Am Energy Alliance aea

fix code some 5 22 still much, some anno lost<div>
</div><div>see bak and 2/IER</div><div>
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</div><div> American Energy Alliance/Institute For Energy Research...in part by the Koch brothers and their donor network and run by Tom Pyle, a former lobbyist

for Koch Industries. The group was recently identified as a beneficiary of the Kochs’ vast political network, which raised at least

...in the last election alone, according to a recent analysis by the Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics. In January, an IER

said the plan to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants “will wreak havoc on our largest source of electricity.”

...GOP Team At American Energy Alliance Runs ‘Energy Town Hall’ Oil Bus Tour

The American Energy Alliance, which is affiliated with the conservative Institute for Energy Research, has begun a four-week bus tour to county fairs, sporting events and public meetings in several coal-reliant states. Representatives of the group will travel in a large blue bus carrying the slogan “Stop the National Energy Tax, Save American Jobs” and a picture of workers in hard hats. They will cross Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia. Yesterday, AEA officials participated in a rally with another group, Americans for Prosperity, in Zanesville, Ohio;</div><div>
</div><div> a day earlier, they visited a county fair in western Pennsylvania.  The American Energy Alliance (AEA), a new polluter front group, is touring the nation to smear President Barack Obama’s clean energy reform agenda. Employees riding the “American Energy Express” bus are spreading the

...AEA is the 501 c(4) offshoot of the Institute for Energy Research, a right-wing oil-industry think tank run by Robert Bradley, a former speechwriter for Kenneth Lay

AEA has no ties to any political party, and it has no interest in supporting the agenda of any particular political party

AEA may be telling the truth that it has “no interest in supporting the agenda of any particular political party” — its only interest seems to be blocking progressive reform by spreading lies and distortions. However, AEA is tightly connected to the Republican Party and right-wing oil interests. In fact

Thomas J. Pyle, AEA President, Is A Oil Lobbyist And DeLay Operative.</div><div>
</div><div>Before joining the Institute for Energy Research and the American Energy Alliance, Pyle worked as a lobbyist for the right-wing oil giant Koch Industries, first in-house starting in 2001, and then at the Rhoads Group. In 2008 Pyle became a lobbyist for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. Previously, Pyle served as policy analyst for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives and as staff director for the GOP Congressional Western Caucus. Pyle started as a legislative assistant for radical anti-environmentalists Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA)</div><div>
</div><div>.

...Patrick Creighton, AEA Communications Director, Worked For Bush And Pennsylvania Republicans. Patrick Creighton was the special assistant to Samuel T. Mok, the chief financial officer at the Department of Labor from 2004 to 2006. He then worked as a spokesman for oil and natural gas advocate Rep. John Peterson (R-PA) from 2006 to 2009, worked to elect Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), then joined Thompson’s office until May 2009.

Kevin Kennedy, AEA Federal Affairs Director, Promoted Alaska Drilling Under Don Young. </div><div>
</div><div> After graduating from Union College in 2004, Kevin Kennedy worked for the Astroturf organization Arctic Power, which advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In 2007, Kennedy became a legislative assistant for the corrupt Rep. Don Young (R-AK) nd the House Committee on Natural Resources. He joined the Institute for Energy Research and American Energy Alliance in 2009.

Laura Henderson, AEA Spokesperson, Served Shelby, Dole, And Tiberi;</div><div>
</div><div>Laura Henderson was a former press secretary for offshore drilling advocate Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL from 2005-2009. Previously, she worked for former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH)

Daniel R. Simmons, AEA State Affairs Director, Is A Koch-Funded GOP Staffer. Simmons was the Director of the Natural Resources Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing network funded by Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, and other corporate and right-wing organizations. Previously, Simmons was a Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, also funded by Koch. From 2001 to 2005, Simmons served on the staff of Rep. George Nethercutt (R-WA) on the House Natural Resources Committee. Simmons holds a B.A. in Economics from Utah State University and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, also supported by Koch Industries </div><div>
</div><div>...GOP.gov Webmaster Nathan Imperiale Runs EnergyTownHall.Org.  AEA’s EnergyTownHall.org was designed by NJI Media Group, part of Endeavour Global Strategies. Endeavour’s head, Sean Spicer, is a long-time GOP operative, including communications work for the House Republican Conference and the Bush White House. NJI Media Group’s president, Nathan Imperiale, served as Director of New Media for the House Republican Conference, building its GOP.gov website

..., the American Petroleum Institute’s

...Institute for Energy Research economist Bob Murphy writes that Paul Krugman doesn't understand tea party protesters because he doesn't care about checks on government power like they do, and continues

So, by symmetry,

I think people on "our side" should realize that the great masses of Americans who are for health care reform and climate legislation (and it pains me to not put scare quotes around those phrases) aren't actually closet socialists who want to bring America to its knees.

...vulnerable Democrats in fossil-fuel friendly states — Rep. Nick Rahall (WV), Sen. Mark Begich (AK) — for supporting a carbon tax, even though they never did. </div><div>
</div><div>In 2012, the group sought to make the Production Tax Credit for wind energy

that Republicans wouldn’t back it.

The Center for Public Integrity used 990s obtained by CRP as it looked into the American Energy Alliance's claim

that the $1.3 million it spent on ads in the 2012 elections were not actually political. In

Swing state voters in Virginia and Ohio last fall were bombarded with television advertisements encouraging them to "stand with coal" and "vote no on Obama's failing energy policy."

But the sponsor of these ads — a pro-business nonprofit advocacy group called the American Energy Alliance — says the messages weren’t designed to aid Republican Mitt Romney in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama

Center for Responsive Politics, the American Energy Alliance</div><div>
</div><div>former Koch Industries lobbyist Thomas Pyle, told the Internal Revenue Service that it did not "engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office" last year.The group made an even more explicit pledge to be nonpartisan when it applied for tax-exempt status in 2008, telling the IRS that it had "no interest in supporting the agenda or any particular political party or political candidate."

