alford nbcc bak

main lost format

see main sponsor launder bogus study eg CRA

see api explore offshore renta

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he's fore-runner of energy poverty; his niche is ~ EJ?

someone mandy g? ref in oversight?

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oreskes:

A third way the industry has promoted disinformation is through their trade associations. In the

early 1990s, the Western Fuels Association ran a media campaign across the country designed to

undermine public support for climate action by promoting the message that it would be wasteful to

spend money solving a problem that perhaps did not actually exist (Appendix 16). These trade

associations include the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the American Petroleum

Institute (API), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Black Chamber of Commerce

(NBCC), and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

---

PP 6 26 Washington, DC
Tax-exempt since July 2021
EIN: 35-1889294

2021

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Revenue

$568,294

Expenses

$569,777

Net Income

-$1,483

Net Assets

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$568,294	100%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$0
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$0
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$0

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$427,655	75.1%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$0

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$0
Total Liabilities	$0
Net Assets	$0

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Harry C Alford (Ceo)	$249,858	$0	$0
Kay Debow (Vice President)	$177,797	$0	$0
Arnold Baker (Director)	$0	$0	$0
J Alexander Martin (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Fred Jordan (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Courtney Reynolds (Secretary)	$0	$0	$0
Keymanna Paulas (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Larry Ivory (Chairman)	$0	$0	$0
John Harmon (Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0

View fewer people

Document Links

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Filed on Oct. 17, 2022

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

601 Pennsylvania Ave NW - Suite 900 - SouthBuilding

Washington DC, 20004

+(202) 220-3060

info@nationalbcc.org

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Contact EEIA 601 Pennsylvania Ave NW Suite 900 Washington, DC 20004 (202) 870-7715 info@eeia.org Comments, Questions or Feedback? Please enter your contact information and message below.----

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pvt intel sec police?! blk owned? https://www.sullivancove.com/services/law-enforcement/

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API wants to highlight Black and Hispanic participation.

The minority groups in the coalition include the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce, the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the North Carolina Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce, and the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, plus one minority religious organization, the Hispanic Pastors Association.

Florida:

In Florida, The Palm Beach Post and the Tallahassee Democrat published a pro-drilling op-ed written by Julio Fuentes, president and CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The Tampa Bay Times published a like-minded op-ed co-authored by Miriam Ramirez, a former member of Puerto Rico’s Senate and a co-chair of Explore Offshore Florida, a state affiliate of API's national Explore Offshore coalition.

Fuentes and Ramirez and her co-authors took figures from API’s one-pager about the benefits of drilling in Florida’s waters. Fuentes wrote (emphasis added):

Continued offshore development would put more than 56,000 Floridians to work and add $4.5 billion per year to our economy.

API's one-pager says (emphasis added):

Employment in Florida due to spending by the Eastern Gulf offshore oil and natural gas industry is projected to reach over 56,000 jobs.

…

Contributions to Florida’s state economy due to spending on Eastern Gulf [Outer Continental Shelf] oil and natural gas exploration and development activities could be nearly$4.5 billion per yearby the end of the forecast period.

Ramirez and her co-authors wrote (emphasis added):

Economic studies show that the industry’s spending would bring Florida $1.3 billion per year in government revenue within 20 years of opening up the area for oil and natural gas development.

API's one-pager says (emphasis added):

Florida could see a 37.5% share of the Eastern Coast bonuses, rents and royalties generated which are projected to reach $1.3 billion per year within 20 years.

The Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which Fuentes runs, receives support from Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light, two large utilities that are building natural **gas-fired plantsin Florida. The chamber and the two utilities have backed anti-environment campaigns in the past. In 2016, the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce joined Duke, Florida Power & Light, and other power companies in supportingAmendment 1, a deceptive, utility-backed ballot measure designed to restrict consumer access to rooftop solar power in Florida. The Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce also receives support from Florida-based, third-party energy supplier Liberty Power, a company that recently paid a settlement to New York state for engaging in deceptive practices and is the subject of a cease-and-desist complaint filed by Connecticut’s Office of Consumer Counsel for allegedly deceiving consumers.

The other Florida minority group that's part of API's Explore Offshore alliance, the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce,has fossil fuel ties as well. It is closely affiliated with the National Black Chamber of Commerce,which has received extensive funding from fossil fuel interests including ExxonMobil and Koch Industries.

The National Black Chamber notoriously led minority opposition to the EPA's Clean Power Plan, which would limit pollution from power plants. Eugene Franklin, president of the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce, served on the board of directors of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Both the Florida chamber and the national chamber supported the pro-utility Amendment 1 in 2016.

South Carolina:

In South Carolina, The Post and Courier and The Greenville Newspublished a pro-drilling op-ed by Stephen Gilchrist, chair of the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerceand chair of Explore Offshore SC, the South Carolina branch of API's Explore Offshore coalition. Gilchrist also apparently relied on API statistics in his op-ed, writing (emphasis added):....

---

ref 6/15 2x?

https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-mail/national-black-chamber-commerce-joins-oil-industrys-op-ed-campaign-against-epa-climate

Like Americans for Prosperity, the Beacon Hill Institute, and the State Policy Network before it, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) is the latest oil industry front group to run a deceptive op-ed campaign against the EPA's climate change plan, with NBCC president Harry C. Alford alleging in newspapers across the country that the Clean Power Plan will impose “economic hardship” on blacks and Hispanics. None of these newspapers disclosed that the NBCC has received $1 million from the ExxonMobil Foundation, and the op-eds themselves rely on climate science denial and thoroughly debunked industry-linked studies in an attempt to dismiss the financial and health benefits the Clean Power Plan will provide to black and Hispanic communities.

Newspapers Publish NBCC Op-Eds Attacking EPA Climate Plan Without Disclosing NBCC's Oil Industry Funding

Seven Newspapers Have Published Op-Eds Attacking EPA's Clean Power Plan By National Black Chamber Of Commerce President.Nearly identical op-eds written by Harry C. Alford, president and CEO of NBCC, have been published in seven newspapers in Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and West Virginia. In the op-eds, Alford claims that the EPA's Clean Power Plan -- which will place the first-ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants -- will impose an “economic hardship” on minority communities. Several of the papers published headlines for the op-ed that cast the EPA against minorities; a typical example was the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's headline: “The EPA vs. Pennsylvania's minorities.” The Des Moines Register*, [6/23/15; *The Buffalo News, 6/24/15; Tulsa World, 6/22/15; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 6/24/15; The Santa Fe New Mexican, 6/22/15; Centre Daily Times, 6/22/15; Charleston Daily Mail, 6/22/15]

Alford Touted Recent NBCC Study To Claim EPA Plan Will Harm Hispanics And Blacks.In his op-eds, Alford extensively cites “a new study commissioned by my organization, the National Black Chamber of Commerce,” and summarizes the results by saying the Clean Power Plan “will leave minority communities with disproportionately fewer jobs, lower incomes and higher poverty than whites.” NBCC, accessed [6/25/15; The Des Moines Register, 6/23/15]

What The Newspapers Failed To Disclose: NBCC Has Received $1 Million From ExxonMobil Foundation.In each newspaper that ran an op-ed, Alford was identified only as “the president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.” While NBCC does not list its funders or corporate members on its website, the ExxonMobil Foundation's annual reports show that the oil giant has provided funding for NBCC each year since 2003. The ExxonMobil Foundation gave NBCC $75,000 in 2014, $125,000 in 2013, and a total of $1 million since 2003. ExxonMobil is one of the world's largest producers of industrial carbon emissions and has a vested interest in opposing limits on carbon pollution as a way of addressing climate change. ExxonMobil Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments, [2014;2013; ExxonSecrets.org, accessed 6/25/15; Union of Concerned Scientists, accessed 6/25/15]

NBCC Study Relied On Thoroughly Debunked Studies Tied To Fossil Fuel Industry

Union Of Concerned Scientists: NBCC Study Relies On Studies Published Before Release Of CPP Or Funded By Industry Opponents.As the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has noted, the NBCC study “explicitly says” that it depends on “the findings of seven other studies.” According to UCS, those seven studies include (emphasis original):

Three studies that came out before the EPA published the draft CPP, meaning they don't actually study the CPP as proposed--even though that's the supposed focus of the NBCC/MISI analysis

One that was just (self-described) “preliminary analysis” from the United Mine Workers of America, a group you'd be hard-pressed to characterize as an unbiased voice in this debate

Three other studies funded by other fossil fuel interests who oppose the Clean Power Plan UCS, [6/12/15]

NBCC Study Relied On Debunked Industry-Linked Studies By U.S. Chamber Of Commerce And NERA Economic Consulting.The NBCC study, which was prepared by Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI), states on page 21: “To estimate the likely effects of the EPA related regulations on low income groups and minorities, we used the findings of studies conducted in recent years of the impacts of carbon restrictions on the U.S. economy, jobs, and energy markets.” Among the studies the NBCC “utilized” were two fossil fuel industry-linked studies that have been thoroughly debunked by media fact-checkers: An IHS study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a study by NERA Economic Consulting. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors includes officials from ConocoPhillips, Alliance Resource Partners, CONSOL Energy, and Southern Company, and many of Chamber's largest donors are fossil fuel companies. The NERA study was commissioned by fossil fuel interests that include the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE), the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, and the National Mining Association. NBCC, [June 2015; U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 5/28/14; U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors, accessed 6/25/15; Center for Public Integrity, 1/16/14; NERA Economic Consulting, October 2014]

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Study Was Deemed “False” By Media Fact-Checkers. PolitiFact noted that the Chamber acknowledged its “estimates are not based on the [EPA] goals as announced,” and determined that the IHS/Chamber numbers were “false.” The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog similarly noted that the Chamber had admitted its figures “do not apply at all to the EPA rule as written,” and awarded “four Pinocchios” to Republican officials who cited the IHS/Chamber study to criticize the EPA. Politifact, [**6/2/14; The Washington Post, 6/3/14]

TheWashington Post's Fact Checker: It Is “Misleading” To Cite The NERA Study's Figures.When Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) cited the NERA study to claim that the Clean Power Plan “will result in double-digit electricity prices in 43 states,” The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog responded that Inhofe's claim was “misleading” because the study's numbers “are on the high end of a range of cost impacts, which are mere projections at this point.” The Fact Checker noted that supporters of the Clean Power Plan say the NERA study “inflates the cost of energy efficiency programs” and “ignores long-term benefits of energy efficiency programs that ultimately could drive actual energy bills down.” It concluded: “A lot of the costs can be driven down by state, local and regional policymakers, and some of them already are working with the EPA to figure out cost-effective plans.” *The Washington Post*, [**3/13/15]

UCS: NERA “Falsely Inflates Costs.”The Union of Concerned Scientists stated that the NERA study “falsely inflates the cost” of the Clean Power Plan by “denying energy efficiency's proven ability to save consumers money.” UCS went on to explain that the NERA study uses “a 2012 study that has been repeatedly discredited” to justify its inflated cost estimates. Union of Concerned Scientists, [**11/14/14]

NBCC Study Also Relied On Climate Science Denial To Dismiss The Social Cost Of Carbon

NBCC Study Also Cited Paper Claiming Benefits Of Carbon Pollution Far Outweigh Costs.Page 92 of the NBCC study states that MISI derived its estimates of the Clean Power Plan's “impacts on incomes and jobs” by using “the proprietary MISI model,” which is based on a January 2014 MISI paper prepared for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity titled, “The Social Costs of Carbon? No, the Social Benefits of Carbon.” That paper, which asserted that “CO2 is the basis of life on Earth” and has “enabled the high quality of life currently taken for granted,” sought to challenge the social cost of carbon (SCC), which measures the economic damages associated with increased carbon dioxide emissions and was used by the EPA to estimate the Clean Power Plan's climate-related benefits. While the EPA -- with input from economic experts and other federal agencies -- has estimated that the SCC is approximately $40 per metric ton of carbon pollution, the MISI/ACCCE paper claimed that “the current benefits [of CO2] clearly outweigh any hypothesized costs by, literally, orders of magnitude: The benefit-cost (B-C) ratios range up to more than 200-to-1.” NBCC, [June 2015; MISI/ACCCE, January 2014; EPA Fact Sheet: Social Cost of Carbon, November 2013]

UCS: MISI/ACCCE Paper On Social Cost Of Carbon Is “Fossil Fuel Fiction.”In a fact sheet titled, “Climate Science vs. Fossil Fuel Fiction,” the Union of Concerned Scientists noted that, contrary to the claims in the MISI/ACCCE paper, which were echoed by Peabody Energy, “numerous economists and scientists agree that over the long term the costs of carbon pollution clearly outweigh the benefits of continuing to ramp up emissions.” Union of Concerned Scientists, [March 2015]

The Guardian'sGraham Readfearn: MISI/ACCCE Paper “Relies On Climate Science Denial.”The Guardian's Graham Readfearn also critiqued the MISI/ACCCE paper shortly after it was published, writing on DeSmog blog that it is “one long misrepresentation of the impact of coal on the planet, from its effects on growing food crops to raising sea levels to fuelling risk-laden climate change.” Readfearn added:

One of the most popular debating points for climate science deniers is to tell you that carbon dioxide is simply food for plants.

