor TransCanada ever submitted GIS information to the Department of State, nor was either corporation required to do so. The information that you request, if it exists, is therefore neither physically nor constructively under the control of the Department of State and we are therefore unable to comply with your FOIA request.
Yes, you read that right. The U.S. State Department published its draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS)--supposedly an official account of the potential hazards of TransCanada's proposed pipeline on U.S. waterways, wildlife and other major considerations like global climate change--without knowing exactly where TransCanada wants to dig. Check out the full letter from State to Mr. Bachand at the Keystone Mapping Project.
Ongoing Conflicts of Interest in State Department Environmental Assessments
The State Department is already facing legitimate criticism for contracting companies with ties to TransCanada and other oil companies for its environmental impact estimates, which the Environmental Protection Agency has slammed for being "insufficient." State looked no further than oil industry contractors to run the draft SEIS--companies like Cardno ENTRIX, which calls TransCanada a "major client," and ERM Resources, a dues paying member of the American Petroleum Institute which is being investigated by the State Department's Inspector General for trying to hide its prior consulting for fossil fuel giants like ExxonMobil, BP and Shell. In fact, TransCanada chose ERM Resources to do the Keystone XL SEIS review for the State Department, and one of ERM's people working on the review was formerly employed by TransCanada.
TransCanada has stacked the deck, wagering American waterways and private property against the promise to profit from continued extraction of dirty tar sands petroleum.
Tar Sands Pipelines Spill
The potential is too high for Keystone XL to leak just like TransCanada's existing Keystone I pipeline has repeatedly done, or rupture like ExxonMobil's Pegasus tar sands pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas earlier this year, or Enbridge's tar sands pipeline spill in the Kalamazoo River. The southern leg of Keystone XL is already under construction, and the if the cracks, dents and other faults in the 'new' pipe are any indication, pollution from oil spills looks inevitable. Beyond being a disaster waiting to happen, KXL guarantees the continued disaster that is tar sands mining, a process that has already poisoned entire regions--and peoples' communities--in northern Alberta, Canada.
With President Obama's recently unveiled Climate Action Plan, it would be a limp gesture to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. You'd think with the State Department having its environmental analysis run by oil industry consultants, they'd listen to the oil industry's own guarantees that Keystone XL would increase demand for tar sands mining. That's bad news for our climate -- something the State Department cannot ignore if they do a reasonable review of the "unprecedented" amount of public comments on its draft SEIS on KXL.
What remains to be seen is if the State Department will be reasonable in the last leg of its review, or if it will continue letting TransCanada and Big Oil control the process to the bitter end.
Keystone Academy: Where Legislators Learn the Etiquette of Serving Special Interests
Written by Nick Surgey, crossposted with permission from PR Watch.
In October 2012, nine U.S. state legislators went on an industry paid trip to explore the Alberta tar sands. Publicly described as an "ALEC Academy," documents obtained by CMD show the legislators were accompanied on a chartered flight by a gaggle of oil-industry lobbyists, were served lunch by Shell Oil, dinner by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and that the expenses of the trip were paid for by TransCanada and other corporations and groups with a direct financial interest in the Alberta tar sands and the proposed Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline.
Among the nine legislators on the tour was the new ALEC national chairman, Representative John Piscopo from Connecticut, and Senator Jim Smith from Nebraska who has sponsored legislation in his state to speed up the building of the Nebraska segment of KXL. Email records obtained by CMD show that after the trip, legislators were asked by ALEC to send "thank you notes" to the lobbyists for their generosity in Alberta.
Far better than a mere "thank you," Rep. John Adams from Ohio returned from the trip and sponsored a bill given to him by a TransCanada lobbyist calling for the approval of KXL. As previously reported by CMD, similar legislation, reflecting both an ALEC "model" bill and language taken from a TransCanada set of talking points, has been introduced in seven states in 2013.
The tar sands of Alberta are estimated to be the third largest reserve of crude oil on the planet. But the process of turning the tar-like bitumen into a refined product that can be used as fuel is extremely energy intensive and highly polluting. The former NASA scientist James Hansen, warned that the extraction and use of Canadian tar sands would mean "game over" for the climate. TransCanada is the operator of the proposed KXL pipeline, which would carry the tar sands to Texas for processing and likely for exports to markets abroad.
In Private Jets and "Petroleum Club" Dinners, U.S Politicians Get the Dirt on Canadian Tar Sands
Officially, ALEC organized the Alberta tour as an "ALEC Academy." In ALEC's description of corporate sponsorship opportunities, this type of event is described as being "an intensive, two--day program for legislators that focus on a specific area of policy." It comes with an $80,000 fee to sponsor. Unofficially however, and made clear to legislators on the trip in emails from ALEC obtained by CMD, the expenses were paid for by lobbyists from the oil-industry and by the government of Alberta. In an email sent to Ohio representative John Adams ahead of the trip, ALEC staffer Karla Jones reassured participants that all transportation, accommodation costs and meals would be paid for.
According to a copy of the trip itinerary obtained via a public records request, legislators flew into Alberta on Tuesday October 16, 2012, and were met by TransCanada lobbyists who took them on a tour of their facilities in Calgary.
TransCanada, which is a member of ALEC, sponsored ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit in Oklahoma City in May 2013, alongside other corporations with tar sands interests including BP, Devon Energy and Koch Industries. TransCanada's Vice President Corey Goulet presented to legislators at the conference during a session called "Embracing American Energy Opportunities."
Dinner on the first night was at the up-market Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in downtown Calgary, paid for by American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). The dinner included a presentation to the captive audience of lawmakers from AFPM about Low-Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), a mechanism designed to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. As CMD has reported recently, LCFS is considered a real threat to the tar sands industry, because it might restrict the U.S. market for fuels derived from the tar sands. AFPM, which has funded one of the other groups on the tour – the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) – to work to oppose LCFS legislation, would successfully sponsor an ALEC "model" bill on this issue just weeks after the trip, called "Restrictions on Participation in Low-Carbon Fuel Standards Programs."