While it acknowledged “the possibility that some of AEA's publications and communications may be considered ‘political,’” the group asserted that it was a “nonpartisan policy-oriented organization,” not a “‘political’ organization.

...

The American Energy Alliance (AEA), a new polluter front group, is touring the nation to smear President Barack Obama’s clean energy reform agenda. Employees riding the “American Energy Express” bus are spreading the <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/06/23/waxman-markey-postcard/

conservative lies" style=""> </a>that the American Clean Energy and Security Act will

AEA is the 501 c(4) offshoot of the Institute for Energy Research, a right-wing oil-industry think tank run by Robert Bradley, a former speechwriter for Kenneth Lay. E&E News reports that AEA’s...</div><div>
</div><div>http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2009/08/20/2[pix?] </div><div>
</div><div>The American Energy Alliance, which is affiliated with the conservative Institute for Energy Research, has begun a four-week bus tour to county fairs, sporting events and public meetings in several coal-reliant states. Representatives of the group will travel in a large blue bus carrying the slogan “Stop the National Energy Tax, Save American Jobs” and a picture of workers in hard hats. They will cross Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia. Yesterday, AEA officials participated in a rally with another group, Americans for Prosperity, in Zanesville, Ohio; a day earlier, they visited a county fair in western Pennsylvania.In fact, by attacking legislation that addresses climate change and our national dependence on fossil fuels, AEA is preventing a  are former House Republican staffers:

Thomas J. Pyle, AEA President, Is A Oil Lobbyist And DeLay Operative. Before joining the Institute for Energy Research and the American Energy Alliance, Pyle worked as a lobbyist for the right-wing oil giant Koch Industries, first in-house starting in 2001, and then at the Rhoads Group. </div><div>
</div><div>In 2008 Pyle became a lobbyist for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. Previously, Pyle served as policy analyst for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives and as staff director for the GOP Congressional Western Caucus. Pyle started as a legislative assistant for radical anti-environmentalists Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA). [<a href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/staff/thomas-j-pyle/" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Institute for Energy Research</a>, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=22770" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Center for Public Integrity</a>]

Patrick Creighton, AEA Communications Director, Worked For Bush And Pennsylvania Republicans. Patrick Creighton was the special assistant to Samuel T. Mok, the chief financial officer at the Department of Labor from 2004 to 2006. He then worked as a spokesman for oil and natural gas advocate Rep. John Peterson (R-PA) from 2006 to 2009, worked to elect Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), then joined Thompson’s office until May 2009. [<a href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/staff/

Institute for Energy Research">, </a><a http="http" www.legistorm.com="www.legistorm.com" after="After" graduating="graduating" from="from" union="Union" college="College" in="in" kevin="Kevin" kennedy="Kennedy" worked="worked" for="for" the="the" astroturf="Astroturf" organization="organization" arctic="Arctic" power="Power" which="which" advocated="advocated" drilling="drilling" national="National" wildlife="Wildlife" refuge="Refuge" became="became" a="a" legislative="legislative" assistant="assistant" corrupt="corrupt" rep="Rep" don="Don" young="Young" r-ak="R-AK" and="and" house="House" committee="Committee" on="on" natural="Natural" resources="Resources" he="He" joined="joined" institute="Institute" energy="Energy" research="Research" american="American" alliance="Alliance" /><a href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/staff/" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Institute for Energy Research</a>]

Laura Henderson, AEA Spokesperson, Served Shelby, Dole, And Tiberi. Laura Henderson was a former press secretary for offshore drilling advocate Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) from 2005-2009. Previously, she worked for former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH). [<a href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/staff/" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Institute for Energy Research</a>]</div><div>

Daniel R. Simmons, AEA State Affairs Director, Is A Koch-Funded GOP Staffer. Simmons was the Director of the Natural Resources Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing network funded by Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, and other corporate and right-wing organizations. Previously, Simmons was a Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, also funded by Koch. From 2001 to 2005, Simmons served on the staff of Rep. George Nethercutt (R-WA) on the House Natural Resources Committee. Simmons holds a B.A. in Economics from Utah State University and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, also supported by Koch Industries. [<a href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/staff/daniel-r-simmons/" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Institute for Energy Research</a>, <a href="http://www.legistorm.com/person/Daniel_R_Simmons/28099.html" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Legistorm</a>]

Furthermore, AEA’s <a href="http://www.energytownhall.org/" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">EnergyTownHall.org</a> website is run by yet another former GOP House staffer:

GOP.gov Webmaster Nathan Imperiale Runs EnergyTownHall.Org.AEA’s EnergyTownHall.org was designed by NJI Media Group, part of Endeavour Global Strategies. Endeavour’s head, Sean Spicer, is a long-time GOP operative, including communications work for the House Republican Conference and the Bush White House. NJI Media Group’s president, Nathan Imperiale, served as Director of New Media for the House Republican Conference, building its GOP.gov website. [Twitter,<a href="http://twitter.com/Imperiale/status/1206518235

http://endeavourglobalstrategies.com/theteam/

Endeavour Global Strategies">]</a>

</blockquote>

AEA’s “American Energy Express” joins a field crowded by conservative oil and coal propaganda — the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity’s <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/07/dirty-coal-factuality/" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">“Factuality” bus tour</a>, the American Petroleum Institute’s <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/leaked-memo---oil-lobbys_b_259149.html" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">“Energy Citizens” oil rallies</a>, and the Americans For Prosperity <a href="http://www.hotairtour.org

http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2009/08/im-starting-with-man-in-mirror.html

...">Free Advice</a>, Institute for Energy Research economist Bob Murphy writes that Paul Krugman doesn't understand tea party protesters because he doesn't care about checks on government power like they do, and continues:

...So, by symmetry, I think people on "our side" should realize that the great masses of Americans who are for health care reform and climate legislation (and it pains me to not put scare quotes around those phrases) aren't actually closet socialists who want to bring America to its knees.