The ACCCE report takes this well worn and simplistic climate science denial talking point and pushes it to its extreme. While it's true that some plants generally grow quicker when more carbon dioxide is available, this is grossly simplistic and ignores the impacts of human-caused climate change on flooding and prolonged drought. DeSmog blog, [2/6/14]

NRDC And EDF Also Criticized MISI/ACCCE Paper For Dismissing The Social Costs Of Carbon Pollution.The Natural Resource Defense Council's (NRDC) Laurie Johnson noted that the MISI/ACCCE paper is based on the false premise that energy is the “one thing” that creates societal wealth and that the paper “den[ies] that carbon pollution threatens every component of our health and economy.” And the Environmental Defense Fund's Gernot Wagner and Jeremy Proville penned an open letter responding to Dr. Roger Bezdek, the lead author of the MISI/ACCCE study, which noted in part:

[E]very ton of coal--like every barrel of oil--causes more in external damages than it adds value to GDP. The costs faced by those deciding how much fossil fuel to burn are much lower than the costs faced by society.

[...]

Your claim that what you call “social benefits” of coal dwarf the costs is wrong in theory and practice. In theory, because they are private benefits. As a matter of practice because these (private) benefits are very much included in the calculations that give us the social costs of coal. What you call out as the social benefits of coal use are already captured by these calculations. They are part of economic output.

Our indicators for GDP do a pretty good job capturing all these private benefits of economic activity. Where they fail is with the social costs. Hence the need to calculate the social cost of carbon pollution in the first place. Natural Resources Defense Council, [1/26/14; Environmental Defense Fund, 2/4/14]

NBCC Study Condemned By Minority Group Leaders

Hispanic, Black Leaders Criticized NBCC Report As “Junk Science,” “Scare Tactics,” And More.A group of Hispanic and black leaders responded to the NBCC report, criticizing its flaws and asserting that the Clean Power Plan will benefit minority communities. Van Jones, the founder of Green For All, said NBCC is pushing out “junk science and junk economics in order to try to turn communities of color against the most important clean air protections of our generation.” Adrianna Quintero, founder of Voces Verdes, said NBCC is using “inflammatory scare tactics” to mislead consumers “to go against their own best interests and support the multimillion dollar polluter industry that poisons our air and worsens climate change.” Mark Magana, founder of GreenLatinos, called the report a “sham study” that is “rife with misinformation.” And Rev. Lennox Yearwod Jr., president and CEO of Hip Hop Caucus, said the report is “full of dangerous lies promoted by the fossil fuel industry.” Voces Verdes, [6/11/15]

Clean Power Plan Will Actually Bring Health, Economic Benefits To Low-Income And Minority Communities

NRDC: Low-Income Communities In U.S. Helped By Clean Energy Shift. A recent report from the NRDC found that low-income communities in the United States face disproportionate health impacts from fossil fuel pollution, and that shifting to low carbon energy sources can lessen these impacts:

[T]he shift to clean energy offers a chance to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, while lessening the toll that dirty fossil fuels are currently wreaking on some of our most vulnerable communities.

[...]

Nationally, the Clean Power Plan's efforts to curtail carbon pollution will help prevent up to 6,600 premature deaths, 150,000 asthma attacks in children, 3,300 heart attacks, 2,800 hospital admissions, and 490,000 missed work/school days annually in the United States. A sizable impact will be felt by those with the least resources and least access to quality healthcare -- low- and fixed-income Americans; in part because low-income communities are stuck living closer to dirty power plants. NRDC, accessed [**4/29/15]

EPA Administrator McCarthy: “Communities Of Color” Are Hardest Hit By Climate Change.EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy wrote in an op-ed that “communities of color and low-income Americans are the hardest hit” by climate change and cited statistics to show why African-Americans in particular could benefit from the EPA's plan to reduce carbon pollution:

[W]hile climate change hurts everyone, communities of color and low-income Americans are the hardest hit.

[...]

Although we limit pollutants like mercury, sulfur and arsenic, there are currently no limits on carbon pollution from power plants, our nation's largest source. That's not smart, it's not safe, and President Barack Obama has determined that it needs to stop. Close to 3 out of 4 African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, and African-American children have an 80 percent higher rate of asthma and are nearly three times more likely to die from asthma than their white peers. The Root, [**7/29/14]

National Climate Assessment: New Hispanic Immigrants Are “More Vulnerable To Changes In Climate.”The 2014 National Climate Assessment stated that new Hispanic immigrants are “more vulnerable to changes in climate,” due to "[l]ow wages, unstable work, language barriers, and inadequate housing," all of which are “critical obstacles to managing climate risk.” National Climate Assessment, [**May 2014]

EPA: Clean Power Plan Benefits Will Dwarf Costs. The EPA found that by 2030, the annual cost of complying with the Clean Power Plan will be $7.3-8.8 billion, whereas its annual climate and health benefits will be worth $55 to $93 billion. EPA, accessed [**3/25/15]

EPA: Clean Power Plan Will Result In Lower Electricity Bills Due To Energy Efficiency Gains. According to the EPA, the Clean Power Plan will ultimately reduce consumers' electricity bills due to gains in energy efficiency:

States, cities, businesses and homeowners have been working for years to increase energy efficiency and reduce growth in demand for electricity. EPA projects that the Clean Power Plan will continue - and accelerate - this trend. Nationally, this means that, in 2030 when the plan is fully implemented, electricity bills would be expected to be roughly 8 percent lower than they would been without the actions in state plans. That would save Americans about $8 on an average monthly residential electricity bill, savings they wouldn't see without the states' efforts under this rule. EPA.gov, Fact Sheet, accessed [**5/1/15]

NBCC's Op-Ed Campaign Follows Similar Attacks On The Clean Power Plan From Fossil Fuel Front Groups

Americans For Prosperity State DirectorsAreRunning Op-Ed Campaign Attacking Clean Power Plan.At least 16 newspapers across the country have published nearly identical op-eds from state leaders of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which misleadingly cite statistics on electricity prices while calling for state legislatures to fight back against the Clean Power Plan. Every newspaper Media Matters reviewed except one failed to disclose the group's ties to the oil industry: AFP was founded, and continues to be largely funded, by the oil billionaire Koch brothers. *Media Matters*, [3/25/15]

Beacon Hill Institute And State Policy Network Also Seeking To Undermine EPA Climate Plan With Op-Ed Campaign.The Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) partnered with members of the State Policy Network (SPN) to jointly produce sham studies and op-eds that dramatically inflate the Clean Power Plan's projected cost without even analyzing the EPA's actual proposal. As of April 13, 11 newspapers in four states had published op-eds written mostly by executives from SPN groups or state legislators, but none of the op-eds disclosed the fossil fuel industry funding behind them. Both BHI and SPN have financial ties to the Koch brothers, and the reports themselves were funded by a group run by Richard Berman, a corporate PR executive who has solicited millions in funding from the oil and gas industry. *Media Matters*, [4/13/15]

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our favorite keynote speaker/ CRA:

https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/20090923alford.pdf

9/09 cites CRA issa rank member

civil rights laws --> job killers

waxman-markey

House Committee on Oversight and Reform

Search domain oversight.house.govhttps://oversight.house.gov › sites › democrats.oversight.house.gov › files › documents › 20090923alford.pdf

National Black Chamber of Commerce 1350 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 405, Washington DC 20036 ... Harry C. Alford President/CEO . Honorable Chairman Towns, Ranking Minority Member Issa, the National Black Chamber of ... Our study done by Charles River Associateshas been accepted by many prestigious organizations. In that study, it clearly shows ...

President/CEO Harry Alford's testimony before the ...

Search domain nationalbcc.org

https://www.nationalbcc.org › news › testimonials › 849-presidentceo-harry-alfords-testimony-before-the-committee-on-oversight-and-government-reform-scheduled-for-september-23rd-2009-69504073

Our study done by Charles River Associates has been accepted by many prestigious organizations. In that study, it clearly shows that certain geography will suffer the greatest impact from losing the estimated 3.3 million jobs as a result of this bill being enacted. Attached is a map showing a 700 mile radius around Nashville, Tennessee. This ...

http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/11/harry-alford-on-obama-priorities-this-is-not-america-video/

Committed to successful black entrepreneurship, Harry C. Alford, Jr. has been president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce since 1993.

[boxer invites to come to CA to see new jobs, condescending, it's racial, i take offense to it, a vet of this country; why don't you quote an Asian? path going to explode in the Post

Pews study, naacp resolution put in record; john grant100 bl men of atlanta (millions of jobs, support naccp; Just as in my community..." oil co CRA report: exxon mobil 100K$ for CRA he cites; inhofe wants actual resolution CRA represent broad...anyone who wants them to do work they will]

Army: must contend with some other black gp; this has to do with energy; married to vet, nothing to do with this issue; ]

{{ Black Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO Harry Alford accused Senator Boxer (D-CA) of playing race politics during an EPW Committee hearing on green jobs.

1965 boxer chair he said 1962 arrive

sd 406

naacp historic resolution put in record

john grant 100 bl men of atlanta grn jobs

cond to qute another bl man gp, it's racial, i take offense, a vet

path is going to explode in post

pew study of ca

"you're speaking on behalf of blk ppl?" study

"diversity"?

oil corps funded CRA study you quote

inhofe backs CRA, demands naacp reso put in rec b/c it does not specifically endorse this bill?

600k views

road is godawful

married to a vet

DC bethesda inhofe}}:

In this interview with Alford, he continues to boldly confront the politics of government dependency, which he believes stand opposed to the founding principles of capitalism, private property and opportunity.

Alford claims President Barack Obama is hurting black entrepreneurship everyday with entitlements and dependency.

“He’s just after votes,” Alford said of Obama. “And people who don’t know, ‘He gives me a free cell phone, I increase my food stamps.’ That’s not America. That’s not why we fought the British.”

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wa informer?

National Black Business Chamber Champion Harry C. Alford Dies

by WI Web Staff

December 15, 2021

Harry C. Alford, the president/CEO and co-founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), died Dec. 6 in the District. His wife, Kay DeBow, vice president and co-founder of the National Black Chamber, preceded him in death five months ago.

In 1993, Harry C. Alfred moved the newly-established National Black Chamber of Commerce from Indianapolis to the District. The first board chairman, Dr. Arthur Fletcher, the “Father of Affirmative Action,” had once served as assistant Secretary of Labor.

Today, the National Black Chamber serves as the largest Black business organization in the world, consisting of regional organizations of Black Chambers in the U.S., eight countries in Africa, eleven membership Chambers in the Caribbean and five Black Chambers in Central and South America. Alford also established Black Chambers in London and Paris.

In addition to coordinating global operations, Alford spoke before Congress on behalf of Black business, often several times a month. For many years, he served on the Board of Directors of the most influential Chamber in America, the United States Chamber of Commerce, in Washington, D.C.

“When President George Bush asked Harry Alford to assist him with a strategy to identify any Black-owned businesses remaining in the Hurricane Katrina impact zone and a plan for helping them survive, he selected the right man,” said Arnold Baker, president of Baker Ready Mix, LLC.

“Harry brought a fresh perspective and renewed vision that nothing was impossible and held the White House accountable for making available unfettered access to the Corps of Engineers, HUD, the Department of Commerce and DOT for the nation’s greatest rebuild.”

“Today the lessons learned and visioning processes that Harry and Kay brought to fruition are responsible for tens of billions of dollars in small business inclusion programming which are now the basis for every disaster relief program. They not only made history in New Orleans but designed the base principals for recovery programs now implemented across the globe,” Baker said.

John Harmon, who serves as the president of one of the most successful Black Chambers in New Jersey, said Alford guided him through many business initiatives. He also said it was because of his influence that he served on the NBCC Board and the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Members of the NBCC Board of Directors including Fred Jordan, NBCC’s member of San Francisco and Oakland, representing the west coast, said that the future of NBCC remains bright. Charles H. DeBow, III currently serves as executive director.