On Wednesday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, legislators were taken to the airport where a private charted plane was waiting to fly them around a number of different tar sands operations. Accompanying the legislators and ALEC staffer Karla Jones, were lobbyists from AFPM, TransCanada, Devon Energy, CEA, Shell Oil, and the Government of Alberta. The flight was chartered by the Alberta Government, at a cost of $22,000, with the costs split evenly between them and another unknown entity.
During the day, legislators toured facilities owned by Shell – which also provided lunch – and Devon Energy, where they viewed the massive "Jackfish" tar sands projects. At these facilities, Devon utilizes Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), an energy intensive process that injects steam into the dirty bitumen to access otherwise inaccessible deposits too deep for mining. This process is expected to open up further areas of Alberta for tar sands extraction, including by Koch Industries subsidiary Koch Exploration Canada which has a pending permit request in Alberta to utilize SAGD.
Dinner on Wednesday night was served at the Petroleum Club, sponsored by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. On the Thursday morning, just before their return flight, legislators did have a brief meeting with a representative from the Pembina Institute, an Alberta environmental group that calls for responsible exploitation of the tar sands. According to the ALEC trip itinerary, this was to "provide the opposing point of view."
Although Pembina does represent a different view from those that want completely unrestrained extraction of the tar sands, the group is not representative of those that oppose tar sands extraction. There are plenty of organizations that could have provided alternative viewpoints, particularly first nation tribes who are campaigning vigorously on this issue, but perhaps unsurprisingly they were not included. Even Pembina's - somewhat limited - opposing voice was not wanted during the tour of the oil sands facilities, and they were not invited to the lobbyist-sponsored dinners.
ALEC as Emily Post
A month after the trip, the Director of International and Federal Relations at ALEC, Karla Jones, sent participants an email helpfully reminding them of what each industry lobbyist had paid for on the tour. CMD obtained a copy of that communication via a public records request, which included a spreadsheet containing the names, telephone numbers and mailing addresses of each of the lobbyists on the trip. The ALEC email also prompted legislators to send each of the sponsoring corporations a "thank you note."
The phenomenon of ALEC legislators sending such letters to lobbyists is something CMD has previously reported on. Ohio Rep. Adams, for example, sent at least a dozen letters to corporate lobbyists in 2010, thanking them for writing checks to the ALEC scholarship fund, which paid his and his colleagues way to an ALEC conference.
"Because of your help and others like you, the trip to ALEC was made possible for our legislators," Adams wrote to AT&T lobbyist Bob Blazer.
"Rather than sending thank you notes to their corporate lobbyist sponsors, these legislators should instead consider an apology to their constituents," Stephen Spaulding, Staff Counsel for the good government group Common Cause told CMD. "I doubt lobbyists want thank you notes in return for bankrolling legislators' international vacations – they would rather a bright, shiny souvenir in the form of corporate-drafted legislation."
Better Than a Thank You Note, Payback in Ohio
After the trip to Alberta, Rep. Adams, the Assistant Majority Floor Leader and Ohio ALEC state chair, led the calls in Ohio for the approval of the KXL pipeline, sponsoring a bill (HCR 9) and talking publicly about the proposed pipeline. "It is of the upmost importance that we strongly urge the U.S. government to take the necessary steps towards operation of the Keystone Pipeline," Adams wrote in March 2013 while promoting his bill. Rep. Rosenberger, the other Ohio legislator on the ALEC trip to Alberta, accordingly co-sponsored the Adams bill.
According to documents CMD obtained from public record requests in Ohio, a draft bill was sent to Adams on January 23, from Steve Dimon of 21 Consulting LLC, who represents TransCanada. The bill was sent as an attachment to the Dimon email.
The email message itself simply read, "Thank you so much!"
Dimon stayed in touch with Adams' office over the proceeding months, providing his staff with further materials about Keystone XL, including a set of talking points stamped with the TransCanada logo.
By February 14, Adams had an updated draft that had been reviewed by the Ohio legislative service commission, the non-partisan body that assists legislators with drafting legislation. Adams staffer Ryan Crawford sent this language to Rob Eshenbaugh, a lobbyist with Ohio Petroleum Council, the state affiliate of the American Petroleum Institute. "Please let me know if I can be of further assistance," Crawford wrote to the lobbyist. Eshenbaugh responded with some requested changes, which Crawford then incorporated into the bill.
All this occurred prior to Adams sharing the bill with his fellow legislators, which didn't happen until February 20. Adams finally introduced his bill in the Ohio Assembly on March 9, without any public statement about his involvement with the ALEC Academy or that the source of the bill was a tar sands lobbyist.
The route of the proposed KXL pipeline takes it through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. This is a long way from Ohio, but the debate over the KXL project has become a national issue. The ALEC Academy, and subsequent lobbying from the oil-industry, demonstrates that TransCanada sees value in developing a list of states supportive of the project to influence the federal debate over KXL approval.
The precise details of the ALEC tour, including the trip being part-sponsored by TransCanada, are not mentioned in Adams' financial disclosures, which only reports his expenses as being from ALEC and the Alberta Government. Adams is not breaking the law here. This is because of the way ALEC works to fund legislator travel. Its scholarship system allows corporations to "sponsor" legislator's expenses, which are then simply disclosed as being a payment from "ALEC" and not from the sponsoring corporations or groups. CMD documented the ALEC scholarship fund in a 2012 report released jointly with Common Cause: "How the American Legislative Exchange Council Uses Corporate-Funded "Scholarships" to Send Lawmakers on Trips with Corporate Lobbyists."
Graduates of the Keystone Academy appear to be learning a lot about how ALEC works behind the scenes to promote special interest legislation while keeping the public entirely in the dark.
Yes Men "Mourn" U.S. Chamber's dropped lawsuit against them
Crossposted from Greenpeace's The Witness.
Shenanigans at the front door of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce yesterday reveal that the Chamber has dropped its lawsuit against the Yes Men, the activist duo famous for their elaborate prime-time pranks against Dow Chemical, Chevron, the World Trade Organization, and other giant entities known for putting their profit margins before people and the planet.