<blockquote style=" margin: 15px 30px; padding: 15px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">By Brad Johnson at <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/08/22/dirty-energy-town-hall/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">The WONK ROOM</a>. </blockquote>

==

<h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Conservative group launches broad anti-carbon tax campaign

</h1></div>

A conservative energy group is rolling out a multi-pronged push ahead of the August congressional recess that aims to put the carbon tax in its deathbed.

“We’re hoping to put the final nail in the coffin on the carbon tax. The proposal should be dead on arrival by the time lawmakers come back from August recess,” Benjamin Cole, a spokesman with the Institute for Energy Research and its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance, told The Hill in an interview detailing the plan.

The effort includes a new poll of American opinion on a carbon tax and an advertising campaign centered on five House members, among other elements.

As early as Thursday, AEA will launch a two-week radio advertising campaign that targets five House lawmakers — four Democrats and one Republican.

The ad blitz, which will cost between $120,000 and $150,000, targets Democratic Reps. Bill Owens (N.Y.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Patrick Murphy (Fla.) and William Enyart (Ill.), along with GOP Rep. Chris Smith (N.J.).

AEA chose to focus on members who have been “soft on the carbon tax issue” and reside in “marginal districts,” Cole said.

“We obviously are ones to apply pressure in any way we can,” he said.

The timing of the IER and AEA operation is designed to get energy issues on the agenda when lawmakers meet with voters in their congressional districts, Cole said.<

Cole compared the upcoming recess to the summer of 2010, when the House had recently passed ObamaCare, the national healthcare law.

He said the climate change plan Obama unveiled last month — which relies on a suite of executive actions that industry, Republicans and coal-state Democrats say will slow the economy — will draw fire from voters across the country.

“We know that there’s going to be town halls that congressmen go back to their districts to hear from their constituents. We want to make sure that energy is on the plate,” he said.

Taxing carbon emissions has support from some environmentalists, as well as a collection of conservative economists and advocates who say it should be coupled with lower personal tax rates. But the idea has little political traction.

Carbon tax proposals are a non-starter in the GOP-controlled House. And Republicans combined a bloc of centrist Democrats threaten to thwart a carbon tax in the Senate. On top of all that, the White House has said it won’t pursue a carbon tax.

The concept has fueled intense opposition from the right.

The IER and AEA campaign has the support of several conservative outfits, including Americans for Tax Reform, FreedomWorks and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The first piece of the rollout is an IER-commissioned poll of 800 registered voters conducted last week by The Tarrance Group that says Americans reject the idea of a carbon tax.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they oppose a carbon tax “paid by businesses of all sizes,” compared with 35 percent of those who favored the concept.

The poll doesn't take into account different schemes for a carbon tax — for example, there’s variability in policy circles when deciding whether to apply a fee at the point of carbon emissions or fossil fuel extraction.

Still, the responses differed greatly among parties. A majority of Democrats — 54 percent — favored a carbon tax, while 80 percent of Republicans rejected it.

The results of that poll will be discussed at a carbon tax event IER is hosting Wednesday. Then comes the radio ad launch.

IER will also give lawmakers a point-by-point critique of the climate change plan Obama unveiled last month before they head home.

“It’s teeing up August recess interaction with constituents,” Cole said.

Cole said that IER and AEA plan to keep the heat on lawmakers until the heads of the congressional tax-writing panels, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), formally declare a carbon tax is off the table.

The two committee heads have demonstrated a desire to overhaul the federal tax code — and for both, time is of the essence. Baucus isn’t running for reelection in 2014, and Camp’s term as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is up after next year.

“There’s nothing that motivates a politician more than building his own legacy,” Cole said.

Read more: <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/311159-conservative-group-launches-broad-anti-carbon-tax-campaign#ixzz2bz7bE8Qk" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/311159-conservative-group-launches-broad-anti-carbon-tax-campaign#ixzz2bz7bE8Qk</a> 

 ===

backed down grover <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/13/1182511/grover-norquist-abruptly-reverses-position-on-carbon-tax-after-facing-criticism-from-koch-backed-group/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/13/1182511/grover-norquist-abruptly-reverses-position-on-carbon-tax-after-facing-criticism-from-koch-backed-group/</a>===

<h1 style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/13/1182511/grover-norquist-abruptly-reverses-position-on-carbon-tax-after-facing-criticism-from-koch-backed-group/" style=" text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Grover Norquist Abruptly Changes Position On Carbon Tax After Facing Criticism From Koch-Backed Group</a></h1>

By Stephen Lacey on Nov 13, 2012 at 1:27 pm

Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist raised a lot of eyebrows on Monday when he <a title="national journal" href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/12/1178541/grover-norquist-bombshell-pairing-carbon-tax-with-income-tax-cut-wouldnt-violate-gop-no-tax-hike-pledge/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">told </a><a title="national journal" href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/12/1178541/grover-norquist-bombshell-pairing-carbon-tax-with-income-tax-cut-wouldnt-violate-gop-no-tax-hike-pledge/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">National Journal</a> that a carbon tax might be on the table if it were swapped with a cut to the income tax.

“It’s possible you could structure something that wasn’t an increase and didn’t violate the pledge,” he reportedly said.

As president of Americans for Tax Reform, Norquist has convinced hundreds of members of Congress to sign a pledge that they will never raise taxes. While his influence <a title="waning" href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/267467-norquist-pledge-takes-election-hit-" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">appears to be waning</a>in Washington, Norquist’s tax pledge is still considered gospel for many Republicans. That’s why his willingness to consider a tax on global warming pollution is a big deal in political circles.