Current NBCC Board chairman and president of the Illinois State Black Chamber of Commerce, Larry Ivory, said, “Harry Alford was the Godfather of Black Chambers in the United States and from his Washington, D.C. headquarters, gave Black business a seat at the table for over 28 years. Harry and Kay’s legacy will live on as we continue moving the National Black Chamber of Commerce’s agenda forward.”

Kay DeBow Alford, Co-founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Dies at 63

July 26, 2021

In "Obituary"

Beyond The Rhetoric: Notes from the DR

December 9, 2013

In "Op-Ed"

Beyond the Rhetoric: In Defense of ALEC

April 20, 2015

In "Op-Ed"

TAGGED:Harry C. Alford, obituaries

The National Black Chamber of Commerce announced this week the death of its co-founder Kay DeBow Alford on July 19. Highly focused, efficient and determined, Kay was the linchpin of the Chamber, defining multitasking to its highest degree.

Kay, as she was affectionately known, was named Kayanne at birth on Dec. 12, 1957, to parents Charles DeBow Jr. and Aurelia Jane Stuart in Indianapolis. She seemed to be born for business leadership, coming from a family known as educators and entrepreneurs. Kay’s father, Charles DeBow Jr., was one of the first four Tuskegee Airmen, serving in World War II. Kay’s maternal family were the Stuarts, who were entrepreneurs, owning several successful businesses in the greater Indianapolis area.

A graduate of Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, she received her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She began her professional career at Colgate-Palmolive in Detroit. It was in Detroit on June 8, 1980, that Kay met husband-to-be Harry Cicero Alford Jr. After a short courtship, Kay and Harry were married on Oct. 31, 1980.

The Alfords made their home in Indianapolis. Kay pursued government work and at the height of that work she became the director of marketing for the Hoosier State Lottery in Indiana. The couple also became entrepreneurs owning several video stores and private ventures.

Through their business experiences, Kay and Harry early on realized there was a need for a national connection. When Kay DeBow Alford and her husband Harry left Indianapolis and moved to Washington, D.C., in September 1994, they had already founded the National Black Chamber of Commerce on May 23, 1993. They had begun locally to fill the void of a Black business organization by founding the Hoosier Minority Chamber of Commerce in Indianapolis which evolved into the NBCC.

The NBCC was crafted from the empowerment principles of Booker T. Washington, the business acumen of Rep. Parren Mitchell, and enforced by Arthur Fletcher, “the father of affirmative action.” Kay and Harry Alford took the business mission to new heights. The organization, comprised of chapters throughout the United States, expanded its reach internationally to France, Mexico, England, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Kenya and Ghana.

Kay coordinated and singlehandedly organized and produced the national and international conventions and conferences. She helped guide the NBCC, assuring its participation in business discussions on Capitol Hill and their interaction with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Officers and members were saddened by Kay’s death and sent along messages:

“Kay was the backbone of the National Black Chamber, the mother and driving force behind the great accomplishments of the NBCC. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her and who benefitted from her tireless drive to make the nation better for all Black business owners,” said Larry Ivory, chairman of the NBCC and president/CEO of the Illinois State Black Chamber of Commerce. “We will continue her legacy to fight for the improvement of African American communities throughout the Black Diaspora.”

John E. Harmon Sr., founder, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey (AACCNJ), remembered Kay by saying, “Kay’s words, although spoken softly, were at times, penetrating, yet nurturing and impactful. Her commitment to attaining the best for blacks was the cornerstone of her advocacy. I am grateful for the moments we shared together and her investment in my development as a Chamber Executive which has led to huge dividends for many and will never be forgotten.”

“The business community lost one of its champions with the passing of Kay DeBow Alford. Co-founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) with her husband, Harry Alford, she was the power behind the scenes of the many accomplishments of the NBCC,” said Dorothy R. Leavell, who served as a board member and previous chairman of the board of the NBCC.

As serious and fierce as she was in the business arena, she was equally invested in her family. A devoted wife to Harry Jr. of 41 years and the mother of twins, Harry III and Thomas, both successful sportsmen and businessmen. Her most recent pride was being the grandma to Tatum and Archer. Her abounding love stretched out to her brothers, Charles Henry DeBow III and William Weir DeBow; sister, Natalie Jane; nephew Jonathon C. DeBow and countless nieces and nephews.

Services will culminate with burial in Shreveport, La. Services are entrusted to the Winnfield Funeral Home in Shreveport.

---

https://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-climate-disinformation-campaign-2534087685.html

ExxonMobil’s Climate Disinformation Campaign Is Still Alive and Well

By Elliott Negin

In a recent blog post, ExxonMobil executive Suzanne McCarron reiterated her company's claim that it fully accepts the reality of climate change and that it wants to do something about it.

"I want to use this opportunity to be 100 percent clear about where we stand on climate change," she wrote. "We believe the risk of climate change is real and we are committed to being part of the solution."

So why is the company still a part of—in fact, a major part of—the problem?

An exchange between Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt during a recent oversight hearing is a case in point, providing a window into how ExxonMobil's undue influence continues to block climate action.

During the Jan. 30 hearing, which was held by the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, Sen. Cory Booker inadvertently provoked Inhofe by raising the issue of environmental justice.The New Jersey Democrat cited the threat climate change-induced flooding poses to three dozen Superfund sites in his state and asked Pruitt if he was "taking into account the environmental burdens disproportionately impacting communities of color, indigenous communities and low-income communities."

Inhofe seized the opportunity to contradict Booker, claiming that minority and low-income communities are disproportionately harmed by environmental protections, specifically citing the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, which would have dramatically reduced carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants if Pruitt hadn't repealed it.

Booker, Inhofe said, was implying that Pruitt was trying to "punish" vulnerable Americans. "I wanted to just remind you," Inhofe told the committee, "that we had a guy I remember so well, Harry Alford. He was the president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. He provided some of the most powerful testimony that I have ever heard when it comes to the effects of the Clean Power Plan and some of the other regulations … on black and Hispanic poverty, including job losses and increased energy costs.

"[Alford] was very emphatic as to who was paying the price on these," the Oklahoma Republican continued, "and I think sometimes that the previous administration forgot that there are already people out there who are paying all they can pay just to try to eat and keep their house warm."

ExxonMobil's Echo Chamber

Inhofe's source for his assertion? A discredited, ExxonMobil-funded study by an Exxon-funded advocacy group that was based on discredited studies by other ExxonMobil-funded organizations.

Inhofe rested his argument on previous congressional testimony by Harry Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), a shoestring, mom-and-pop operation that is unapologetic about taking fossil fuel industry money. "Of course we do and it is only natural," Alford wrote on NBCC's website. "The legacy of Blacks in this nation has been tied to the miraculous history of fossil fuel…. [F]ossil fuels have been our economic friend."

One of NBCC's closest economic friends is ExxonMobil, which has donated more than $1.14 million to the group since 2001.

What did the company get for that money?

In 2015, NBCC commissioned a report that claimed the Clean Power Plan would "inflict severe and disproportionate economic burdens on poor families, especially minorities."

In fact, unchecked climate change would more than likely hurt those communities most, and investments in energy efficiency under the plan would ultimately lower electricity bills across the country.

How did NBCC arrive at its upside-down assessment? The Union of Concerned Scientists took a close look at the report and found it was based on several flawed fossil fuel industry-friendly studies. Two of those bogus studies were produced by ExxonMobil grantees: theHeritageFoundation, which received $340,000 from ExxonMobil between 2007 and 2013, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which received $3 million between 2014 and 2016.

The Chamber study, which came out just days before the EPA released a draft of the Clean Power Plan, was debunked not only by the EPA, but also by PolitiFact.com and The Washington Post. Among its many faults, the Chamber study—which was co-sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute—wildly inflated the cost of the plan and failed to consider the benefits of cutting carbon emissions.

ExxonMobil Spreads its Money Around...

ref 1 BS report: 143 pp many refs and graphs]

https://www.nationalbcc.org/news/latest-news/2426-epa-rule-impoverishes-minorities

Today, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) released a study on the threat of EPA regulations to low-income groups and minorities. The study finds that EPA’s so-called “Clean Power Plan” will inflict severe and disproportionate economic burdens on poor families, especially minorities. In particular, the rule will impose the most harm on residents of seven states with the highest concentrations of Blacks and Hispanics.

“The EPA’s carbon dioxide regulation is a slap in the face to poor and minority families,” said NBCC President and CEO Harry Alford. “These communities already suffer from higher unemployment and poverty rates compared to the rest of the country, yet EPA’s regressive energy tax threatens to push minorities and low-income Americans even further into poverty.”

...

Below are key findings from the study:

EPA’s rule increases Black poverty by 23% and Hispanic poverty by 26%.
In 2035, job losses total 7 million for Blacks and nearly 12 million for Hispanics.
In 2035, Black and Hispanic median household income will be $455 and $515 less, respectively.
Compared to Whites, Blacks and Hispanics spend 20% and 90% more of their income on food, 10% and 5% more on housing, 40% more on clothing, and 50% and 10% more on utilities, respectively.
The rule will especially harm residents of seven states with the highest concentrations of Blacks and Hispanics: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Texas.
EPA’s rule harms minorities’ health by forcing tradeoffs between housing, food, and energy. Inability to pay energy bills is second only to inability to pay rent as the leading cause of homelessness.

“EPA’s apparent indifference to the plight of low-income and minority households is inexcusable,” concluded Alford. “We should pursue policies that expand opportunity for the less fortunate, not ones that further disadvantage them. The only solution is for EPA to withdraw its rule.”

Dr. Roger Bezdek, president of Management Information Services, Inc., authored the study.

To read the full study, click here. 404 -->

http://nbccnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NBCC_FinalRev1.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20160610092535/http://nbccnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NBCC_FinalRev1.pdf

:{:{}:

2015

...EPA is proposing new regulations, including guidelines to reduce CO2 emissions from existing fossil-fueled power plants. These regulations would have serious economic, employment, and energy impacts at the national level and for all states, and the impacts on low-income groups, Blacks, and Hispanics would be especially severe. The EPA rules would: 1) Significantly reduce U.S. GDP every year over the next two decades -- over $2.3 trillion; 2) Destroy millions of jobs; 3) More than double the cost of power and natural gas to over $1 trillion; 4) Require the average family to pay over $1,225 more for power and gas in 2030 than in 2012. The EPA regulations will increase Hispanic poverty by more than 26% and Black poverty by more than 23%. The energy burdens for Blacks and Hispanics will increase and large numbers of both groups will be forced into energy poverty (Figure AB-1), and Black and Hispanic household incomes will decline by increasing amounts each year (Figure AB-2). There would be increasing job losses: By 2035, cumulative job losses for Blacks will total about 7 million and for Hispanics will total 12 million. Most job losses would occur in the states in which Blacks and Hispanics are most heavily concentrated (Figure AB-3)....

concl:

We estimated the impacts of the EPA regulations on Blacks and Hispanics in the seven states where they are the most heavily concentrated: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Texas. In all states (except Georgia), the impacts on Hispanic incomes exceed the impacts on Black incomes, since there are more Hispanics than Blacks residing in these states. Further, the growth rates of the Hispanic population exceed those of Blacks in all of these states. The impacts vary widely among the states. The greatest loss of income and jobs will be experienced by Hispanics in Texas, since this state has a large and growing Hispanic population and is severely affected by the EPA regulations. In all states (except for Georgia), Hispanic job losses exceed Black job losses. The impacts vary widely among the states. While Hispanic jobs losses exceed Black job losses in all of the states except Georgia, in some states job losses for the two groups are about the same – for example, in New York and in Illinois. We estimated the increases in Hispanic and Black energy burdens in the states in 2025 and 2035 resulting from the EPA regulations and found that: • In 2025, increase the energy burden of Blacks by 16 percent and Hispanics by 19 percent • By 2035, increase the energy burden of Blacks by more than one-third and Hispanics by more than 35 percent • The energy burdens for both Blacks and Hispanics increase in each year. • For each group, the increases in energy burdens in 2035 are larger than those in 2025. • For each group, the increases in energy burdens are the largest in Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Arizona. • In Georgia, the increased energy burden is larger for Blacks than for Hispanics. • In the other six states the increased energy burden is larger for Hispanics than for Blacks. 106

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SERVICES, INC. Management Information Services, Inc. is an economic and energy research firm with expertise on a wide range of complex issues, including energy, electricity, and the environment. The MISI staff offers specializations in economics, information technology, engineering, and finance, and includes former senior officials from private industry, the federal government, and academia. Over the past three decades MISI has conducted extensive proprietary research, and since 1985 has assisted hundreds of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations and foundations, the UN, academic and research institutions, and state and federal government agencies including the White House, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Air Force, NASA, NHTSA, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the U.S. General Services Administration, and the National Academies of Science. For more information, please visit the MISI web site at www.misi-net.com.