The Yes Men went to the Chamber yesterday morning in attempts to convince the business front group not to drop the lawsuit. Here's some footage of the announcement and confusion over who does and doesn't work for the Chamber:
That's right. The Yes Men want to be sued by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to their press release:
"Just as their case against us was finally heating up again, the Chamber decided to drop it," said former defendant Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men. "The Chamber knew this was our chance to challenge their silly claims and, since they claimed we had 'damaged' them, investigate the details of their finances through the discovery process. It's the height of rudeness to deprive us of this great opportunity." "The Chamber's lawsuit represented the only time in 17 years that anyone has been stupid enough to sue us," said former defendant Mike Bonanno. "This was the chance of a lifetime, and we profoundly deplore the Chamber's about-face."
Apparently, revenge isn't a strong enough reason for the Chamber to to cough up information on their secret financial backers or their obstruction on solving the critical issue of global climate change, the issue which sparked the original Yes Men parody press event and ensuing lawsuit. The Chamber sued the Yes Men in 2009 for holding a press conference at the National Press Club on the Chamber's behalf, announcing a reversal on the Chamber's efforts to block climate change legislation. The false event was interrupted by an actual Chamber official named Eric Wohlschlegal, who told attending press, "This guy is a fake! He's lying!" See this video:
The stunt threw the Chamber off balance as it had to clarify it would not stop obstructing national climate change policy. The following lawsuit was unprecedented for Yes Men hijinks. Even Dow Chemical didn't sue them, despite losing $2 billion worth of stock when Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum posed as a Dow official on a live BBC interview and took responsibility for the Bhopal chemical disaster (which Dow still won't own up to despite the death of 20,000 people). Yes Lab has a summary of the announcement at the Chamber's front steps in Washington, DC, including a list of questions the Yes Men wish the lawsuit's discovery process could have answered:
Some of the things we could have asked in court had they not withdrawn their lawsuit:
- Why does the U.S. Chamber lie even more than the American Petroleum Institute about the number of jobs created by the Keystone XL pipeline?
- Why did the U.S. Chamber design a teaching program for US schools that favors coal over clean energy sources?
- And who pays them to lie to children... and adults?
- Why does the U.S. Chamber expend so much money to call into doubt the most mainstream climate science, and insult the most respected scientific bodies?
- Why does the U.S. Chamber fight not only unions, but even just shareholder activists?
- Why do they fight even tiny increases in the federal minimum wage?
- Why has the U.S. Chamber's law firm hired spies in try to discredit anti-Chamber activists?
- And finally, why is the U.S. Chamber fighting so hard to keep corporations from having to reveal their political spending?
PolluterWatch has more on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its anti-environmental practices.
Koch & Exxon-funded scientist challenged by students at climate denial event (VIDEO)
Rarely do we meet those who have made careers selling us lies. Consider the oddball doctors who took tobacco money to deny a link between cigarette smoking and cancer, or the handful of scientists who take oil and coal money to discredit global warming science, or the people who have done both.
Last week, students in Wisconsin and Michigan stepped up to such an opportunity when CFACT Campus, the student arm of a well-known cabal of fossil fuel apologists, hosted climate change denier Willie Soon at several campus events around the country.
Dr. Willie Soon is a Smithsonian Institution astrophysicist paid by Charles Koch, ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and coal utility Southern Company to write papers dismissing climate change, publish op-eds saying coal pollution won't affect our health, refute the seriousness of ocean acidification, and apparently anything else he can be paid to deny. Dr. Soon has misrepresented himself by repeatedly claiming affiliation with Harvard University and using his credentials as an astrophysicist to make people believe he's a climate expert, and he shows no sign of stopping. Indeed, he told students in Madison, "I am as as qualified as anyone on the planet on this topic."
In both Madison, Wisconsin and East Lansing, Michigan, Dr. Soon was caught with his pants down. As the Michigan State News documented in its article and accompanying audio interview, Soon claims that all the scientists around the world who study and recognize the seriousness of climate change are motivated by money, yet somehow his funding from coal and oil companies for his extremely marginalized viewpoints doesn't matter.
Here is the dialog with Willie Soon at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with direct links to key clips below:
1) Willie Soon insinuates ExxonMobil will no longer fund him (emphasis added):
"I have been receiving money from whoever that wants to give me money. I write my scientific proposal. I have received money from ExxonMobil, but ExxonMobil will no longer give me any money for a long time. American Petroleum Institute, anything you wish for, from Southern Company, from all these companies. I write proposal and let them judge whether they will fund me or not, always for a very small amount. If they choose to fund me, I'm happy to receive it." Click to watch (starts @ 1:52).
2) Dr. Soon stands behind his attempts to discredit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with help from ExxonMobil lobbyists:
"I was trying to bring down IPCC--is that what you imply?! [...] Let it be known that I do not like IPCC, because IPCC does not stand for science, it is corrupting science." Click to watch (starts @ 3:32).
After a question referencing emails with ExxonMobil lobbyists to undermine climate research at the United Nations before it even hit publication, Dr. Soon quickly loses his cool over his record of global warming denial, peppering the student with mild insults before owning up to his actions.
3) Dr. Soon thanks anyone who uses petroleum products or electricity from coal for supporting his work:
"I really want to thank her, because she's receiving the electricity used for her house, she's driving cars, she's doing all of these things because you are funding me. It's not an oil or coal company. They are a company that provides a service to humanity--to people who want to use electricity." Click to watch (starts @ 5:14)
Anyone looking at Southern Company's record of pollution and political interference would be skeptical about its commitment to serve humanity. Soon continues with an aggressive rant claiming that the student isn't qualified to question his fossil fuel payments until she stops driving, using electricity, and wearing nylon.
4) Willie Soon states "I don't like to claim that I am an expert on anything," despite listing himself as an "expert in mercury and public health" for a discredited Wall Street Journal op-ed dismissing health concerns over mercury pollution from coal plants. Soon invented similar credentials for another opinion piece in the Washington Times, before he swapped back to being a 22-year veteran of "researching the relationship of solar radiation and the Earth's climate," research Dr. Soon did on the dime of oil and coal companies.
Basically, Willie Soon is an expert in whatever problems vested industries will pay him to deny. Michigan State students note how Willie Soon now refutes research indicating adverse impacts from ocean acidification, a global crisis that is married to climate change (both problems stem from humans burning fossil fuels and releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere).