But one day later, after being <a title="critized" href="http://www.americanenergyalliance.org/2012/11/in-the-pipeline-111312/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">criticized</a> by the American Energy Alliance, the advocacy arm of a <a title="supported" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74643.html" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Koch-supported</a> energy think tank devoted to promoting fossil fuel development, Norquist has completely reversed his statement, saying there virtually “no conceivable way” he could support a tax on carbon....<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/13/1182511/grover-norquist-abruptly-reverses-position-on-carbon-tax-after-facing-criticism-from-koch-backed-group/" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/13/1182511/grover-norquist-abruptly-reverses-position-on-carbon-tax-after-facing-criticism-from-koch-backed-group/</a>

==

<h1>Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group</h1>

<h2>Institute for Energy Research (IER)</h2>

<div class="on-page">On this page

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/institute-for-energy-research/#a0">Read more about the Institute for Energy Research</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/institute-for-energy-research/#a1">Find more recipients of Koch foundation money</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<div>$175,000 received from Koch foundations 2005-2011 [Total Koch foundation grants 1997-2011: $235,000]</div>

</div>

IER supported and promoted the "<a class="zoom" title="IER Spanish" href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/credit_for_trying_spanish_stud.html" target="blank">Spanish</a>" and "Danish" studies critical of clean energy jobs, both of which have been debunked by credible sources. IER also argues that efforts to curb global warming would <a class="zoom" title="IER accomplish little at too great a cost" href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/global-warming/" target="blank">accomplish little at too great a cost</a>, promotes <a class="zoom" title="ACCF/NAM and Heritage Foundation Studies" href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/cost-of-climate-change-policies/

Heritage Foundation"> studies</a> that exaggerate the costs of climate policy, and <a class="zoom" title="discourage U.S. leadership" href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2009/07/28/lost-in-translation/" target="_blank">discourages U.S. leadership</a> on the international stage.

Robert Bradley, a former Enron executive, is the CEO of IER and one of its founders. Thomas Pyle, a former Koch and oil-industry lobbyist, is the President of IER and the American Energy Alliance, the 501c4 counterpart to IER. Politico reports that IER and AEA still receive Koch money in support of a <a class="zoom" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74643.html" target="_blank">$3.6 million anti-Obama gas price advertising campaign</a>, although Koch foundations appear to have stopped supporting IER after 2007. The most recent available Koch foundation tax filings to IRS are for the year 2010, indicating the Kochs picked IER back up in 2011 or are funneling money through other avenues.

AEA was <a class="zoom" title="founded by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute" href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2009/07/28/lost-in-translation

founded by the ">National Association of Manufacturers...founded by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute" href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2009/07/28/lost-in-translation/" target="blank">American Petroleum Institute</a> to fight the BTU tax proposal in 1993, and in recent <a class="zoom" title="years funded by ExxonMobil and Koch Industries" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/secretmoney/2008/09/udall_radio_ad.html" target="blank">years funded by ExxonMobil and </a><a class="zoom" title="years funded by ExxonMobil and Koch Industries" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/secretmoney/2008/09/udall_radio_ad.html" target="blank">Koch Industries</a>. AEA has been active in the climate debate, from <a class="zoom" title="runnings ads repeating false claims" href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003106503" target="blank">running ads repeating false claims</a> about the costs of climate legislation to <a class="zoom" title="trashing clean energy at town halls" href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/08/22/dirty-energy-town-hall/" target="_blank">trashing clean energy at town halls</a> around the US.

<a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/institute-for-energy-research/">http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/institute-for-energy-researc</a>h/

==

The romance between ALEC and fracking continued at this year's ALEC meeting in Utah -- an appropriate location for the frack-friendly ALEC crew. In May, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar <a href="http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/nr_05_08_2012.html" title="reference on approved" target="blank">approved</a> a major shale gas project by Texas-based <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Anadarko_Petroleum" title="reference on Anadarko Petroleum" target="self">Anadarko Petroleum</a> Corp. in Utah's Uinta Basin -- expected to develop more than 3,600 new wells over the next decade.

In another industry-friendly move, Utah's Governor Gary Herbert, who spoke the ALEC conference's opening luncheon, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/24/us-utah-lands-idUSBRE82N03420120324" title="reference on signed a bill into law" target="blank">signed a bill into law</a> in March demanding that Congress hand over 30 million acres of federal land to the state by 2015 or the state will sue. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-pick-fight-feds-over-public-lands-083347841.html" title="reference on According" target="blank">According</a> to the Associated Press, Lawmakers in Utah and Arizona have said the legislation is endorsed by ALEC. As documented by the Center for Media and Democracy's <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed" title="reference on ALEC Exposed" target="blank">ALEC Exposed</a> Project, ALEC drafted the "<a href="http://heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/6252.pdf" title="reference on Sagebrush Rebellion Act" target="blank">Sagebrush Rebellion Act</a>," which was "designed to establish a mechanism for the transfer of ownership of unappropriated lands from the federal government to the states." According to the <a href="http://www.suwa.org/2012/07/30/herbert-dodges-on-costs-and-effects-of-his-federal-land-grab-efforts/" title="reference on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance" target="_blank">Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance</a>, the governor's initiative would open up millions of acres of the "Wilderness Study Areas and proposed wilderness areas to oil and gas development" but in the process would cost Utah taxpayers enormously.

At the meeting, the CEO of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_for_Energy_Research" title="reference on Institute for Energy Research" target="self">Institute for Energy Research</a> (IER) Dr. Robert Bradley was one of the featured speakers. Bradley, formerly a director of policy analysis at Enron, also spoke at the 2011 ALEC conference in New Orleans. He is also an "adjunct scholar" at the right-wing think tank the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cato_Institute" title="reference on Cato Institute" target="self">Cato Institute</a> and specializes in "global warming alarmism." IER is a non-profit group focused on global energy markets that pushes for deregulation, advances climate change denial, and attempts to discredit renewable energy sources. The group's 2010 IRS 990 form said that its focus was narrowed in on "impediments to domestic energy production, including government restrictions on access, burdensome regulations, and the favoritism of energy sources that are unsustainable in the marketplace."