---

ref 2

~ NBCC BS

sci am

A new study finds that the poor will be disproportionally affected by global warming, even in the U.S

By Douglas Fischer on May 29, 2009

Climate change is disproportionately affecting the poor and minorities in the United States - a "climate gap" that will grow in coming decades unless policymakers intervene, according to a University of California study.

Everyone, the researchers say, is already starting to feel the effects of a warming planet, via heat waves, increased air pollution, drought, or more intense storms. But the impacts - on health, economics, and overall quality of life - are far more acute on society's disadvantaged, the researchers found.

"Climate change does not affect everyone equally in the United States," said Rachel Morello-Frosch, associate professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley and lead author of The Climate Gap. "People of color and the poor will be hurt the most - unless elected officials and other policymakers intervene."

Watching this unfold is akin to watching a movie where disparate and seemingly unrelated storylines converge to denouement that is "decidedly tragic," the researchers wrote.

For instance, the report finds that African Americans living in Los Angeles are almost twice as likely to die as other Los Angelenos during a heat wave. Segregated in the inner city, they're more susceptible to the "heat island" effect, where temperatures are magnified by concrete and asphalt. Yet they're less likely to have access to air conditioning or cars.

Similarly, Latinos make up 77 percent of California's agricultural workforce and will likely see economic hardship as climate change reworks the state's highest-value farm products. The dairy industry brings in $3.8 billion of California's $30 billion agriculture income; grapes account for $3.2 billion. Yet climatic troubles are expected to decrease dairy production between 7 percent and 22 percent by century's end, while grapes will have trouble ripening, substantially reducing their value.

Other impacts, according to the researchers: Households in the lowest income bracket spend twice the proportion of their income on electricity than those in the highest income bracket. Any policy that increases the cost of energy will hurt the poor the most.

California industries considered heavy emitters of greenhouse gases have a workforce that is 60 percent minority. Any climate plan that fails to transition those workers to new "green energy" jobs threatens to widen the racial economic divide.

Minorities and the poor already breathe dirtier air than other Americans and are more likely to lack health insurance. As higher temperatures hasten the chemical interactions that produce smog, they're going to feel the most impact.

The findings, the researchers say, underscore the need for policymakers to consider environmental justice when addressing climate. Ignoring the climate gap, they warn, could reinforce and amplify current and future socioeconomic and racial disparities.

"As America takes steps to prevent climate change, closing the climate gap must also be a top priority," said Manuel Pastor, a co-author and director of the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at the University of Southern California's Center for Sustainable Cities. "If we protect those who are most vulnerable, we will protect all of us."

Current debate on Capitol Hill and in many statehouses favors programs that cap emissions and lower the cap over time, using permits to ensure compliance. But many of those programs propose to allocate all or some permits for free, depriving public coffers of revenue to help families living in poverty absorb the higher costs for food, water and electricity.

The researchers also found most emissions trading and fee programs are blind to the location of the source: It makes no difference to climate change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a dense urban neighborhood or an unpopulated rural area. But it can make a huge difference in public health, they noted, particularly as many urban greenhouse gas emitters also pollute the air and are located in poor neighborhoods.

"By choosing policies that shield against the very real dangers facing low-income neighborhoods and people of color," Pastor said, "we will insure that climate policy will be effective for all of us."

This article originally appeared at The Daily Climate, the climate change news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

DCI Coordinates Clean Air Act Counterattack Meeting for Exxon

More clues on DCI’s role as a coordinator for Exxon anti-regulatory campaigns, come from a useful document that was leaked to me by mail at Greenpeace. The three page document is the invitation on Heartland Institute letterhead includes the agenda and invitation list for a June 2006 meeting convened at the DCI Group Washington DC offices.

The meeting is titled “Strategic Discussion Regarding the Clean Air Act”…in other words, how to slow, stop or derail the implementation of the Clean Air Act’s health and environmental protection provisions.

The invitation was sent by Joe Bast and Sandy Liddy Bourne, the President and VP of the Heartland Institute.

The stated agenda is:

“to discuss public policy challenges related to the Clean Air Act. We are gathering approximately 50 experts from the free-market think tanks and industry to assist us in developing an action plan to address legislative concerns likely to arise this fall and next spring”

The letter details the threat of federal and state efforts to advance “National Ambient Air Quality Standards, greenhouse gas regulatory programs and new boutique formulas for biofuels”

“Expected outputs include ideas for white papers, identifying opportunities for testimony, outlining educational forums for elected officials and determining a communication strategy for media.”

The Invitation List includes a who’s who of climate deniers and many organizations who were being funded by Exxon at the time and in years prior to 2006.

ExxonMobil funding in 2006:

Heartland Institute $115,000
National Black Chamber of Commerce $50,000
National Taxpayers Union $70,000
CEI $0
George Marshall Institute $85,000
Frontiers of Freedom $180,000
Manhattan Institute $30,000
American Enterprise Institute $240,000
ALEC $86,000
Science and Env. Policy Project $0
Cato Institute $20,000
ACCF $15,000

Exxon staff Four sessions on the agenda were to be presented by ExxonMobil staff:

Walt Buchholtz a key operative in Exxon’s DC offices
Don Clarke
Lauren Kerr
Scott Nauman
Robert Nolan

Heartland Institute staff:

Joe Bast
James Taylor
Sandy Liddy Bourne
Jay Lehr

DCI Staff

Diane Miller “DCI Group, Tech Central Station”
Justin Peterson, “DCI Group Tech Central Station”
“plus DCI field directors and staff”

Competitive Enterprise Institute staff (CEI had been dropped by ExxonMobil by this point after receiving over $2 Million in funding from 1997-2005):

Myron Ebell
Chris Horner
Marlo Lewis
Steve Milloy
Fred Smith

Additional people of interest

Harry Alford, NBCC
Daniel Simmons, ALEC
Margo Thorning, ACCF
George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom
Fred Singer, SEPP
David Montgomery, CRA International

....

---

Climate Change DenialDark Money

National Black Chamber of Commerce: Fossil Funders Revealed

The National Black Chamber of Commerce has been among more meddlesome corporate climate change solutions blockers for the past two decades. They are under increasing pressure these days. The organization is small, basically Harry Alford …

By Kert Davies on August 20, 2015

van jones:

http://www.greenforall.org/african_american_hispanic_leaders_respond_to_latest_attacks_on_clean_power_plan

June 11, 2015

Contact: kristina avery

kristina@greenforall.org

African American, Hispanic Leaders Respond to Latest Attacks on Clean Power Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2015

Contact:

Kristina Avery, Green For All: (541) 914-9744, or kristina@greenforall.org

Max Karlin, Voces Verdes/Hastings Group: (202) 997-3035, or mkarlin@hastingsgroup.com

African American, Hispanic Leaders Respond to Latest Attacks on Clean Power Plan

Groups Reiterate Numerous Health and Economic Benefits for Communities of Color and Low-Income Americans

Oakland, CA – Today, a coalition of groups fired back at a National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) report misrepresenting the impacts of the Clean Power Plan. The report alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan will harm African American and Hispanic families, when in fact findings from numerous independent organizations show the plan will actually benefit these communities.

In reality, the Clean Power Plan will prevent asthma and other pollution-related illnesses, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and save families money on their utility bills. Low-income and minority Americans, who are often the hardest hit when it comes to the effects of climate change, will benefit substantially.

Recently the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) produced a report reaffirming and further outlining these benefits. The report also refutes many of the myths asserted by the NBCC, known to be funded by special interest groups seeking to preserve the bottom line for dirty energy companies.

Statement of Van Jones, Founder, Green For All:

“Dirty energy companies are using the Black Chamber to push out junk science and junk economics in order to try to turn communities of color against the most important clean air protections of our generation. Forty percent of those who live near polluting power plants are people of color, and African American kids have the highest rate of asthma in America. These guys are jeopardizing the health of thousands of black children across the country. They ought to be ashamed.”

Statement of Adrianna Quintero, Founder, Voces Verdes:

“Make no mistake, these inflammatory scare tactics by dirty energy backers are nothing more than a blatant attempt to mislead consumers to go against their own best interests and support the multimillion dollar polluter industry that poisons our air and worsens climate change. The polluters know that an overwhelming majority of Latinos want our leaders to fight climate change, so it’s no surprise that they are desperate to derail progress towards clean renewable energy through these baseless attacks. Fortunately, Latinos know the reality: our communities are ground zero for pollution and we are ready to move towards clean energy and healthier communities.”

Statement of Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome, Director of Federal Policy, WE ACT for Environmental Justice:

“Poor health costs! Polluted air from dirty energy sources makes our communities sick, resulting in unfair economic burdens on families from hospital costs to missed work days. The solution is not for the EPA to withdraw the Clean Power Plan. Instead, it’s an opportunity for the National Black Chamber of Commerce to fulfill their own mission of "economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship" by promoting an equitable Clean Power Plan and clean energy solutions that will result in a higher quality of life for all.”

Statement of Mark Magaña, Founder, GreenLatinos:

“A simple review of the public record on the Clean Power Plan makes clear that a large diversity of Latino and environmental justice communities stand in support for actions that protect our families from harmful pollution. Our groups have consistently stood up for key protections against dirty energy, which is disproportionately placed in our neighborhoods. It’s disheartening that the dirty energy industry thinks our community can be that easily fooled by a sham study paid for by polluters and distributed by a tiny subset of minority business groups that don't represent our views. This study reeks of desperation from a dying industry, whose last gasp is rife with misinformation. Our neighborhoods, our families, and our children have been suffering the negative health effects of carbon pollution for years and we are not going to be swayed by this "hail Mary" attempt to convince us that clean energy is actually bad for us. Our national coalition of Latino environmental and conservation leaders demands clean air, and equity for our communities that have suffered for too long through the most egregious of environmental injustices.”

Statement of Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President and CEO, Hip Hop Caucus:

“This report fools no one. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan will avoid up to 6,600 premature deaths and 150,000 asthma attacks in children, and for every dollar invested through the Clean Power Plan, American families will get up to $7 in health benefits. With 60% of African Americans living within 30 miles of a power plant, the Clean Power Plan will save American lives, especially the lives of Black and Brown folks. It is deeply disappointing to see the National Black Chamber of Commerce champion a report full of dangerous lies promoted by the fossil fuel industry. Opposing the Clean Power Plan threatens the health and wealth of our communities and our businesses."

Benefits of the Clean Power Plan for communities of color include:

Preventing asthma attacks and pollution-related illnesses, which disproportionately affect communities of color. One in six African American kids and one in nine Latino kids suffers from asthma. The Clean Power Plan will prevent up to 150,000 asthma attacks and 6,600 premature deaths annually by 2030, while slashing the carbon pollution from power plants fueling climate change. Additionally, the co-benefits of cutting other pollution in this plan could prevent nearly 3,300 heart attacks, 2,800 hospital admissions, and close to a half million missed work days each year, according to EPA.

Addressing climate change. Power plants account for 40 percent of our nation’s carbon pollution. In order to fight climate change, we need to dramatically reduce pollution from power plants. And climate change disproportionately affects people of color. Severe weather and storms hit communities of color first and worst. For example, African Americans living in Los Angeles are twice as likely to die in a heat wave as other residents, because they lack access to cars, shade, and air conditioning. Higher temperatures are making it more difficult and dangerous for the millions of Latinos who work outdoors in the construction and agricultural trades. Bad air days exacerbated by climate pollution force kids and the elderly to stay indoors or risk asthma or other respiratory illnesses that not only put them at risk but impact families economically both in medical bills and work days missed as a result. And when disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy strike, people with the fewest resources have a harder time preparing, escaping and recovering.

Saving families on health costs. The Clean Power Plan has public health and climate benefits estimated at $55-$95 billion per year by 2030, far outweighing the costs. From the soot and smog reductions alone, each dollar invested in the Clean Power Plan could net American families $7 in health benefits.

Saving families on energy bills. The clean power plan would save families an average of $8 a month on their residential electricity bills, according to EPA.