That's effed up. This man makes a career lying to the public, not to mention our lawmakers, about some of the most serious issues of our time. Climate change is already contributing to the deaths of 400,000 people each year and costing global GDP about $1.2 trillion, according to a report commissioned by multiple nations. 98% of actual climate scientists (a distinction Dr. Willie Soon does not earn) agree that global warming is real and primarily drive by humans burning fossil fuels like coal and oil.
Not only has Dr. Soon lied to us and our lawmakers about the seriousness of global warming--he even lied directly to Congress in 2003 about his sources of funding at a time when he was promoting his study funded by the American Petroleum Institute, the $200 million/year oil and gas lobbying group. The Guardian wrote last year:
"In 2003 Soon said at a US senate hearing that he had "not knowingly been hired by, nor employed by, nor received grants from any organisation that had taken advocacy positions with respect to the Kyoto Protocol or the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change."
This is why it's crucial to demand accountability of people like Willie Soon. He is a public relations tool of oil and coal companies, and as a scientist attempting to publish in fields well outside of his expertise, that oil and coal money is crucial to recognize.
Here are some of the best examples of Soon's pseudo-science paid for by Big Oil and King Coal:
- 2003: An American Petroleum Institute-funded study claiming that the earth's global temperature hasn't risen. Three editors of the publishing journal resigned in protest over low scientific standards demonstrated by publishing Soon's work.
- 2005: A paper mis-attributing arctic temperature changes to solar variability, a thoroughly debunked notion that was funded by the American Petroleum Institute (API).
- 2007: A non-peer-reviewed paper refuting concerns over global warming's impact on polar bears, funded by API and the Charles G. Koch Foundation.
- 2009: A paper building upon Soon's 2005 research attempting to claim the sun is mostly responsible for temperature changes. This work was funded by API, ExxonMobil and Southern Company.
- 2013: Soon's ongoing "research" funding is now hidden through Donors Trust, a network used by the Kochs and other secretive interests who don't want their financial influence to be traced. Donors Trust is the sole source of almost half of recent budgets for CFACT, which paid for Soon's campus tour.
Dr. Soon's work is like a joke, but not the type you'd laugh at. While he cracks these fossil-funded zingers, reputable scientists warn that humanity is running out of time to stop climate change from self-reinforcing to the point that it spirals out of human control. As quoted by the Michigan State News, young conservatives on campus had trouble taking Dr. Willie Soon's presentation seriously:
"I'm not a science major, but I think (Soon's presentation) has got valid points, but also other scientists who disagree with him have valid points," Sobecki said. "I'm not crazy enough to think that six billion people don't have an effect on climate in the world we live in."
Science majors attending the MSU event didn't agree that Soon's points were particularly valid. See this account from a MSU Greenpeace student activist on PolluterWatch for more details.
Exxon- and Koch-funded scientist Willie Soon confronted at University of Wisconsin over discredited climate research
Written by Hannah Noll.
I was just getting out of class last Tuesday when Dan Cannon, Greenpeace Student Network Coordinator, called to inform me that Dr. Willie Soon was coming to University of Wisconsin-Madison the following night to "challenge the Global Warming status quo." I attend school an hour away, but I just couldn't allow myself to pass this opportunity up. I had prior knowledge that there are climate deniers that are funded from Big Coal and Big Oil, but what I learned about Willie Soon's funding, motives, works published, and past (and present) controversies shocked me.
Recounting the day's events:
"I don't like to claim that I am an expert on anything, but I have enough knowledge about climate science and climate system to be able to write scientific papers and go to meetings and talk about monsoon systems and talk about any other things that you want to discuss about climate science issues. I'm as qualified as anybody that you know on this planet on this topic"
Mr. Soon, a natural scientist at Harvard, is an expert on mercury and public health issues.
PR Watch on the Election's Fossil Fuel Advertising: Hurricane Sandy Endorses Obama
This guest article was written by Mary Bottari and Sara Jerving of the Center for Media and Democracy, crossposted from PR Watch.
The fossil fuel industry has paid a hefty price for the privilege of framing the political discourse about America's energy future. Hundreds of millions have flowed into campaign coffers from energy companies attempting to purchase complete freedom to drill, frack, and burn. Huge "dark money" groups, the Koch's, Karl Rove, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, join dozens of oil and gas industry associations in pouring money into television ad campaigns demanding "energy independence," while trashing wind and solar.
Things were going great. Even though hurricanes had slammed into two Republican National Conventions in a row, no one seemed to notice, and Romney's only mention of climate changes was as a punchline. No reporter asked a single climate change question of Romney or Obama during the debates. Even though the U.S. now had 175,000 wind and solar jobs, pro-green energy forces were disappointed in Obama and were less active. For big oil and gas the White House and the Senate were within reach. Critically, they had to move fast before the majority of voters started to not only notice the changing climate patterns, but really started to worry about them.
Then something happened that completely scrambled the board.
Hurricane Sandy blew New Jersey out of the water and inundated New York. The massive storm threw the Romney campaign completely off-message. Not only did they have nothing to say about the serious issue of climate change and the potential for more frequent and more devastating monster storms, the Romney-Ryan message of "smaller government" and "fewer first responders" sank in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.
In an unprecedented, last-minute move, Independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg threw his support behind Obama yesterday. His statement "A Vote for a President to Lead on Climate Change" lays out the seriousness of the situation. "In just 14 months, two hurricanes have forced us to evacuate neighborhoods -- something our city government had never done before. If this is a trend, it is simply not sustainable," Bloomberg states.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Polluting High Rollers Dominated the Airwaves
Until Sandy rolled in, the airwaves were completely dominated by the fossil fuel industry.
According to The New York Times, by mid-September there had already been a $153 million spent on TV ads that promoted the fossil fuel industry. The analysis showed that energy topics were mentioned more frequently than any other issue besides jobs and the economy. This figure is four times what clean energy advocates were spending.
The numbers stand in sharp contrast to the last presidential election in which the green energy industry and other forces spent $152 million compared to $109 million spent on fossil fuel interests.