The PR Bus of AEA and Koch's AFPIER <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=115" title="reference on received" target="blank">received</a> some $307,000 from Exxon Mobil between 2003 and 2007, according to the publicly traded company's "Corporate Giving Reports." IER also received a total of $235,000 from Koch Family foundations between 1997-2010, according to a <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/institute-for-energy-research/?utma=1.1699501272.1343492602.1343492602.1344377276.2&utmb=1.1.10.1344377276&utmc=1&utmx=-&utmz=1.1344377276.2.2.utmcsr=sourcewatch.org%7Cutmccn=%28referral%29%7Cutmcmd=referral%7Cutmcct=/index.php&utmv=-&utmk=176160674" title="reference on Greenpeace report" target="blank">Greenpeace report</a>. Koch Industries, an ALEC member, also profits from the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/02/436669/how-the-kochs-are-fracking-america/" title="reference on expansion" target="_blank">expansion</a> of fracking. Unlike Exxon, because Koch is not a publicly-traded company, any corporate donations to groups like IER, AEA, or AFP are not publicly disclosed.

IER is a "partner" organization of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Energy_Alliance" title="reference on American Energy Alliance" target="self">American Energy Alliance</a>, a 501(c)4 organization which calls itself the "grassroots arm" of IER. Thomas Pyle is president of both organizations, and is a former lobbyist for Koch Industries and former energy policy aide for former House Majority Leader <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Thomas_D.DeLay" title="reference on Thomas D. DeLay" target="self">Thomas D. DeLay</a>, who resigned from the leadership following his indictment on conspiracy charges. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wayne_Gable" title="reference on Wayne Gable" target="self">Wayne Gable</a>, also a former lobbyist for Koch Industries and former president for two of the Koch Family foundations, is on the board of both IER and AEA.

In 2011 IER and AEA launched "<a href="http://www.energyforamerica.org/" title="reference on Energy for America" target="blank">Energy for America</a>" as a joint initiative with a laser point in on fracking, with an aim to "educate" the public on the practice. In October 2011, AEA and IER, in partnership with Koch Industries' astroturf group <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="reference on Americans for Prosperity" target="self">Americans for Prosperity</a>, started a "Energy for America" <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/10/18/346518/kochs-afp-starts-big-oil-bus-tour/" title="reference on bus tour" target="_blank">bus tour</a> to encourage the expansion of domestic exploration of oil, gas and coal, targeting U.S. Senate battleground states for the upcoming 2012 elections.

Additionally, <a href="http://www.bhfs.com/" title="reference on Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck" target="blank">Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck</a> is one of the three chairs of the ALEC <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Energy,Environment,and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="reference on Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force" target="self">Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force</a>. One of its clients is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=LNG_Terminals" title="reference on Freeport LNG" target="blank">Freeport LNG</a>, which owns and operates one of the first liquefied natural gas import terminals built in the United States. According to the law firm's <a href="http://www.bhfs.com/Practices/CaseStudies/ShiftingGearsforFreeportLNGsChangingNaturalGasMarket" title="reference on website" target="blank">website</a>, "For the last nine years, Brownstein has been the lead counsel in the structuring, strategy and development of the $1.2 billion receiving and regasification facility with commercial output capacity of more than 2.0 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day."

===

<div class="published" title="2012-03-30T17:15:10">March 30, 2012</div>

<h3 class="entry-title">Funders Behind New Anti-Obama Ad Blitz Stay Hidden</h3>

<div class="byline">Posted by <cite class="vcard author"><a onclick="s_objectID=" http="" www.newyorker.com="" magazine="" bios="" jane_mayer="" search="search" contributorname="Jane%20Mayer_1" this.s_oc="this.s_oc" e="e" true="true" href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/jane_mayer/search?contributorName=Jane%20Mayer" title="search site for content by Jane Mayer" rel="author">Jane Mayer</a></cite></div><div class="entry-content">

A new and highly aggressive multi-million-dollar anti-Obama ad campaign has started airing on television stations in eight key political swing states—but for now at least, the funders are staying hidden in the shadows.

The ads in question have a distinctly oily aura, which is unsurprising, perhaps since the group sponsoring them has been funded in the past by major fossil-fuel companies. The group defines itself as a non-partisan nonprofit, but exemplifies the growing role that secret money is playing in the 2012 Presidential campaign. Technically, the ads have been produced and aired by the Washington-based American Energy Alliance, a 501c-4 social-welfare organization under the Internal Revenue Service’s tax code, whose activities, under the law, have to be largely non-political. This group shares office space and personnel with a sister organization, the Institute for Energy Research, a 501c-3, whose tax status is typically reserved for charities. Its activities have to be strictly non-partisan and non-political. Both groups hide the identities of their funders. All that Benjamin Cole, director of communications for both groups would say is that the ads are funded by “individuals, foundations, and corporations.”

Cole says that the $3.6 million ad campaign “is not election related at all. We’re not seeking to influence the elections.” It is, he says, only a coincidence that most of the eight states that the ads will air in—Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia—are considered hotly contested swing states that could decide the outcome of the election. He says these states were chosen only because they are all places where energy is an issue. He explained, for instance, that offshore oil drilling is an issue in Virginia, and the high price of gasoline is an issue in Florida—a definition that would, it seems, allow for the group to chose any state.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204781804577267690888223980.html...Wall Street Journal have protested that this is specious.

So who is behind the advertising campaign to push the line that Obama is to blame? Bill Burton, senior strategist at the pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA believes that it comes from a familiar source. “<a onclick="s_objectID=" http="" www.newyorker.com="" reporting="" fa_fact_mayer_1="fa_fact_mayer_1" return="" this.s_oc="this.s_oc" e="e" true="true" href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer">The Koch brothers</a> and other oil barons are using profits from high gas prices to fund false political attacks benefitting Governor Romney,” he says.

Politico, that the Koch brothers, whose privately owned conglomerate, Koch Industries, is a major domestic-oil refiner, have steered funds to both the American Energy Alliance and the Institute for Energy Research. A spokesperson at Koch Industries did not respond to questions on the Kochs’ ties to the groups.

The ties, though, appear to be extensive. In the past, according to National Public Radio, the Energy Research Institute has received funds from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is controlled by the Kochs, as well as from Exxon Mobil and other energy companies.