Creating new jobs and opportunity. While cutting carbon pollution from power plants will protect public health, it will also drive innovation in clean energy sources that will power the 21st century, growing our economy and creating jobs. According to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, the Clean Power Plan will create a net increase of 360,000 jobs by 2020.

clean power plan climate obama low-income minorities

aug 2015

Today, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) made the following statement in conjunction with the National Black Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Convention being held August 5-8th in Hollywood, Florida:

“Pollution is a problem that disproportionately affects minorities in our country. According to the NACCP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, 68 percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a power plant. This means that black communities across the country are more vulnerable to exposure from power plant emissions and carbon pollution.

“Our country is taking steps to significantly reduce the amount of air pollution emitted every day. Doing so will reduce illnesses like asthma and will keep our kids from getting sick. It’s shameful that so many industries are willing to put profits over people and oppose these efforts.

“The National Black Chamber of Commerce should take a firm stand against the misinformation being spread by these industries. I believe that we should all be on the side of families, not industry polluters. I urge the NBCC to cut ties with these groups immediately.”

Congressman Alcee L. Hastings serves as Senior Member of the House Rules Committee, Ranking Democratic Member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and Co-Chairman of the Florida Delegation.

http://alceehastings.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398461

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/17/3634581/house-takes-on-smog/

How The National Black Chamber Of Commerce’s Leader Is Harming African Americans

by Ari Phillips Mar 17, 2015 12:15 pm

Smog is getting its moment in the Congressional spotlight, and the politics are dirty.

In a House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology hearing on Tuesday morning, Republicans called upon longtime utility and fossil fuel advocates — including Harry C. Alford, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) — to push back on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed tightening of ground-level ozone levels from to between 65 and 70 parts per billion, from the current 75 parts per billion.

Alford is no stranger to Congress. In the past, he has testified that the EPA’s efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions for power plants would cause electricity prices to skyrocket. As far back as 1998 he testified that the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol would be detrimental to minority-owned small businesses. Since 1998, the NBCC has received $800,000 from ExxonMobil. It has also been funded by the tobacco industry.

But Alford’s record of actively opposing environmental policies has struck a nerve with other black leaders in America, who are condemning his relationship with polluting industries.

This testimony harms African Americans.

Dr. Michael Dorsey, the Interim Director for the Energy and Environment Program at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, sees Alford’s tactics as being far more than simply misleading — he sees them as actually being very dangerous to African American communities.

“This testimony harms African Americans,” Dorsey, who has a PhD in environmental policy from the University of Michigan, told ThinkProgress. “Alfred’s false claims about energy are a triple threat — they harm African Americans in their wallets, they harm them in their lungs, and they threaten the environments they live in. He doesn’t even represent black business, it’s criminal.”

Automobiles, power plants, factories, and refineries all produce ozone-forming pollutants, which make up smog. Elevated ozone levels put people are at risk for premature death, aggravated asthma, and difficulty breathing, according to the American Lung Association.

Alford’s remarks Tuesday parroted his past statements. He said that the proposed strengthening of ozone regulations would “shut off huge parts of country to job growth” and would lead to “loss of good health.”

In February, Alford penned an op-ed in the Hill arguing that the EPA’s proposal will shut down coal-fired power plants, which will be harmful to African Americans and African American small business owners in need of “dependable energy and predictable utility bills.”

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is directly at odds with Alford’s statements. In 2012, the NAACP released a report called “Coal Blooded” stating that of the six million Americans living near coal plants, 39 percent are people of color. NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said that “coal pollution is literally killing low-income communities and communities of color.”

Dorsey argues that what Alford is doing condemns these minority communities to “remain underneath” dirty energy and prevents them from getting the many benefits of renewable energy. Because of this, the community Alford purports to represent is actually being dramatically misrepresented by arguments “not based on any science and not based on him being a serious advocate.”

“He’s just mouthing off talking points from Edison Electric,” said Dorsey. “It’s disturbing that he would subject himself to being so manipulated.”

Dorsey’s distress extends to Congress as well.

“Not enough Democrats or Republicans want to get together and have serious conversations about serious issues,” he said. “Throwing snowballs and playing games — when we play games with these issues people lose their lives.”

A highly partisan issue, ground-level ozone regulations have done a lot to improve air quality, and lawmakers like Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), ranking Democratic member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, think they can and should be taken further.

This is not a new line of attack.

“As someone who worked in the public health field before I came to Congress, I am very sensitive to the effect that poor air quality can have on all Americans, especially the young and the poor,” Johnson told ThinkProgress. “Some of my colleagues repeatedly argue that any EPA regulation will kill jobs, decimate the industrial base, and cause major harm to our economy. This is not a new line of attack.”

Johnson said that these accusations have been made for decades about every major new environmental and consumer protection regulation, “from catalytic converters to scrubbers to seatbelts. We all know that none of those predictions are true.” She said it is actually quite the opposite: “There is much more evidence that jobs are created and the economy expands following the passage of major reforms.”

The overwhelming majority of scientists believe that the EPA should tighten ozone restrictions. In June 2014, the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) — made up of scientists, physicians, researchers and air pollution experts — unanimously recommended that the agency lower the limit of ozone pollution from its current standard.

“If I’m making a diagnosis, it’s not contingent on cost of treatment,” said Dr. Mary B. Rice, from Harvard Medical School, during the hearing. “Similarly with respect to ozone pollution, the medical and scientific community has made a clear and indisputable diagnosis that ozone is harmful to human health.”

As of July, 123 million people — 40 percent of the U.S. population — lived in areas that don’t meet the current ozone standards, primarily in urban and industrial settings. Ozone concentrations typically reach unhealthful levels when the weather is hot and sunny with little or no wind, according to the EPA. With a final EPA’s updated National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone due by October 1 by court order, March 17 is the last day for public comments. There have already been more than 51,000 submissions.

Tags

Air Pollution

Environmental Protection Agency

Harry C. Alford

National Black Chamber of Commerce

Ozone

http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/11/10/poll-shows-african-americans-support-clean-power-plan-and-climate-action-except-exxon-funded-national-black-chamber

One tactic of the fossil fuel industry’s attack on the proposed Clean Power Plan is to say it unfairly targets minority communities when in fact the opposite is true. Industry-funded groups like the National Black Chamber of Commerce are among the groups making these claims.

In the past National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) president Harry Alford dismissed climate change by quoting Stevie Wonder, saying, “When you believe in things you don't understand; you suffer. Superstition ain't the way.”

And while Alford may equate science to superstition, there is no doubt that he understands one thing very well – collecting oil industry money. The NBCC has received over $1 million from ExxonMobil alone.

A new poll released by the Natural Resources Defense Council reports the reality that 83% of African Americans support the Clean Power Plan. And 67% of African Americans say that action should be taken to reduce the threat of global warming.

Which shouldn’t be that surprising as African Americans are more likely to feel the impacts of environmental pollution and risk than other communities in America.

The 2012 report “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People” revealed that of the 6 million people living in proximity to coal-fired power plants, 39% were people of color and that seventy-eight percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant.

And research shows African Americans are nearly three times as likely as whites to be hospitalized or killed by asthma.

In addition to the findings of the new NRDC poll, leaders of major black churches recently presented over 10,000 pastors’ signatures to Congressional Black Caucus members in support of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

As reported by the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, Rev. Jesse Bottoms, vice president of the National Baptist Convention, explained what was driving this effort.

“Environmental concerns are not abstractions for African Americans,” Bottoms said. “They are real, and they affect us in very real ways, particularly our children and seniors.”

However, despite the polling and the efforts of the black church leadership, one critical group is not leading on the issue — the politicians representing many of these communities.

In September, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, an ad appeared in a Spanish-language newspaper targeting five Latino and African American lawmakers posing the question, “Would these politicians be willing to confront the petroleum industry and fight for Latino families?”

Of course, the reality is that the five politicians who were targeted have received at least $260,000 combined from oil companies. That might explain statements like the one from Assemblyman Jim Cooper saying that solar panels and electric vehicles “are great, but they don't come to our neighborhoods.”

As far as the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), they do not even list climate change as an issue on their Issues page. The CBC is notorious for its ability to raise funds from corporations, including polluters in the fossil fuel industry.

A 2010 article in the New York Times about the CBC noted that “lobbyists and executives from coal, nuclear and power giants like Peabody Energy and Entergy helped draft a report in the caucus’s name” and that a “policy document issued by the Black Caucus Institute last year asserted that the financial impact of climate change legislation should be weighed before it is passed, a major industry stand.”

A 2014 article in Grist ran with the headline, “This ambassador for black politicians argues that solar drags down African Americans.” This is another favored industry talking point that claims that rooftop solar will result in higher electricity costs for low-income communities and unfairly target African Americans.

Mark Davis, CEO of minority-owned WDC Solar, was part of the group discussing the new NRDC poll results and has a very different view on the opportunity solar represents for low-income communities.

“I am a Green For All Climate Champion, and renewable energy and energy efficiency are two pillars of our plan for low-income communities to lower the cost of energy, create green jobs for low-income residents, and improve the environment,” Davis said. “The Clean Power Plan can accelerate an increase we’ve already seen in African American participation in clean energy and can enhance economic empowerment in low-income communities.”

The new NRDC poll reports that 87% of African Americans support using more solar over coal or nuclear power.

So while it is clear that African Americans support the Clean Power Plan, solar power, and acting on climate change, it remains to be seen if the politicians representing those communities will do their jobs and go with the will of the people over the will of polluters.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/29/national-review-online-pushes-attack-on-bill-ny/205851

Nat'l Black Chamber President Smears Wash. Post For Exposing Industry-Funded Pro-Smog Campaign

Blog ›› DENISE ROBBINS

The president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) lashed out at The Washington Post for exposing his organization's oil industry funding, baselessly describing a Post article about the group's anti-environmental agenda as "[l]ies, innuendos and false claims."

The Post recently helped pull back the curtain on the NBCC's fossil fuel-friendly agenda. In a September 28 article, The Post reported that the NBCC has been fighting an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to reduce ground-level ozone pollution, the primary component of smog, and also noted that the NBCC is heavily funded by ExxonMobil and other fossil fuel interests. The NBCC has been fighting air pollution standards and climate change action fordecades.

NBCC president Harry Alford decried the Washington Post article in a column on his organization's website, titled "Environmental Extremists seem to be going cuckoo." Without identifying any specific errors in the Post article, Alford wrote that that it contained "[l]ies, innuendos and false claims" and "misinformation about the National Black Chamber of Commerce." He also described the Post article as "incomplete reporting, replete with racial innuendos," but failed to elaborate.

From Alford's post on the NBCC website:

Just this week, the super liberals put out misinformation about the National Black Chamber of Commerce via the Washington Post newspaper. Lies, innuendos and false claims. The reporting was less than professional and we attempted to explain the misrepresentations to their Ombudsman. To our surprise, the Post doesn't have an Ombudsman to whom readers can go to correct inaccuracies. They even claim one of the "gotcha" men stalking me with a camera is a "writer". Just a few years ago he was in security at the Detroit Westin Hotel. Give me a break! The others they quoted also have hidden agendas.

The misinformation articles, the lies and stalking us around the country are flattering. But we didn't become the number one Black business association in the world by being timid. There are a lot of "broke face" governors, senators, congresspersons and corporate CEO's who have learned this the hard way. We got a big laugh from the incomplete reporting, replete with racial innuendos. As my late mentor, Arthur A. Fletcher, once told me, "When you get on the front page of the Post you are in Tall Cotton and that ain't bad. The fact is they are fearing your movement and your side is apparently winning."

The truth always wins eventually.

The values and voices of America's diverse communities are too often excluded from the news media.

This needs to change.

ICN:

After the Environmental Protection Agency released its groundbreaking carbon regulations last week, opponents worked to fill the airways and newspaper opinion pages with the message that the Clean Power Plan would cost minority communities millions of jobs and increase their poverty levels by more than 25 percent.

The claims were the resurgence of a campaign put forward two months ago [2] by the National Black Chamber of Commerce. The Washington, D.C. group describes itself as a "nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of African American communities," but in fact has strong financial ties to the oil and gas industry.

It’s campaign was so vigorous, a prominent African American congressman, Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) made a strong statement during the group’s annual convention in Florida and urged NBCC to sever ties [3] with the industry and stop misleading minorities, who are disproportionately affected by pollution.

"The National Black Chamber of Commerce should take a firm stand against the misinformation being spread by these industries," Hastings said. "I believe that we should all be on the side of families, not industry polluters. I urge the NBCC to cut ties with these groups immediately."