Broadly, the ads promote fossil fuels in the context of jobs, domestic security, and energy prices. Combined, they try to convince Americans that "energy independence" should be the nation's top priority. Yet they neglect to point out that solar and wind also create high-wage jobs and energy independence too. According to Open Secrets, oil and gas campaign contributions are at historic highs and are more lopsided than ever before with 90 percent of the funds going to Republican candidates. Top contributors include William Koch's Oxbow Corp, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Koch Industries, who have already contributed $59 million to federal candidates. Leading coal mining corporations, such as Alliance Resource Partners, Cumberland Development, and Murray Energy, have kicked in $11.6 million to federal candidates.
But the money does not stop there. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision has opened the door to unprecedented spending by "dark money" nonprofits, SuperPACs and new constellations of trade associations that are on track to spend over $1 billion to "educate" voters about the issues, including the urgent need to extract and burn every last bit of fossil fuel.
- Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, a "dark money" group and his American Crossroads SuperPAC, pledged to spend $300 million in this election, a large percentage on fossil fuel spin. There are dozens of ads in the presidential race and in Congressional races. One Crossroads ad blames Obama for higher gas prices. Another slams Obama for putting the Keystone Pipeline on hold. While Crossroads GPS does not disclose its donors, American Crossroads PAC does and it is loaded with fossil fuel contributors, including Alliance Resources Partners CEO Joe Craft who has given the group $1.25 million, Petco Petroleum which has given the group $1 million, and over $2 million from TRT holdings, which controls Tana Exploration, a Texas-based oil and gas company.
- David Koch's Americans for Prosperity "dark money" group, pledged to spend over $100 million this year in support of Republican candidates. The group's ads also attack Obama and clean energy when talking about Solyndra and the stimulus bill which allegedly sent some clean energy jobs overseas. More recently they have pushed pro-coal "Stand with Coal" ads in Ohio and Virginia.
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an industry association and dark money group, has pledged to spend more than $50 million on the election and has fielded energy ads in key races such as Ohio with a messages like "Shale Works for Us," in promotion of expanding drilling for shale oil and gas.
- The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry front group, has pledged to spend some $40 million on coal related ads. One ad, targeting Ohio's Sherrod Brown, criticizes the Senator for endorsing "higher energy taxes" linking him to "Washington's costly energy policies."
- The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade association, has pledged some $40 million this campaign season on efforts to push the expansion of oil and gas drilling. Two of their primary campaigns, "Vote 4 Energy" and "Energy Citizens" attempt to exert the aura of a grassroots base pushing for fossil fuel development. Their ads feature "energy voters" parroting fossil fuel talking points.
- The American Energy Alliance, a "dark money" group run by former Koch Industries lobbyist Tom Pyle, is spending millions alleging that Obama's policies would lead to $9 a gallon of gas and a recent ad airing in Ohio and Virginia harps on Obama for comments he made about coal industry in 2008.
Rarely are voters seeing any counter-narrative. Alternative energy forces have spent only $2 million, and some environmental groups are weighing in with modest resources. New ads by the League of Conservation Voters saying U.S. Senate Candidate Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will stop the offshoring of U.S. jobs and "will end big oil subsidies" -- with cheerful Wisconsin windmills and pumpkins in the background -- started only in the final days of the campaign. Is it any wonder that candidates have been able to ignore the serious issues?
"To ignore a global crisis that has been fully understood for over 15 years and is quickly slipping out of control shows just how far coal and oil money have drowned out constituents all the way from the Statehouse to the White House," said Greenpeace's Connor Gibson.
What Does the Fossil Fuel Industry Want?
Although environmentalists are not happy with what they perceive as Obama's timidity, the fossil fuel industry is apoplectic about the steps he did take as president. They have leveled blistering criticism about Obama's efforts to slow down the Keystone Pipeline; they don't like his new auto emissions standards; they are unhappy with new EPA mercury emissions rules for boilers; and they don't like the fact that permits for drilling and fracking on federal lands have slowed.
The industry is looking for a victory in the battle over TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline project, which would carry heavy tar-sands crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries, exporting some portion of the oil overseas. Construction of the pipeline was confronted by an active movement of citizens concerned about the impact that the pipeline would have on communities and on the threat burning the tar sands posed to the planet. Burning all the available tar sands would be "game over" for the climate, according to NASA scientist Jim Hansen, one of the nation's most respected climate change experts. Romney has vowed to give the project clearance on his first day in office, while Obama has approved a portion of the segment, and has allowed for further environmental impact study of the northern portion.
The industry also wants carte blanche to use federal lands for the highly controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" for shale oil and gas. Fracking has the documented potential to contaminate drinking water sources and foul both air and land -- in addition to spoiling millions of gallons of fresh water as part of the drilling process.
The industry is calling for a streamline on the permitting process for fossil fuel development on all lands. While industry's ads have argued that increased drilling will decrease gas prices, global gas prices largely follow international trends.
The industry is also keen to hold onto to the billions of fossil fuel subsidies it receives each year from the federal government. According to the International Energy Agency, fossil fuel subsidies from the government are 12 times greater than renewable energy.
No matter who wins the presidency, there will be major battles on each of these issues. The question is, after years of fossil fuel propaganda, how engaged will the American public be in the effort to save the planet from the fossil fuel industry?
The Price of Fossil Fuel Propaganda
According to author and activist Bill McKibben, "This will be the warmest year in American history. It came with the warmest month in American history, July. It featured a statistically almost-impossible summer-in-March heat wave. It brought us a drought so deep that food prices have gone up 40 percent around the world. It brought us this completely unprecedented mega-storm, the biggest storm, as one weatherman put it yesterday, to hit New York since its founding in 1624," McKibben told Time.
The problem according to McKibben is that "there's been a 20-year bipartisan effort in Washington to accomplish nothing, and it reached its comedic height this summer when our presidential candidates, despite barnstorming through the warmest summer in American history, seemed not to notice. The reason is the incredible power of the fossil fuel industry. Until we can diminish that power, I imagine nothing very large will be done to deal with climate."
Hurricane Sandy has launched a full frontal attack on fossil fuel industry propaganda.
It is up to us to follow in her path.
Will Dooling contributed to this article.