The president of the American Energy Alliance, Thomas Pyle, formerly worked for Koch Industries, according to the watchdog group OpenSecrets.org. The records show that he also worked as an outside lobbyist for the Kochs’ private interests in Washington, first at Perceptum Consulting, and later at the Rhoads Group. According to Politico’s Ken Vogel, Pyle has “regularly attended” semi-annual political meetings run by the Kochs, including one this past winter in Indian Well, California, where the Kochs raised over a hundred and fifty million dollars to be directed to groups working against the Democrats in the 2012 general election. At a previous such political summit, Charles Koch

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0911/Koch_Hussein_Obama.html... the 2012 election as “the mother of all wars.”

Pyle has a colorful political résumé as well. He worked as a top aide to Tom DeLay, the former Republican Majority Leader of the House of Representatives who was later convicted of money laundering, and he was identified by the Washington Post as a participant in the so-called “Brooks Brothers Riot,” in which Republican operatives from Washington stormed vote-counters in Florida during the hotly contested 2000 Bush v. Gore Presidential election. (“Tom Pyle is not running from his record at all,” Cole said, when asked about these ties. “It’s regrettable that the President is running from his.”)

Journal aired six million dollars’ worth of <a onclick="s_objectID=" http="" youtu.be="" k5d2aqxx0s_1="k5d2aqxx0s_1" return="" this.s_oc="this.s_oc" e="e" true="true" href="http://youtu.be/8k5d2aQXX0s" target="_blank">ads criticizing the President’s handling</a> of Solyndra, the solar-energy firm that went bankrupt after receiving grants from the government. Those ads, interestingly, ran in many of the same key Presidential-battleground states earmarked for the new anti-Obama gas ads—specifically Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

So, whose money is behind the American Energy Alliance? The most striking feature of the 2012 Presidential campaign is that, at least for now, neither viewers of the ads, nor voters, nor virtually anyone else can tell.

</div>

Read more <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/03/funders-behind-new-antiobama-ad-blitz.html#ixzz1rSpUvkYv">http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/03/funders-behind-new-antiobama-ad-blitz.html#ixzz1rSpUvkYv</a>

</div>

===

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, whose members include <a topic_url="http://topics.bloomberg.com/peabody-energy-corp/" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BTU:US" density="sparse" title="Get Quote" ticker="BTU:US" class="web_ticker">Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU)</a> in <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/st.-louis/" density="full">St. Louis</a> and <a topic_url="http://topics.bloomberg.com/southern-co/" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SO:US" density="full" title="Get Quote" ticker="SO:US" class="web_ticker">Southern Co. (SO)</a> in Atlanta, is trying to reach voters with its campaign to promote coal and warn about the economic impact of the EPA’s rules.

<h2>Earnhardt Sponsorship</h2>

Last month it announced it would sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team. An 18-wheel, mobile classroom will also be featured at NASCAR events to showcase the benefits of the <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/fossil-fuel/" density="full">fossil fuel</a>, said Miller, the group’s spokeswoman, in an interview.

Meanwhile, the American Energy Alliance, which spent $3.6 million on a campaign targeting Obama on gasoline prices, produced a 4 1/2 minute long YouTube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAglE5gfmYQ" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="full">video</a> describing the economic risks to Craig, <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/colorado/" density="full">Colorado</a>, presented by state and federal policies that would limit coal use.

Coal’s complaints play into the Republican narrative that Obama administration regulations are hurting the economy.  bloomberg

BTU Tax

In 1993 Burson-Marsteller led a $1.8 million campaign to

defeat a proposed tax on fossil fuels. President

Clinton’s BTU Tax was the most ambitious measure to

combat climate change yet proposed by an American

government. The BTU Tax was to be levied on fossil

fuels, specifically on the heat generating capacity of

fossil fuels – a BTU (British Thermal unit) is a measure

of how much heat will be released by a given mass of

fuel. The tax would have added 25 cents to the price of

a gallon of petrol.

The tax was at the centre of Clinton’s plans to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions, which he aimed to reduce to

1990 levels by 2000.

Big business was unhappy with the plans however. The

National Association of Manufacturers (a sponsor of the

Global Climate Coalition), the American Petroleum

Institute, over 1,600 companies, large and small, and

farmers organised themselves to create the American

Energy Alliance (AEA), specifically to derail the BTU

tax[37].

The AEA hired B-M to orchestrate the campaign. Deploying

around 45 staff in 23 states, B-M organised a ‘grass

roots’ letter writing and phone-in campaign. They placed

anti-BTU articles and editorials in the press,

commissioned sceptical economists to write reports and

obtained media access for businessmen to express their

views. Naturally they also lobbied against the Tax in

Washington D.C.[38]

Congressional support for the BTU tax quickly withered

away and Clinton’s plan was defeated. Congress voted for

the tax to be kept below the five cents level. Treasury

Secretary Lloyd-Bentsen described the campaign as “one

of the most sophisticated jobs I've seen by lobbyists in

a long time.”

===

possible dupl:

oddly text invisible in webbrain?

===

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/the-koch-brothers-are-sti_b_4396033.html

;">So who signed the AFP letter? About half of the signatories are local tea party affiliates and anti-wind NIMBY groups of indeterminate size and funding. The other half are, for the most part, relatively obscure national groups, but there are a few that have attracted attention over the years for their contrarian views on climate science and renewable energy. Like AFP, those groups are awash in petrodollars. The American Energy Alliance (and its parent, the Institute for Energy Research), Competitive Enterprise Institute, Freedom Works, Frontiers of Freedom and Heritage Action (and its parent, the Heritage Foundation) collectively have received millions of dollars from Koch family foundations, ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's premier trade association.

The Institute for Energy Research's Questionable Research

On December 3, the Institute for Energy Research and its political arm, the American Energy Alliance, sponsored what they dubbed the "wind welfare" summit in Washington, D.C., featuring IER founder and CEO Robert Bradley Jr., a Koch network veteran. AEA announced it would spend $40,000 on print and digital ads calling for an end to the PTC and is flying in anti-PTC advocates for meetings on Capitol Hill.

