In response to revelations that environmental groups have received millions of dollars to advance the “War on Coal” in Alabama, the Alabama Coal Association is calling on congress to investigate whether two of the groups used taxpayer money “in their attempt to kill coal jobs in Alabama.”
Alabama Coal Association president George Barber sent a letter to each member of Alabama’s congressional delegation this week detailing how two taxpayer-funded groups have advanced President Obama’s climate agenda in the state, including working “to accelerate [the] retirement of coal-fired power plants.”
“New documents made public by the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation reveal a number of troubling details about the flow of money to groups in Alabama actively fighting the future of coal,” Barber bemoaned. “We write today to bring these details to your attention and ask that you determine whether these groups have used public funds for similar purposes.”
Financial disclosures by the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation recently revealed that $3 million had been awarded to environmental groups operating in Alabama to advance a climate-related agenda, and specifically to shut down coal-fired plants.
“At the same time these groups were being paid by the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation to pursue these goals, each of these groups was also a formal participant in a series of hearings at the Alabama Public Service Commission and engaged in aggressive communication to the public about the need to overhaul Alabama’s regulatory process for natural gas and electrical utilities,” Barber said. “We asserted at the time that the outcry for these hearings was nothing more than an attempt to create a new battlefield in President Barack Obama’s stated ‘war on coal’ and these new disclosures confirm our previous statements.”
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Among the groups listed in Barber’s letter are the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Southern Environmental Law Center, both of which have received taxpayer dollars through federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“This means, of course, that at the same time these groups were accepting private funding from the Energy Foundation for the purpose of shutting down coal-fired plants in the Southeast, laying off workers in the process, they were also collecting funds paid for by taxpayers.”
Barber concluded his letter by calling for action from Alabama’s congressional delegation.
“[I]t is reasonable to question whether taxpayer funding was used by these groups, or others, to pursue a war on coal that would result in a negative impact to a critical Alabama industry,” Barber said. “We are calling on Congress to investigate the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Southern Environmental Law Center’s use of federal funds in their attempt to kill coal jobs in Alabama.”
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy responded to the calls for an investigation with a blog post saying the Alabama coal industry is simply upset because “they are getting their butts kicked in the marketplace…”
“We welcome any investigation that the senators from Alabama wish to perform,” Stephen Smith of SACE wrote.
He also embedded in his blog post the above video of a coal-fired plant being demolished.
Smith conceded that SACE has received money from private environmental groups like the Energy Foundation to promote their green energy agenda, and that they have received taxpayer money in years past. However, Smith said SACE has “never received any federal funds for any work related to coal-fired power plants.”
Yellowhammer spoke to several members of Alabama’s congressional delegation on Tuesday who said they were looking into the matter.
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