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"I have had nothing but great success with all of Ina's recipes. I haven't tried this one, and I'm sorry to hear the recipe did not get good reviews. If you're looking for a dynamite chicken recipe, her Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic is foolproof. It's très French and sure to be a hit."

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Now, however, Karr is drifting off center stage and is bound for Sonoma County, California, where authorities decided to try him on a handful of child-porn-related misdemeanors rather than allow Boulder to simply set him free. How close this last prospect came to happening remains unclear, but at an August 29 news conference, Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy stressed that the community wouldn't have been endangered had Sonoma decided to forget about Karr's past transgressions. "There was a safety plan in place," she said, then added, in an all-too-familiar way, "I cannot discuss it, for legal reasons." Whatever that plan might have been, Sonoma's move means the media won't have to stake out the Ramseys' old house, waiting for a late-night visit from a certain disturbing perv who suddenly has a lot of time on his hands.
Then again, news organizations might not have bothered wasting those kinds of resources on a guy no longer under anyone's umbrella of suspicion. Channels 9 and 4 devoted lots of time to the Karr conundrum before the August 28 announcement that his DNA didn't match the specimen found on JonBenét's underwear -- or "panties," as KHOW commentator Craig Silverman insists on referring to them. But rather than show Lacy's latest meet-the-press extravaganza live, the stations relegated coverage to their websites so that they could devote their airwaves to more important programming: Channel 9 broadcast Colorado & Company, a show in which hosts Denise Plante and Mark McIntosh pimp firms that have paid for the privilege, and Channel 4 offered The Price Is Right. (Sorry, Mr. Karr, but if you didn't kill JonBenét, you're gonna be preempted by Plinko.) As for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, they were carrying President George W. Bush's speech about the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina as Lacy's mea culpas were passing the one-hour mark, bound for ninety minutes plus.
Guess Bush's rationalizations were deemed more newsworthy than Lacy's -- yet those who skipped her address entirely missed a memorably comedic highpoint. Near the start of her talk, a fire alarm went off, causing the DA to jump in her chair as if she'd just been goosed by a cattle prod. "I suspect we'll have to leave," she nattered, but when none of the underlings on either side of her budged, she stayed in place, too. After sitting awkwardly for another moment or two, Lacy turned to the assembled reporters, the alarm still whooping, and said, "We had nothing to do with this."
A perfect metaphor for the thirteen days since Karr was first taken into custody? Almost. Even better was a photo in the August 29 Rocky Mountain News showing Karr inside a vehicle as MSNBC's Rita Cosby pressed against the glass, looking like a bloodthirsty zombie in a George Romero movie. It was a tossup which of them was more frightening.
The Rocky, of course, was in need of some redemption. After Karr's capture, the paper's reporting focused on how Lacy and her minions "cracked the case," as a subhead on the August 17 cover shouted. Indeed, reporter Charlie Brennan's main article that day began with the line "The decade-long search for JonBenét Ramsey's killer came to a startling end in Thailand on Wednesday" -- a sentence far less accurate than Shaquille O'Neal's free-throw shooting. Moreover, an editorial in the same edition suggested that the arrest undermined critics who'd accused the Rocky of sucking up to JonBenét's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, back in the day. In reality, the Karr bust did no such thing, but the folks at the Rocky continued to pretend otherwise by cranking out weak stories about handwriting experts and theories about what the "S.B.T.C." inscription on the original ransom note stood for. My money's on "Shouldn't Believe the Confession."
Granted, plenty of TV talking heads made the same tactical error as the Rocky, and when the DNA results broke, few pundits were willing to admit it. On the August 28 episode of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Joe Scarborough, in Mississippi on the eve of the Katrina anniversary, devoted a sizable chunk of his show to a debate between commentators Wendy Murphy and Jeralyn Merritt on the question of whether Lacy is "an idiot." (No conclusions were reached.) The "experts" who dished that evening with MSNBC's Cosby, CNN's Anderson Cooper, Fox News's Greta Van Susteren and her colleague Sean Hannity (with O.J. Simpson investigation vet Mark Fuhrman in tow) largely acted as if they'd known Karr was a kook all along, but neglected to censure themselves for lavishing so much attention on an obvious nutball. Not so comedian Bill Maher. Speaking with CNN's Larry King, Maher said ratings-hungry execs were desperate for "any excuse to show footage of [JonBenét] prancing around in a cowboy outfit like a little whore."


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Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels
August 12, 2009 | Posted in Awards | By admin
Awarded By: The Commonwealth of Kentucky Steven L. Beshear, Governor
Awarded To: Judy Pierce, Executive Director Heroes Night Out
Awarded To: Wes Pierce, Director of Operations Heroes Night Out
The highest honor awarded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky is that of Kentucky Colonel.
Commissions for Kentucky Colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation.
A list of Kentucky Colonels is a Who's Who of outstanding men and women around the world. The certificate, signed by the Governor and the Secretary of State and bearing the Great Seal of Kentucky, has hung on the walls of such distinguished leaders as Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan, and English Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Certificates are also proudly displayed by great second grade teachers and brave volunteer firemen who have performed in an extraordinary manner.
This tradition began in 1813 during the second term of Governor Isaac Shelby. Shelby had just returned from leading the Kentucky Militia on a highly successful "War of 1812" campaign. He named one of his officers, Charles Todd, as an "Aid-De-Camp" on the Governor's staff with the rank and grade of Colonel. Later Governors commissioned Colonels to act as their protective guard; they wore uniforms and were present at most official functions. (Today's colonels are not required to perform such service.) Other Governors continued this practice and by 1920's their numbers had grown considerably.
In 1928, an effort began to organize the Colonels into "A great non-political brotherhood for the advancement of Kentucky and Kentuckians." In 1932, The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels was formally born. Today, the organization is incorporated as a charitable organization with by-laws directing it to be non-partisan, non-profit and dedicated to good works within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Over the years, the Colonels have contributed millions of dollars to worthy causes. In 2006, with voluntary donations from all 50 states and 35 other nations, the Good Works Program Fund made grants totaling $1.5 million to 162 charitable and educational organizations. It marked the sixteenth consecutive year grants of at least one million dollars had been made. In addition to their collective charitable efforts, Colonels are Kentucky's ambassadors of goodwill and fellowship around the world. The organization's website can be accessed at: http://www.kycolonels.org.*
The Governor serves as the Commander-in-chief of the Honorable Order. The 12 members of the board of trustees serve on a voluntary basis.