Bradley presumably highlighted the findings of a report IER released the day before claiming that a small number of states with wind resources -- Iowa, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas -- are reaping the benefits of the PTC while 30 states and the District of Columbia are "losing millions" to fund it.

The report's findings, however, don't hold up to scrutiny. Mike Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, pointed out in a recent blog that IER ignored the fact that a number of the states it identified as "net payers" are home to wind industry manufacturing facilities. There are 62 companies in Ohio making turbine components, for example, 40 in Michigan and 21 in California. Jacobs also discovered that IER downplayed the fact that "the PTC benefits consumers where wind-generated electricity adds to the supply and lowers the price of electricity, landowners who receive lease payments from the wind turbines, and local communities that collect tax payments on installed wind farms."

Jeff Spross, blogging on the Center for American Progress' ThinkProgress website, alsochided IER, pointing out that most industries are not equally distributed across the country. "The oil and gas industries, for instance, benefit from a wealth of federal tax carve-outs," he wrote, "but the economic activity they generate is concentrated in just a few key states."

In other words, it's disingenuous to single out the wind industry....

==

a front for front? IER?

===

The Center for Public Integrity used 990s obtained by CRP as it looked into the American Energy Alliance's claim that the $1.3 million it spent on ads in the 2012 elections were not actually political. In another rundown of new filings, CPI also cited tax documents and data from CRP.  :

Swing state voters in Virginia and Ohio last fall were bombarded with television advertisements encouraging them to "stand with coal" and "vote no on Obama's failing energy policy."

But the sponsor of these ads — a pro-business nonprofit advocacy group called the American Energy Alliance — says the messages weren’t designed to aid Republican Mitt Romney in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama.

In a new tax return filed Friday and first obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics, the American Energy Alliance, led by former Koch Industries lobbyist Thomas Pyle, told the Internal Revenue Service that it did not "engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office" last year.

The group made an even more explicit pledge to be nonpartisan when it applied for tax-exempt status in 2008, telling the IRS that it had "no interest in supporting the agenda or any particular political party or political candidate."

While it acknowledged “the possibility that some of AEA's publications and communications may be considered ‘political,’” the group asserted that it was a “nonpartisan policy-oriented organization,” not a “‘political’ organization.”

The new tax documents also show that American Energy Alliance spent more than $5 million on "media and advertising," with vendor Mentzer Media, a media buying firm that works primarily with Republicans, receiving $3.9 million of that amount.

The “stand with coal” ads cost at least $1.36 million, according to disclosures the American Energy Alliance filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Because these broadcast ads came within 60 days of the November election and mentioned the president, the American Energy Alliance was required to report the spots to the FEC as “electioneering communications” — a special type of issue-based advertising that comes with enhanced disclosure requirements.

The group also engaged in a host of other pre-election activities that often included battleground presidential states and attacked Obama.

Marcus Owens, an attorney who previously headed the IRS’ tax-exempt division, said the American Energy Alliance’s new filing “certainly raises a red flag.”

“It’s a politically active organization,” he said, adding that the pre-election advertisements were veiled in what “sounds like a lobbying message on its face.”

Benjamin Cole, a spokesman for the American Energy Alliance, rejected accusations that his group behaved improperly.

Cole told the Center for Public Integrity that the ads were “designed to inform the American public about President Obama's energy policies… not his re-election efforts.”

“We could just as easily run those same ads today,” Cole continued, adding that all of the group’s ads are vetted by lawyers to “ensure that nothing we do runs afoul of federal election or tax laws.”

One element of the new IRS documents that’s for sure: The American Energy Alliance’s footprint has grown substantially. In all, the American Energy Alliance spent $7 million last year.

That's a nearly seven times what it spent in 2010 — and more than 300 percent above the roughly $1.7 million it spent during its inaugural year in 2008, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of IRS records.

It’s unclear who precisely has funded this surge, although the American Energy Alliance’s new annual report does show that just three donors — who each gave at least $1 million — accounted for three-fourths of the American Energy Alliance’s total $7.3 million haul last year.

===

Fri, 2010-05-28

Brad Johnson over at The WONK ROOM reports:

The American Energy Alliance (AEA), a new polluter front group, is touring the nation to smear President Barack Obama’s clean energy reform agenda. Employees riding the “American Energy Express” bus are spreading the conservative lies that the American Clean Energy and Security Act will “cripple our sluggish economy.” AEA is the 501 c(4) offshoot of the Institute for Energy Research, a right-wing oil-industry think tank run by Robert Bradley, a former speechwriter for Kenneth Lay. E&E News reports that AEA’s “Energy Town Hall” bus tour pictures workers in hard hats:

The American Energy Alliance, which is affiliated with the conservative Institute for Energy Research, has begun a four-week bus tour to county fairs, sporting events and public meetings in several coal-reliant states. Representatives of the group will travel in a large blue bus carrying the slogan “Stop the National Energy Tax, Save American Jobs” and a picture of workers in hard hats. They will cross Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia. Yesterday, AEA officials participated in a rally with another group, Americans for Prosperity, in Zanesville, Ohio; a day earlier, they visited a county fair in western Pennsylvania.In fact, by attacking legislation that addresses climate change and our national dependence on fossil fuels, AEA is preventing a clean-energy economic boom. Laughably, AEA claims it has “no ties to any political party“:

American Energy Alliance staffers Kevin Kennedy, Patrick Creighton, and Laura Henderson on tour in Pennsylvania. All are former House GOP staff.

