Environmentalists, global warming alarmists target Gov. Bentley

The Sierra Club, one of the country’s foremost leftwing environmental groups, has added a new name to their list of targets: Alabama Governor Robert Bentley.

Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal Campaign,” sent out an email blast Tuesday to the organization’s Alabama activists encouraging them to pressure Gov. Bentley into backing their global warming agenda.

President Obama, Hitt explained, has put “climate-destroying carbon pollution” at the top of his list of priorities. And with the help of his Environmental Protection Agency, the president intends to regulate American energy producers into submission.

Obama’s green agenda has probably been less successful as his ObamaCare rollout — if that’s even possible.

The $600 million dollars the Obama Administration spent to build the failed healthcare.gov website is nothing compared to the billions of taxpayer dollars they dumped into now-bankrupt green energy companies. The stimulus alone funneled $90 billion into so-called “clean” energy initiatives. Dozens of the companies Obama’s energy department got behind ultimately went belly up.

We’ve seen The Sierra Club and other environmental groups engage heavily in recent battles at the Alabama Public Service Commission, but as you’ll read below, “that fight’s about to get a lot bigger.”

This time they’re not even cloaking themselves in consumer-friendly rhetoric. They’re aiming straight for the Alabama coal industry, which provides over 5,000 jobs and helps keep energy costs down.

The Sierra Club’s Alabama email blast, which was titled “Don’t let the governor stand in your way,” can be read below:

Dear Friend,

Activists like you have won some important battles in the fight for Alabama’s clean energy future. It’s a fight that has often pitted Alabama’s families against Big Coal, utility companies, lobbyists — and even Gov. Robert J. Bentley. Now that fight’s about to get a lot bigger.

President Obama has made tackling climate-destroying carbon pollution a priority. As the EPA works to develop strong and just new safeguards protecting us from carbon pollution, they’ll be counting on people in states like Alabama to help decide the best approach.

Tell Gov. Bentley and the EPA that the fight to protect our families, our communities, and our economy from climate disruption has to start with strong and just standards against carbon pollution.

Our nation’s aging coal plants are some of the biggest contributors of climate-destroying carbon pollution, as well as toxic waste like mercury, soot, ash, and heavy metals that are harmful even in tiny concentrations. And we can’t give a free pass to natural gas — more gas in the electricity sector just means more pollution. We need strong standards that limit pollution from coal and natural gas-fired power plants, and we need a commitment to true clean energy like wind and solar. Activists like you have shown time and again that Alabama is ready to take those steps, even if Gov. Bentley refuses to take action.

Already the big polluters are getting organized. They’ll try to use their insider influence to continue their free ride. But we can’t let their lobbyists and allies — like Gov. Bentley — drown out the people of Alabama who want true action on climate.

Make sure Alabama is on the right side of the climate fight. Tell Gov. Bentley and the EPA that Alabama wants strong standards against carbon pollution, for the sake of our families, our state, and our future!

Thank you for all you do,

Mary Anne Hitt
Director, Beyond Coal Campaign
Sierra Club