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An Autumn Vineyard
Let the SBB loveliness begin! :) And I can't think of a lovelier way to start, than with this GORGEOUS inspiration shoot, which has been sitting prettily on my laptop waiting for you. It's also super appropriate for the season we're in at the moment, and I hope will inspire some of you in love with wine farm weddings to consider an autumn date for your big day. I mean, just look how gorgeous it is, right? It's also shot by two of my favourite photographers, Luis and Kerry of Piteira Photography. Kerry is a homegrown South African lass who met her husband Luis when they were working on board a cruise ship. They are the cutest. They're based in Portugal for most of the year, but you can catch them during the summer months in Cape Town, so if you're still on the hunt for a photographer, give them a call.
Here's Kerry with a bit more info about this beautiful styled shoot:
This session was styled and shot for the second issue of S Magazine, an e-mag published by the fabulous Portuguese wedding blog, Simplesmente Branco. The theme of the issue was "Colour" and as it was due for publication in the late summer/ autumn the idea was to bring across that fall feeling without being too predictable about it. The team at Eter wedding together with Anabela Teixeira chose a rich palette of greens and purples which, together with the abundance of late summer fruits and the vineyard location, beautifully conveys the sense of autumn and harvest-time without resorting to the typical pumpkins and red/orange colour palette.
Shot on location at an old monastery in Rio de Moinhos, this region of the Alentejo is famous for its wine production and has miles and miles of beautiful vineyards, interrupted only by the occasional small town. The ceremony itself was styled at the monastery, using an old wrought-iron gate at the backdrop for the altar, and the reception was held right in the vineyards with the tables laden with late summer fruits and rustic wild flower arrangements. This was then followed by a stroll in the vineyards and a lazy late afternoon picnic… and as the day drew to a close the bride and groom drove off into the sunset in their vintage Mercedes… the perfect end to a stunning, yet simple, wedding celebration!
Apart from encouraging future brides (and grooms) to think outside the box in terms of seasonal colour palettes, we wanted to encourage them to get creative in their choice of locations, both for the ceremony as well as the reception. Obviously a reception in the vineyards requires a bit more planning and logistics than a reception in the ubiquitous white tent, but the end result is without a doubt worth the extra effort… you (hopefully!) only get married once, so make it a day worth remembering!
Originally produced for S Magazine #2 (published in both English and Portuguese) | All stationary and graphic design by Eter Wedding | Concept and Styling by Eter Wedding and Anabela Teixeira | Our models were Rui and Diana, a real couple who entered a competition for the chance to take part in this shoot | Photography by Kerry and Luis at Piteira Photography
Oh… this shoot is fun, sweet and just pretty all over :)
Love all the "oh so portuguese" details!
Kerry, Luís and Éter rocked it, as usual.
Can´t think of a more perfect way for relaunch day.
Congratulations, the site is just lovely!May 14, 2012 -
I have been so excited to see the relaunch, and I LOVE Southbound Bride! You should be so proud of what you have achieved :) And what a perfect shoot to start the new blog! xo
May 14, 2012 -
Congratulations on the relaunch…the site looks wonderful! And I love this inspiration shoot…it has such a beautifully organic feel to it!
May 14, 2012 -
i LOVE the new site! it looks amazing and chic! well done Gaby! Sign me up for the SBB London Events!
May 15, 2012
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Cosmetics Treatments
A Bright Outlook: Spring 2012 Color Preview
By: Cathy Christensen
Posted: February 28, 2012, from the March 2012 issue of Skin Inc. magazine.
With dark hair and dark eyes, a combination of Cockatoo and Margarita can be stunning this spring.
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Although cream lipsticks are carrying over from last season, semigloss is holding its own this spring. "Lips are not high gloss this season," says Paquin. "It's a little more sheen than what was being seen in the fall. A sheer gloss really complements some of the looks this spring." According to McCarthy, "Sheer colors for lips, such as berries and pinks, are in this spring."
Along with semiglosses, lip stains are also a favorite. "People are looking for lip stains that are long-wearing with softer colors in nudes and pale pinks," says Campbell. Bennett also recommends lip crayons. "They have a soft, satiny finish. You're using this chunky crayon as opposed to a lipstick; you get the precision of a liner and the look of a lipstick. It's all about crispness, polished looks and fun colors," he says.
Making it work
As most spa professionals and makeup artists are aware, just because the color and application is trendy doesn't mean that it is the right choice for all your clients. It is your job to customize the look to the client, to help best meet her needs. This is what makes a client's relationship with a professional a step above the Internet or the department store. Because you care about her, you will help her make the right decisions ... and she will thank you.
"At the end of the day, it's good to find colors that really work on the clients; colors they can turn to regularly and some colors they can pick to perk up and modernize their cosmetic wardrobe for a bit of seasonal fun," explains Katz. "Trendy isn't always right for everyone. It's good to go with what really works."
To this end, Paquin suggests that education is key. "The best thing skin care professionals can do is educate clients about what the new colors are and how they can be worn—how they can take those neons and nudes, and make them wearable. Host demonstrations, workshops and special events to get clients and their friends coming in to preview the new spring colors. Make sure it is fun and upbeat, and that they can learn," she says. "A lot of women will look at these colors and be afraid. A 50-year-old with nudes doesn't always work. Consider photographing some of the trends on models and hanging the photos in your spa. Take clients, whether they are 18 or 55, and teach them how to make the colors wearable. That's really what clients are coming to see you for ... the knowledge and keeping it simple."