The NBCC has received more than $1 million from the ExxonMobil Foundation since 1998. Among the sponsors of that annual convention were Gulf Power, Florida's division of Southern Company, Koch Industries and its subsidiary Georgia Pacific, Chevron and the American Chemistry Council, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting wrote [4].

"The National Black Chamber of Commerce is very well known as a front group for industry," said Aliya Haq, special projects director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate and clean air program. "It wasn't surprising when these claims came out. It is just their latest attempt at derailing regulation in a long history of working with fossil fuel companies."

The NBCC's arguments have raised questions about the Clean Power Plan among some minority communities, said Jacqui Patterson, director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's environmental and climate justice program.

"Folks in communities where I work have come to me and said they've heard this and are asking for clarification," she said. "Electricity bills for low-income and many minority communities are a higher proportion of people's income. Anything that says bills might go up definitely raises alarms."

While the EPA predicts electricity prices may rise 2.4 to 2.7 percent by 2020 under the Clean Power Plan, it also argues that improvements in energy efficiency will offset the cost for consumers. It will also improve public health by lowering exposure to fine particulates and ozone pollution in neighborhoods near power plants, saving governments and families up to $34 billion in medical expenses by 2030, according to the EPA.

"Pollution is a problem that disproportionately affects minorities in our country," Hastings said in his statement. "According to the NACCP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, 68 percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a power plant. This means that black communities across the country are more vulnerable to exposure from power plant emissions and carbon pollution."

The NBCC did not respond to request for comment.

"The NBCC claims have been fact-checked and proven inaccurate multiple times," said Dave Anderson, energy campaign organizer for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a scientific and environmental advocacy group. "Most journalists see that, but the group is using newspapers' opinion sections to get around the fact-checking of reporters."

NBCC has been fighting environmental regulations since the late 1990s, coinciding with some of its earliest donations from ExxonMobil [5]. In 2000, the organization published a study on the impacts of the Kyoto Protocol, the first international agreement on climate change, on African Americans and Hispanics. It argued the Protocol could "force millions of Blacks and Hispanics below the poverty line." NBCC president Harry Alford has testified before Congress in recent months on the negative impacts of both the Clean Power Plan and EPA plans to lower acceptable ground ozone levels.

The organization is not the only one with strong financial ties to the fossil fuel industry vocally opposing the carbon regulations. Charles Steele Jr., the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who has close ties with oil and gas executives [6], has been quoted in several articles and opinion pieces contending that the Clean Power Plan will be bad for low-income households. Similar campaigns have been launched by The Cato Institute, Beacon Hill Institute, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Heartland Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among dozens of other groups that have received fossil fuel funding [7].

Patterson and Haq said efforts to discredit the carbon regulations among minorities are particularly frustrating because these communities are expected to benefit the most from the Obama administration's carbon regulations, which is being enacted under the Clean Air Act, a piece of landmark environmental legislation signed into law in 1970.

"Every time we've cleaned up pollution in these communities, it has been good for these communities," said Haq. "Never have the lights gone off or bills skyrocketed from a new Clean Air Act rule. It has been good for people's health, and not bad for their budgets."

Source URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/12082015/minorities-targeted-misinformation-obama-carbon-clean-power-plan-national-black-chamber-commerce?utm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_campaign=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_term=PANTHEON_STRIPPED

Links

[1] https://twitter.com/share

[2] http://nbccnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NBCC_ozone__FInal.pdf

[3] http://alceehastings.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398461

[4] http://fcir.org/2015/08/13/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-solar-energy-critic-rakes-in-cash-from-polluters/

[5] http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=113

[6] http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/09/special-report-industry-wraps-coal-ash-regulation-fight-in-the-mantle-of-civil-rights.html

[7] http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/07/31/media-disclosure-guide-here-are-the-industry-fu/204708

HUMAN EVENTS BLOG

National Black Chamber of Commerce CEO: Obama policies are “borderline Communist”

John Hayward | Wednesday Feb 27, 2013 10:19 AM

http://humanevents.com/2013/02/27/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-ceo-obama-borderline-communist/

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Harry C. Alford, the head of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, is a former Obama voter who has become sharply critical of the President. In fact, he now professes himself to be ashamed of his vote for Obama. To paraphrase a famous Star Wars quote, he finds the President’s lack of faith in capitalism disturbing. “Borderline communist” disturbing. Alford appeared on Sean Hannity’s TV show Tuesday night to discuss his take on Obama in more detail:

Alford attributes Obama’s early appeal to charisma and, frankly, a good deal of racial solidarity, with voters from various minority groups seeing Obama as an avatar of their own hopes and dreams. He sees that appeal as naive after watching Obama campaign incessantly for years, while allowing the national economy to lie fallow, or imposing his agenda at a steep cost to our general prosperity.

“He’s spending, spending, spending,” said Alford. “That’s the problem. He wants to tax, tax, tax… yet the irony of it is, he dogs successful people, he says they’re bad, rich is evil. But yet he’s courting the rich on his knees, to come and give him some money, so he can use it for whatever reason, I don’t know. He’s turned out… I don’t know what he’s planning for us.”

Alford compared Obama’s overwhelming support from the black community to the unconditional support a troubled family member might receive from parents and siblings… support which enables continued bad behavior. “We gotta wake up, slap ourselves and wake up,” he said. “This is America, and everybody is involved in this. If our children are hurting, it’s our responsibility to find someone who understands that pain – ‘feels it,’ like Bill Clinton would say. This guy doesn’t feel it. In fact, he issues a lot of that pain, with a smile.”

He understands that phrases like “borderline Communist” are heavily freighted, but stands by his use of the term. “It’s so anti-capitalistic, this distribution of wealth,” Alford explained. “That, to me, that says it all. He wants to re-distribute wealth, take money that was honestly earned by people who struggled, and suffered, and paid the price to win that money… he wants to take it from them, and give it to people who don’t have to do a thing. It’s the will of the State to oversee everyone.” Just for good measure, he went on to compare the Obama-friendly American media to Soviet propaganda.

While certainly contentious – one cannot deploy worlds like “communist” without setting off some fireworks – it is useful to consider the current conflict in terms of capitalism versus its adversaries. Obama-style government presents itself as a modification of capitalism – it’s more fair, equitable, compassionate, smarter, etc. but he would dispute Alford’s accusation that he has turned against it. But how much can the pure, practical expression of liberty be “modified” before it’s not really capitalism any more? And what are the proper terms for the ideologies historically aligned against it?

Alford concluded by deriding the supposedly agonizing 2.3 percent sequestration spending cuts as “peanuts,” noting that private-sector CEOs would be delighted if the worst thing they had to confront was such a tiny budget cut. Of course, that’s not the worst thing our unsustainable federal government must confront; they’re only acting like it is. And if they choke on the peanuts, they’ll never be able to handle the main course of fiscal restraint.

Defenders of Property Rights

Board of Directors

Harry C. Alford, President & CEO National Black Chamber of Commerce

Becky Norton Dunlop,(hon.) VP for External Relations The Heritage Foundation

Timothy N. Hyde, Founding Partner DCI Group, LLC

Charles W. Jarvis, Chief Executive United Seniors Association

Stephen G. Kieffer, CEO Kieffer & Co., Inc.

Tex Lezar, Clements, O'Neill, Pierce, Nickens and Wilson L.L.P. (died January 5, 2004 [15])

J. B. Love, Managing Partner Estancias Argentinas, LLC

Nancie G. Marzulla, President Defenders of Property Rights

Roger J. Marzulla, (hon.) Chairman Marzulla & Marzulla

Vicki A. O'Meara, (hon.)Executive VP and General Counsel Ryder System, Inc.

David A. Waronker, President CBD Development Group, Inc.

Board of Advisers

Robert Bork, American Enterprise Institute

Lamar Smith, US House of Representatives

Senator Larry E. Craig

T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr, Intercollegiate Studies Institute

John J. Curry, Jr., Foran, Nasharr & O'Toole Ltd.

Orrin G. Hatch

Professor Jonathan R. Macey, Cornell Law School

Edwin Meese, The Heritage Foundation

Richard W. Pombo

Eric M. Rubin, Rubin, Winston, Diercks, Harris and Cooke

Mark Killian, Director of Revenue, State of Arizona

Contact

Defenders of Property Rights

WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Black Chamber of

Commerce congratulated the Senate Commerce Committee for its passage of S.

2686 yesterday, a bill that will open the marketplace to new competitors in

video services and will encourage high speed broadband deployment.

"On behalf of the 100,000 Black-owned businesses we represent, we thank

Senator Stevens for his leadership and the Committee for their support of

this important legislation," stated President and CEO Harry Alford. "This

legislation means more than just what is on the surface: consumer choice,

competition and lower prices. This legislation will provide jobs and new

opportunities for Black-owned business. From laying the new networks to

servicing these networks to providing new content that will travel these

new networks, our business community won today."

"More importantly, the Committee failed to pass controversial 'network

neutrality' legislation -- a win for small business in America. While some

would like many of the minority community to believe that regulating the

Internet is necessary, we know that it will only starve those of us

dependent on new and updated broadband systems," continued Alford.

"Last week, more than 30 of our state chapters expressed their support

for the Senate's Communications, Consumer's Choice and Broadband Deployment

Act of 2006. The Commerce Committee heard us. It is now up to the Senate

leadership to give this bill proper consideration on the Senate floor

immediately. We urge the Senate to provide this legislation a vote on the

floor without question."

The NBCC reaches 100,000 Black owned businesses. There are 1 million

Black owned businesses in the United States. http://www.nationalbcc.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Harry C. Alford, President and CEO of

the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) and Joe Byrd, President of the

National Native American Chamber of Commerce (NNACC) today praised Members of

Congress who supported legislation that removes major barriers to high-speed

Internet access and requires broadband deployment on an accelerated basis. By

removing counterproductive regulation, the Internet Freedom and Broadband

Deployment Act of 2001 (HR 1542), delivers more competition and choices for

high-speed Internet to small businesses and consumers.

"Standing in the way of much-needed investment in high-speed Internet

infrastructure is a U.S. telecommunications law that limits the ability of

local phone companies, potentially the most capable broadband providers, to

build broadband networks," said Harry C. Alford, President and CEO of the

National Black Chamber of the Commerce.

Today, HR 1542 will remove the disincentives for local providers to invest

in high-speed Internet infrastructure. Placing geographic restrictions on

Internet traffic makes neither technical nor economic sense -- and even less

sense in light of the urgent need for investment in broadband infrastructure.

Both Presidents Alford and Byrd concur that with more bytes and bandwidth,

minority-owned and other small businesses can now take advantage of the best

in technology to maximize productivity, growth and job creation. They deserve

that opportunity. The chance to compete fairly and be the best that you can

is the promise of America. By passing HR 1542, Congress has extended that

philosophy to Internet policies.

"Cable companies, currently the biggest supplier of broadband services who

are not subject to any of these requirements, simply are not choosing to pick

up the slack in underserved communities, nor creating a competitive market,"

said Joe Byrd, President of the National Native American Chamber of Commerce.

As a result, most small and medium-sized businesses do not have a choice

of high-speed Internet providers, and many have no high-speed access

whatsoever. This problem is magnified for minority-owned businesses, which are

more likely to be based in geographic areas with fewer computers and lower

incomes, making them relatively unattractive to cable-based broadband

providers.

About the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the National Native

American Chamber of Commerce

The National Black Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization

dedicated to the economic empowerment of African-Americans. The National

Native American Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization that promotes

job creation, economic growth, sustainable development and improved living

standards for Tribal Nations, Native Americans, Native American businesses,

and small businesses.

MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here

http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X15875216

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Black Chamber of Commerce today issued the following statement in response following a House of Representative's vote to defund Gainful Employment.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110217/DC50791LOGO)

"The National Black Chamber of Commerce applauds the House of Representatives for supporting college access for minority students and passing an amendment to defund Gainful Employment. This great victory will help stop a rule that would disproportionately hurt African American and other minority students who rely on career colleges to learn real-world skills that help them get jobs.

"We thank the bi-partisan leadership of House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN), Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, and Representatives Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) for bringing this amendment to the floor and rallying support to get it passed.

"With unemployment rates so high, it is a mystery why the Education Department would propose a rule that makes it harder for students to get a college degree that prepares them for the working world. Gainful Employment unfairly singles out for-profits schools, whose student bodies are comprised of 39% minorities due to their flexible course loads and skill-focused classes. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warns that if the 'Gainful Employment' rule is implemented, it will result in 100,000 jobs lost. Now is not the time to make it harder for minority students to get a college degree.

