Not Allowed in “Families for Coal” Group: Families

Clean-coal-warsI hopped in the National Wildlife Federation Prius yesterday to drive from our headquarters in Reston, VA to the Netroots Nation blogger conference here in Pittsburgh, PA. Every 30 miles or so along the side of the highway in Pennsylvania, there’d be a billboard touting “clean” coal. The most egregious hyped coal as “clean green power.”

The billboards are sponsored by “Families Organized to Represent the Coal Economy (FORCE).” Just one little problem. According to SourceWatch, families can’t join:

While previously describing itself as a “grassroots” organization, membership is only open to companies not individuals. “Membership is through coal and coal related company sponsorship. When a company joins it agrees to distribute FORCE materials and information to its member employees. This distribution network helps FORCE maintain a low overhead while supplying high quality service to its members,” it stated on its website in June 2007.

From “clean” coal to forged letters to “family” groups that don’t allow families to join … is there any depth Big Coal won’t stoop to in its effort to keep from having to pay for the pollution it emits?

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Published: August 14, 2009