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 3, 2000Maggie GandaseguiOffice of NYC SpecialNarcotics Prosecutor212-815-0525Thomas AntenenNYC Police Department212-374-6700Carol AbramsNYC Department of HousingPreservation & Development(212) 863-5176
New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan, New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Jerilyn Perine announced today the arrest and indictment of 12 members of a drug conspiracy which besieged two upper Manhattan apartment buildings for the past ten years. In addition, 13 other defendants were arrested in raids yesterday during the takedown of the case. Those named in the indictment are all members of the "Black-Top" gang, a multi-million dollar crack operation headquartered at 12-14 and 16-18 Old Broadway in Manhattan. All 25 defendants will be arraigned today. Two of the defendants, including Vladimir Silfa, one of the main targets of the investigation, were arrested in state prisons. All indicted defendants appeared before Justice Brenda Soloff this morning.
In yesterday's raids, police executed 12 search warrants and recovered 4,100 black top vials of crack and 4 guns. In addition, a high-tech security system, a money counting machine, a bulletproof vest and counter surveillance devices were discovered in one of the apartments.
In the course of their conspiracy, the gang took over and used apartments occupied by legitimate tenants as well as vacant apartments to sell and hide their drugs. Co-conspirators Vladimir Silfa and Jose Celpa are charged in the indictment with directing the lucrative crack enterprise that is estimated to have sold 5,000 -8,000 vials a week at $5 a vial, netting up to $160,000 per month. Silfa is currently serving a 2-to-6 year sentence on drug changes in Lakeview Correctional Facility in Buffalo, NY. The indictment marks the end of a decade- long struggle to rescue the 44 apartments and four storefronts first from a negligent landlord and then from this group of crack dealers.
In 1995, HPD took over the buildings for non-payment of taxes from the Huey Corporation, a company in which Andonis Morfesis was a principal. Morfesis was nicknamed "Dracula Landlord" in the mid-1990s for the way he allowed his buildings across the city to fall into disrepair.
Crack dealing was thriving in the two locations by then; mostly as a result of the activities of those named in the indictment. According to police records there have been over 200 narcotics-related arrests in the buildings since 1999. In 1999 HPD attempted to evict Celpa, however a Housing Court judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to connect him to drug activity.
The defendants used intricate ploys to elude police and HPD efforts to root them out. They bounced the drug operation from one building to another . Hallway windows were blackened out to prevent police from observing drug sales, which normally took place in stairway landings. Exits to the roof and the rear doors were bolted and padlocked to prevent police from entering the buildings.
The gang's methods grew increasingly sophisticated. Those responsible for securing the outside of the buildings, communicated with dealers inside via transmitters, which resembled car "clickers." The transmitters were used to alert dealers of nearby police patrols. All buyers were screened with electronic detectors able to sense recording devices. Undercover officers attempting to purchase drugs were regularly threatened-once at gunpoint-and were ordered to leave if no one could vouch for them. Those transmitters and detectors were recovered late yesterday.
When alerted that police were in the buildings, inside dealers would force their customers to go downstairs to the lobby to intercept officers slowing things down while the operation was moved and gang members retreated into apartments they controlled.
In the process, the defendants created intolerable conditions for the buildings' approximately 50 lawful residents-many of whom are families with small children and teenagers. Gang members intimidated residents to force them to leave so that they could take over the apartments. Once the gang moved into an apartment reinforced steel-plated doors and new locks were installed to keep intruders out.
On one occasion, a female tenant returned from a trip to find that the defendants had broken into her apartment and had hidden walkie-talkies inside her ten-month-old baby's diaper bag. Several gang members later snatched the instruments from her when she left the building. When she came back days later , Victor Teruel, one of the conspirators in today's indictment, had moved into her apartment, changed the locks, and was using the location to sell crack. Teruel was convicted by the New York County's District Attorney's Office of Attempted Burglary and is currently serving a one-to-three year sentence in Moriah State Prison. He was returned to face the new charges.
Conducted by NYPD's Central Harlem Initiative, the 26th Precinct, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the HPD's Narcotics Control Unit, the investigation involved extensive surveillance that established that the drug group received weekly shipments of crack already packaged in black top vials. During one of those deliveries, defendant Carlos Hernandez used a motorcycle registered to Celpa to deliver a shipment to 16-18 Old Broadway. He got into an accident a block away from his destination. According to a police report, Hernandez was wearing a bulletproof vest and was carrying 4,500 crack vials in a backpack when he was found unconscious on the street.
During the takedown, search warrants were executed at apartments 6,7, 8, 10, 15 and 20 of 16-18 Old Broadway and one at apartment 19 of 12-14 Old Broadway. Seven other search warrants were executed at other gang-Iinked locations in the Bronx and Manhattan. In the past six months, close to 10,000 crack-filled black top vials and 8 guns have been recovered.
Once the enforcement operation is completed, the buildings are slated for a program that will transfer ownership from the city to Ecumenical Community Development Organization, a non-profit organization.
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said: "The success we have experienced in this type of operation is immeasurable. By joining resources, not only can we clean up ongoing narcotics activity but we can help ensure that narcotics dealers don't immediately reclaim their territory once our operation is over."
Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said: "This case involved a multi-million dollar crack gang that essentially took over two residential apartment buildings and turned the homes of honest families into their own private drug market. These indictments prove, however, that no matter how sophisticated these drug enterprises become or how entrenched these dealers think they are, the NYPD and our partners in law enforcement will not relent until they are permanently shut down and the criminals that run them prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
HPD Commissioner Jerilyn Perine said: "HPD's Narcotic Control Unit worked in full partnership with the Police Department and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. NCU efforts helped the Police Department to mount its undercover operation and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor to develop a conspiracy case to bring down the entire drug operation."


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The Witcher series has surpassed five million sales, according to creator CD Projekt RED.
CD Projekt CEO Adam Kicinski said: "The Witcher 3 will be a crowning achievement for the RPG genre, but I am also proud to announce that the number of previous Witcher games sold has surpassed five million copies.
"This is great news, especially since the 2012 debuted console debut on the Xbox 360 contributed largely to this result."
To coincide with the announcement, CD Projekt has cut the price of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition for Xbox 360 to $29.99 / 29.99 EUR / 19.99 GBP. The same game, as well as The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut, are available for half their usual price on GOG.com and Steam until the February 8.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was revealed earlier this week ahead of a 2014 release on PC and "all high-end platforms available". The first Witcher 3 screenshots appeared online earlier today.