AEA may be telling the truth that it has “no interest in supporting the agenda of any particular political party” — its only interest seems to be blocking progressive reform by spreading lies and distortions. However, AEA is tightly connected to the Republican Party and right-wing oil interests. In fact, all of its employees are former House Republican staffers:

Thomas J. Pyle, AEA President, Is A Oil Lobbyist And DeLay Operative. Before joining the Institute for Energy Research and the American Energy Alliance, Pyle worked as a lobbyist for the right-wing oil giant Koch Industries, first in-house starting in 2001, and then at the Rhoads Group. In 2008 Pyle became a lobbyist for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. Previously, Pyle served as policy analyst for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives and as staff director for the GOP Congressional Western Caucus. Pyle started as a legislative assistant for radical anti-environmentalists Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA). [Institute for Energy Research, Center for Public Integrity]

Patrick Creighton, AEA Communications Director, Worked For Bush And Pennsylvania Republicans. Patrick Creighton was the special assistant to Samuel T. Mok, the chief financial officer at the Department of Labor from 2004 to 2006. He then worked as a spokesman for oil and natural gas advocate Rep. John Peterson (R-PA) from 2006 to 2009, worked to elect Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), then joined Thompson’s office until May 2009. [Institute for Energy Research, Legistorm]

Kevin Kennedy, AEA Federal Affairs Director, Promoted Alaska Drilling Under Don Young. After graduating from Union College in 2004, Kevin Kennedy worked for the Astroturf organization Arctic Power, which advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In 2007, Kennedy became a legislative assistant for the corrupt Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and the House Committee on Natural Resources. He joined the Institute for Energy Research and American Energy Alliance in 2009. [Institute for Energy Research]

Laura Henderson, AEA Spokesperson, Served Shelby, Dole, And Tiberi. Laura Henderson was a former press secretary for offshore drilling advocate Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) from 2005-2009. Previously, she worked for former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH). [Institute for Energy Research]

Daniel R. Simmons, AEA State Affairs Director, Is A Koch-Funded GOP Staffer. Simmons was the Director of the Natural Resources Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing network funded by Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, and other corporate and right-wing organizations. Previously, Simmons was a Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, also funded by Koch. From 2001 to 2005, Simmons served on the staff of Rep. George Nethercutt (R-WA) on the House Natural Resources Committee. Simmons holds a B.A. in Economics from Utah State University and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, also supported by Koch Industries. [Institute for Energy Research, Legistorm]

Furthermore, AEA’s EnergyTownHall.org website is run by yet another former GOP House staffer:

GOP.gov Webmaster Nathan Imperiale Runs EnergyTownHall.Org.AEA’s EnergyTownHall.org was designed by NJI Media Group, part of Endeavour Global Strategies. Endeavour’s head, Sean Spicer, is a long-time GOP operative, including communications work for the House Republican Conference and the Bush White House. NJI Media Group’s president, Nathan Imperiale, served as Director of New Media for the House Republican Conference, building its GOP.gov website. [Twitter,2/13/09; Endeavour Global Strategies]

AEA’s “American Energy Express” joins a field crowded by conservative oil and coal propaganda — the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity’s “Factuality” bus tour, the American Petroleum Institute’s “Energy Citizens” oil rallies, and the Americans For Prosperity “Hot Air” balloon tour.

Update At Free Advice, Institute for Energy Research economist Bob Murphy writes that Paul Krugman doesn't understand tea party protesters because he doesn't care about checks on government power like they do, and continues:

So, by symmetry, I think people on "our side" should realize that the great masses of Americans who are for health care reform and climate legislation (and it pains me to not put scare quotes around those phrases) aren't actually closet socialists who want to bring America to its knees.

By Brad Johnson at The WONK ROOM.

==

Conservative group launches broad anti-carbon tax campaign

By Zack Colman - 07/16/13

A conservative energy group is rolling out a multi-pronged push ahead of the August congressional recess that aims to put the carbon tax in its deathbed.

“We’re hoping to put the final nail in the coffin on the carbon tax. The proposal should be dead on arrival by the time lawmakers come back from August recess,” Benjamin Cole, a spokesman with the Institute for Energy Research and its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance, told The Hill in an interview detailing the plan.

The effort includes a new poll of American opinion on a carbon tax and an advertising campaign centered on five House members, among other elements.

As early as Thursday, AEA will launch a two-week radio advertising campaign that targets five House lawmakers — four Democrats and one Republican.

The ad blitz, which will cost between $120,000 and $150,000, targets Democratic Reps. Bill Owens (N.Y.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Patrick Murphy (Fla.) and William Enyart (Ill.), along with GOP Rep. Chris Smith (N.J.).

AEA chose to focus on members who have been “soft on the carbon tax issue” and reside in “marginal districts,” Cole said.

“We obviously are ones to apply pressure in any way we can,” he said.

The timing of the IER and AEA operation is designed to get energy issues on the agenda when lawmakers meet with voters in their congressional districts, Cole said

Cole compared the upcoming recess to the summer of 2010, when the House had recently passed ObamaCare, the national healthcare law.

He said the climate change plan Obama unveiled last month — which relies on a suite of executive actions that industry, Republicans and coal-state Democrats say will slow the economy — will draw fire from voters across the country.

“We know that there’s going to be town halls that congressmen go back to their districts to hear from their constituents. We want to make sure that energy is on the plate,” he said.

The effort will attempt to blunt any possible momentum for a carbon tax, Cole said.

Of that, there appears to be little.

Taxing carbon emissions has support from some environmentalists, as well as a collection of conservative economists and advocates who say it should be coupled with lower personal tax rates. But the idea has little political traction.

Carbon tax proposals are a non-starter in the GOP-controlled House. And Republicans combined a bloc of centrist Democrats threaten to thwart a carbon tax in the Senate. On top of all that, the White House has said it won’t pursue a carbon tax

The concept has fueled intense opposition from the right

The IER and AEA campaign has the support of several conservative outfits, including Americans for Tax Reform, FreedomWorks and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The first piece of the rollout is an IER-commissioned poll of 800 registered voters conducted last week by The Tarrance Group that says Americans reject the idea of a carbon tax

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they oppose a carbon tax “paid by businesses of all sizes,” compared with 35 percent of those who favored the concept