"We urge the Senate to fully support this amendment and protect college options for minority students who rely on federal financial aid."

---

wikifluff

The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) was incorporated as The National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc., in 1993. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan,nonsectarian organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of African American communities. Additionally, the organization indicates that it represents the views of its members regarding economic and political policy issues; domestically and internationally. It is organized as a 501(c) corporation and has at least 190 chapters within the United States. The NBCC also has international chapters in the Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana and Jamaica.[1] As with all Chambers of Commerce, affiliate branches are committed to carrying out the goals of the main Chamber within their areas.

The NBCC is a very young national organization when compared to others such as the NAACP and CORE. It is also the first major African American organization to focus on economic empowerment. [Garvey?] The NBCC was founded by Harry Alford, who serves as the first President and CEO. He also is a Board member of the United States Chamber of Commerce.[2] In an interview reported in Human Events, Mr. Alford identifies with the Booker T. Washington approach to African American self empowerment and sees the approach of W.E.B. Du Bois and the NAACP (whom he calls enemies of [BT] Washington) as primarily political.[3]

Contents [hide]

1 Mission and strategic goals

1.1 Business development

1.2 Sponsorship

1.3 Education, training, and technical support

2 Positions on legislation

3 Organization

4 References

4.1 Citations

Mission and strategic goals[edit]

The stated mission of the NBCC is to "economically empower and sustain African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States and via interaction with the BlackDiaspora".[4]

The NBCC works to fulfill its mission by implementing the following goals:

Increase business development and economic growth within the African American community via procurement, access to capital and international trade.

Secure sponsorship for the funding and guidance of NBCC programs.

Educate and train members of the African American community regarding business development and their purpose to benefit society.

Provide technical support to affiliate chapters.

Business development[edit]

The NBCC reaches 100,000 Black owned businesses. There are 1 million Black owned businesses in the United States. Black businesses account for over $100 billion in annual sales. African Americans have over $800 billion in expendable income each year according to the US Bureau of Census.

Sponsorship[edit]

Those in this list have sponsored the NBCC and/or its events in the past, and may continue to do so.

Altria was scheduled to sponsor the 2004 Fall Summit meeting in Negril, Jamaica.[5]

Exxon Mobile includes the NBCC on its 2004 list of contributions and community investments.[6]

Hewlett Packard sponsored the 2003 Annual convention in Birmingham, Alabama.[7]

Lord Abbett and New York Life participated with the NBCC in the sponsorship of the Building Wealth Tour.[8]

Education, training, and technical support[edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion.(September 2012)

Positions on legislation[edit]

The NBCC takes positions on federal and state legislation that may affect its goals.

In testimony submitted to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions regarding Senate Bill S.625, the NBCC stated that it opposes increased the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of tobacco. The reason for its opposition is that the regulation would impose fees affecting small tobacco retailing and distribution businesses in the U.S., many of which are owned by Black Americans.[9] The statement contained no reference to health risks associated with using tobacco products.

In public comments regarding the Microsoft antitrust case, the NBCC along with the Telecommunications Research and Action Center and the National Native American Chamber of Commerce indicated that the case settlement was inadequate in terms of consumer protection and that additional remedies were required.[10]

Organization[edit]

Board of Directors - The Board consists of no more than 18 Directors at any given time. It develops, implements and supervises the policies of the Chamber and elects all officers.

Officers - The Chamber officers are elected from among the Board, and consist of the Chairman of the Board, President/CEO, Secretary, Treasurer, one or more Vice Presidents and other officers as determined by the Board.

Members - Local member and student member chapters; and individuals, businesses and organizations that prefer direct membership to the National Chamber.

References[edit]

"National Black Chamber of Commerce". Retrieved 2007-02-19.

Citations[edit]

Jump up ^ "National Black Chamber of Commerce - About Us, Organizational Profile". Retrieved 2007-02-19.

Jump up ^ "U. S. Chamber of Commerce - Board of Directors". Retrieved 2007-03-13.

Jump up ^ D'Agostino, Joseph A. (2004-08-05). "Conservative Spotlight: National Black Chamber of Commerce". Retrieved 2007-03-14.

Jump up ^ "National Black Chamber of Commerce - Strategic Plan". Retrieved 2007-02-19.

Jump up ^ "eBlast September 4, 2004". Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up ^ "Exxon Mobil Corporation 2004 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up ^ "HP News Release". Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up ^ "New York Life Insurance Company, The National Black Chamber of Commerce and Lord Abbett Kick-Off The Building Wealth Tour for African-American Small Business Owners". Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up ^ "National Black Chamber Opposes New FDA Tobacco Regulations". 2007-03-07. Retrieved 2007-03-19.

Jump up ^ "Microsoft Settlement Comments Submitted by the Telecommunications Research & Action Center, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Native American Chamber of Commerce". 2002-01-28. Retrieved 2007-04-09.

References[edit]

"National Black Chamber of Commerce". Retrieved 2007-02-19.

Citations[edit]

Jump up "National Black Chamber of Commerce - About Us, Organizational Profile". Retrieved 2007-02-19.

Jump up "U. S. Chamber of Commerce - Board of Directors". Retrieved 2007-03-13.

Jump up D'Agostino, Joseph A. (2004-08-05). "Conservative Spotlight: National Black Chamber of Commerce". Retrieved 2007-03-14.

Jump up "National Black Chamber of Commerce - Strategic Plan". Retrieved 2007-02-19.

Jump up "eBlast September 4, 2004". Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up "Exxon Mobil Corporation 2004 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up "HP News Release". Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up "New York Life Insurance Company, The National Black Chamber of Commerce and Lord Abbett Kick-Off The Building Wealth Tour for African-American Small Business Owners". Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Jump up "National Black Chamber Opposes New FDA Tobacco Regulations". 2007-03-07. Retrieved 2007-03-19.

Jump up "Microsoft Settlement Comments Submitted by the Telecommunications Research & Action Center, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Native American Chamber of Commerce". 2002-01-28. Retrieved 2007-04-09.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/234059-we-cannot-assume-reliable-energy

February 27, 2015, 07:00 am

We cannot assume reliable energy

By Harry C. Alford, contributor

I've written before about the dangerous economic consequences our country faces as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed regulations to reduce carbon emissions. It is important to note that the climate policies being promulgated by the Obama administration will harm Americans, and especially the African-American community, in the form of skyrocketing energy costs. In a similar fashion, these regulations will jeopardize our access to reliable electricity, putting our economy and frankly, our entire way of life, at risk of being forever changed — and not for the better.

How will the EPA's regulations impact our power grid? By taking aim at resources that provide the base-load power our electric grid needs, namely coal, the EPA's proposal will shut down a significant portion of our coal fleet, leaving our grid dependent on less reliable resources. That means electric utilities won't have the power needed to serve their customers, which could result in compulsory power rationing and even widespread power outages. Last year, 89 percent of American Electric Power's coal plants currently slated for closure were working at capacity to help meet energy demand through the coldest days of winter, when people needed it most.

Our businesses need dependable energy and predictable utility bills to meet the demands of customers and clients and, ultimately, to grow. If a butcher's refrigeration unit goes out from a power outage, spoilage can occur — leaving him without anything to sell, hurting his businesses and his workers. Similarly, if a business's computer system loses power — and almost all businesses today rely on some type of operating system — that company loses the ability to track and process its operations and is left unable to fill orders.

Beyond the impacts business owners face due to weakened electric reliability, those who can least afford higher energy bills will be most affected as the EPA's proposal will dramatically raise electricity costs from coast to coast. Higher costs could leave many unable to pay their monthly bills unless they dip into reserves or, worse, are forced to make tough choices between other critical services.

This list of examples is endless, but the end result is the same: systematic and widespread damage to our economy.

President Obama and his EPA have attempted to curb these realities by pushing propaganda claiming that climate change is a top-of-mind issue for the majority of Americans and minority groups in particular. This is simply untrue, as evidenced by a poll conducted last year, which found that African-Americans voters place jobs and the economy far above climate change. In fact, only 3 percent of those polled listed climate change as a top threat to their community.[see stats above 80-90 AA care about envir, 3x kia asthma]

Reliable power is a luxury that many parts of the world have never known. When I travel internationally, I am always struck by the lack of electricity access some countries still face. Returning home to the United States after these trips makes me only more grateful that our country has the power we need, when we need it. // innis BS

Access to reliable electricity is not just a luxury, however. It is part of the circulatory system driving our country's economy. We cannot take our supply of reliable electricity for granted, because if the EPA gets its way, our future isn't looking bright.

Alford is the co-founder, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

---

links to

11/14 2014

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/224155-the-real-policy-priorities-of-african-americans

In June, President Obama and his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a contentious and costly new set of regulations to reduce carbon emissions from American power plants. The measure, the public was told, would combat climate change. The president and the EPA's sales pitch to the American people, and the African-American community in particular, even hinged on the contention that minority communities would be greatly aided by the administration's efforts.

Many stakeholders, however, observed that behind the administration’s rhetoric exists a dangerous energy and economic proposition that spells trouble for African-American consumers and businesses. By effectively banning affordable coal based-electricity and transitioning the country toward an overreliance on more expensive alternative fuel sources, the EPA's regulations will rapidly alter our nation's energy portfolio. Such dramatic action will lead to higher power prices, posing a grave threat to all Americans who rely on affordable electricity, and will undermine job creation and growth in our still-recovering economy.

[ADVERTISEMENT McD]

With the midterm elections proving a need for real change, new polling data provides vital insights into the concerns of African-American voters. Not surprisingly, jobs and the economy, healthcare and education top the list. At the bottom? Climate change. In fact, nearly two-thirds of those African-American voters polled were far more concerned about the adverse economic effects of the EPA's proposed carbon regulations than about the urgency of climate change as a national issue. note no cite

A mere 3 percent of those polled said that climate change had a significant impact on their community, a paltry figure compared to the 41 percent who felt unemployment had the greatest effect. Coinciding with concerns about jobs and the economy, over 80 percent of African-American voters said they are "very concerned" about their personal budgets, with three-fourths expressing particular concern about increasing energy prices. Instead of implementing economically harmful policies, like the EPA's proposed carbon regulations, six out of 10 voters polled said they would rather see Obama support policies that protect access to affordable electricity.

These telling results put African-American voters at odds with the Obama administration. If the African-American community our president claims his climate change regulations will help doesn't even find salience in the issue, one must ask: What are his true motives in making climate change such a cornerstone issue? Is it to solidify his political legacy? Is it to appease his wealthy, out-of-touch donors and supporters? Whatever the reason, African-American consumers will bear tremendous costs if the EPA's proposal moves forward.

With so many pressing issues looming, both here at home and beyond our borders, President Obama has pursued his misguided climate change agenda with tunnel vision, ignoring the fundamental concerns of African-Americans. The African-American community is already gravely concerned about their personal and business budgets and finances, and the EPA's climate change regulations will only exacerbate their financial woes. With important midterm elections last week, and the 2016 presidential election on the horizon, elected officials should pay close attention to these poll results to understand the real policy priorities of African-Americans.

Alford is the president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of

Filling a Black Hole

Does Exxon speak for black Americans in the climate bill debate?

BY: BRENTIN MOCK

Posted: July 20 2009 8:03 AM

Last week, National Black Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Harry Alford gave Sen. Barbara Boxer the business over their disagreements about the climate bill before her committee. In testimony before the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, Alford admitted that he spoke "not as an economist" and as "not a climate change expert," but as someone with "a deep understanding of small and minority-owned businesses." In other words, he knows black people. When Boxer waved an NAACP resolution supporting climate change action in Alford's face, he took offense, accusing Boxer of "racial"-izing the climate change debate, and asked pointedly: "Why are you doing the colored people's association's study with the black chamber of commerce?" Later, he added: "Let me speak for the African-American community, since I am African American."

The bickering over who speaks for black America on climate change was a distraction from the more important issue whether black people will have a voice in reshaping U.S. energy policy. To be fair, Boxer cited other reports before she name-dropped the NAACP with Alford. But she erred when she decided to hide behind the NAACP document. Boxer's move was the equivalent of a white person invoking a black friend in an argument with a black person to establish racial credibility. Indeed, ultimately, all the NAACP document did was resolve that the black organization would work with the National Wildlife Federation on this issue.[see later?]

Alford called Boxer's act "condescending." But it was no less troubling than Alford’s testifying with the aid of a report produced by his white friends at CRA International, who prepared the "Impact on the Economy of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" study, from which Alford quoted heavily.

As reported by Grist.org, Alford's NBCC has collected $350,000 from Exxon Mobil since 1998, and according to Boxer they financed the CRA study as well. Exxon Mobil has been a huge financier of global warming skepticism and a top lobbyist against the climate change bill. The $9.3 million it spent on lobbying for the first quarter of this year led all in the oil and gas industry. This alone calls into question whether it's NBCC or Exxon Mobil that is attempting to speak for black Americans on this issue. All said, it is black Americans who are screwed if the best voices they have at the climate table come from the NBCC and the NAACP. The NAACP, yes, finally adopted a resolution to act on climate change, but it has been inexplicably absent on this issue for the past few years, even though poor, black communities will suffer the most from global warming-related disasters. The NBCC has been working on energy policy issues since the 1990s. But part of that effort has been speaking out against climate change action.

NBCC is not the only black organization that opposes adoption of a clean energy bill. Another opponent is the Congress of Racial Equality, which not coincidentally has also received funding from Exxon Mobil, some $275,000 since 1998. CORE's chairman, Roy Innis, stated last year that global warming proposals "threaten to roll back much of the civil rights progress for which civil rights revolutionaries and Dr. King struggled and died." Innis made that speech in that epicenter of civil rights clashes, Salt Lake City, where he encouraged Utah residents to join him "in challenging these energy killers, these modern-day Bull Connors and George Wallaces, who are standing in the door, trying to prevent poor Americans from achieving Martin Luther King's dream of equal opportunity and true environmental justice."

However, black organizations don't fit neatly into categories of Exxon Mobil-funded climate change deniers and those who aren't. Exxon Mobil was a sponsor of last week's NAACP's 100th anniversary national convention. While every member of the Congressional Black Caucus except Artur Davis (D-Ala.) and Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) voted for the American Clean Energy and Securities Act [Wax-M] when it passed the House in June (Davis voted against it, and Hastings abstained), Exxon Mobil gave the CBC Foundation Inc. $20,000 for its annual legislative dinner and an additional $25,000 for "event support." The CBC doesn't speak for black America, but it does vote for most of it, so it's encouraging that Exxon Mobil's financial influence hasn't been felt in the same way as it has for CORE and NBCC. Still, it is a fair question for African Americans to ask who exactly is attempting to speak for them on Capitol Hill, and also who is funding those speakers.

If Alford was right about one thing during his tantrum with Boxer, it was when he said: "This has nothing to do with the NAACP. It really has nothing to do with the NBCC. We're talking energy." On energy, all of these groups agree in principle. Whether the NAACP resolution, Alford's testimony or even Innis' Utah civil rights speech, all spoke to the issue in the context of protecting small and minority-owned businesses and low-income families. What a check from Big Oil or a partnership with a multimillion-dollar environmental group evidently wins is a place at the policy-setting table.

Environmental justice organizations are mostly funded by foundations and from lawsuits against companies like Exxon. Their work entails monitoring for local environmental and health risks, and educating families about the hazards they face from global warming and toxic pollution. Much of the leadership of these groups comes from credentialed practitioners with expertise from both the academy and the community. Yet environmental and climate justice leaders such as Robert Bullard, Beverly Wright and Peggy Sheppard are often excluded from congressional policy hearings likely because these figures speak about the harms and benefits to African Americans from a perspective other than that of business and industry.

In May, Kari Fulton of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, a coalition that's been addressing climate change since 2000, was disinvited from speaking at a press conference on the EPA carbon dioxide endangerment findings. According to Fulton, the Sierra Club pulled the plug on her – after initially inviting her – after deciding that the EJCC’s position on how cap and trade policy affects African Americans wasn’t in alignment with the other mainstream environmental groups speaking at the press conference, among whom was the National Wildlife Federation.

When environmental justice groups are silenced, D.C. policy makers are left with groups like NBCC claiming to speak for African Americans. Like the NBCC, the EJCC knows something about black people.Unlike the NBCC, though, they actually have climate change experts.

Mock is a freelance reporter who worked most recently as a writing fellow for The American Prospect focusing on environmental justice and policy issues. He is a 2008-09 Metcalfe Institute Diversity in Environmental Reporting Fellow, and a 2009 USC Annenberg Institute Justice and Journalism Fellow for environmental justice reporting.

National Black Chamber Of Commerce Joins Oil Industry's Op-Ed Campaign Against EPA Climate Plan

Exxon-Funded Outfit Peddles Debunked Studies To Dispute Clean Power Plan's Benefit For Blacks And Hispanics

Research 3 hours and 16 minutes ago ››› DENISE ROBBINS & ANDREW SEIFTER

Like Americans for Prosperity, the Beacon Hill Institute, and the State Policy Network before it, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) is the latest oil industry front group to run a deceptive op-ed campaign against the EPA's climate change plan, with NBCC president Harry C. Alford alleging in newspapers across the country that the Clean Power Plan will impose "economic hardship" on blacks and Hispanics. None of these newspapers disclosed that the NBCC has received $1 million from the ExxonMobil Foundation, and the op-eds themselves rely on climate science denial and thoroughly debunked industry-linked studies in an attempt to dismiss the financial and health benefits the Clean Power Plan will provide to black and Hispanic communities.

Newspapers Publish NBCC Op-Eds Attacking EPA Climate Plan Without Disclosing NBCC's Oil Industry Funding

Seven Newspapers Have Published Op-Eds Attacking EPA's Clean Power Plan By National Black Chamber Of Commerce President. Nearly identical op-eds written by Harry C. Alford, president and CEO of NBCC, have been published in seven newspapers in Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and West Virginia. In the op-eds, Alford claims that the EPA's Clean Power Plan -- which will place the first-ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants -- will impose an "economic hardship" on minority communities. Several of the papers published headlines for the op-ed that cast the EPA against minorities; a typical example was the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's headline: "The EPA vs. Pennsylvania's minorities." [The Des Moines Register, 6/23/15; The Buffalo News, 6/24/15; Tulsa World, 6/22/15; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 6/24/15; The Santa Fe New Mexican, 6/22/15; Centre Daily Times, 6/22/15; Charleston Daily Mail, 6/22/15]

Alford Touted Recent NBCC Study To Claim EPA Plan Will Harm Hispanics And Blacks. In his op-eds, Alford extensively cites "a new study commissioned by my organization, the National Black Chamber of Commerce," and summarizes the results by saying the Clean Power Plan "will leave minority communities with disproportionately fewer jobs, lower incomes and higher poverty than whites." [NBCC, accessed 6/25/15; The Des Moines Register, 6/23/15]

What The Newspapers Failed To Disclose: NBCC Has Received $1 Million From ExxonMobil Foundation. In each newspaper that ran an op-ed, Alford was identified only as "the president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce." While NBCC does not list its funders or corporate members on its website, the ExxonMobil Foundation's annual reports show that the oil giant has provided funding for NBCC each year since 2003. The ExxonMobil Foundation gave NBCC $75,000 in 2014, $125,000 in 2013, and a total of $1 million since 2003. ExxonMobil is one of the world's largest producers of industrial carbon emissions and has a vested interest in opposing limits on carbon pollution as a way of addressing climate change. [ExxonMobil Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments, 2014; 2013; ExxonSecrets.org, accessed 6/25/15; Union of Concerned Scientists, accessed 6/25/15]

NBCC Study Relied On Thoroughly Debunked Studies Tied To Fossil Fuel Industry

Union Of Concerned Scientists: NBCC Study Relies On Studies Published Before Release Of CPP Or Funded By Industry Opponents. As the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has noted, the NBCC study "explicitly says" that it depends on "the findings of seven other studies." According to UCS, those seven studies include (emphasis original):

Three studies that came out before the EPA published the draft CPP, meaning they don't actually study the CPP as proposed--even though that's the supposed focus of the NBCC/MISI analysis

One that was just (self-described) "preliminary analysis" from the United Mine Workers of America, a group you'd be hard-pressed to characterize as an unbiased voice in this debate

Three other studies funded by other fossil fuel interests who oppose the Clean Power Plan [UCS, 6/12/15]

NBCC Study Relied On Debunked Industry-Linked Studies By U.S. Chamber Of Commerce And NERA Economic Consulting. The NBCC study, which was prepared by Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI), states on page 21: "To estimate the likely effects of the EPA related regulations on low income groups and minorities, we used the findings of studies conducted in recent years of the impacts of carbon restrictions on the U.S. economy, jobs, and energy markets." Among the studies the NBCC "utilized" were two fossil fuel industry-linked studies that have been thoroughly debunked by media fact-checkers: An IHS study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a study by NERA Economic Consulting. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors includes officials from ConocoPhillips, Alliance Resource Partners, CONSOL Energy, and Southern Company, and many of Chamber's largest donors are fossil fuel companies. The NERA study was commissioned by fossil fuel interests that include the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE), the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, and the National Mining Association. [NBCC, June 2015; U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 5/28/14; U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors, accessed6/25/15; Center for Public Integrity, 1/16/14; NERA Economic Consulting, October 2014]

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Study Was Deemed "False" By Media Fact-Checkers. PolitiFact noted that the Chamber acknowledged its "estimates are not based on the [EPA] goals as announced," and determined that the IHS/Chamber numbers were "false." The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog similarly noted that the Chamber had admitted its figures "do not apply at all to the EPA rule as written," and awarded "four Pinocchios" to Republican officials who cited the IHS/Chamber study to criticize the EPA. [Politifact, 6/2/14; The Washington Post, 6/3/14]

The Washington Post's Fact Checker: It Is "Misleading" To Cite The NERA Study's Figures. When Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) cited the NERA study to claim that the Clean Power Plan "will result in double-digit electricity prices in 43 states," The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog responded that Inhofe's claim was "misleading" because the study's numbers "are on the high end of a range of cost impacts, which are mere projections at this point." The Fact Checker noted that supporters of the Clean Power Plan say the NERA study "inflates the cost of energy efficiency programs" and "ignores long-term benefits of energy efficiency programs that ultimately could drive actual energy bills down." It concluded: "A lot of the costs can be driven down by state, local and regional policymakers, and some of them already are working with the EPA to figure out cost-effective plans." [The Washington Post, 3/13/15]

UCS: NERA "Falsely Inflates Costs." The Union of Concerned Scientists stated that the NERA study "falsely inflates the cost" of the Clean Power Plan by "denying energy efficiency's proven ability to save consumers money." UCS went on to explain that the NERA study uses "a 2012 study that has been repeatedly discredited" to justify its inflated cost estimates. [Union of Concerned Scientists, 11/14/14]

NBCC Study Also Relied On Climate Science Denial To Dismiss The Social Cost Of Carbon

NBCC Study Also Cited Paper Claiming Benefits Of Carbon Pollution Far Outweigh Costs.Page 92 of the NBCC study states that MISI derived its estimates of the Clean Power Plan's "impacts on incomes and jobs" by using "the proprietary MISI model," which is based on a January 2014 MISI paper prepared for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity titled, "The Social Costs of Carbon? No, the Social Benefits of Carbon." That paper, which asserted that "CO2 is the basis of life on Earth" and has "enabled the high quality of life currently taken for granted," sought to challenge the social cost of carbon (SCC), which measures the economic damages associated with increased carbon dioxide emissions and was used by the EPA to estimate the Clean Power Plan's climate-related benefits. While the EPA -- with input from economic experts and other federal agencies -- has estimated that the SCC is approximately $40 per metric ton of carbon pollution, the MISI/ACCCE paper claimed that "the current benefits [of CO2] clearly outweigh any hypothesized costs by, literally, orders of magnitude: The benefit-cost (B-C) ratios range up to more than 200-to-1." [NBCC, June 2015; MISI/ACCCE, January 2014; EPA Fact Sheet: Social Cost of Carbon, November 2013]

UCS: MISI/ACCCE Paper On Social Cost Of Carbon Is "Fossil Fuel Fiction." In a fact sheet titled, "Climate Science vs. Fossil Fuel Fiction," the Union of Concerned Scientists noted that, contrary to the claims in the MISI/ACCCE paper, which were echoed by Peabody Energy, "numerous economists and scientists agree that over the long term the costs of carbon pollution clearly outweigh the benefits of continuing to ramp up emissions." [Union of Concerned Scientists,March 2015]

The Guardian's Graham Readfearn: MISI/ACCCE Paper "Relies On Climate Science Denial."The Guardian's Graham Readfearn also critiqued the MISI/ACCCE paper shortly after it was published, writing on DeSmog blog that it is "one long misrepresentation of the impact of coal on the planet, from its effects on growing food crops to raising sea levels to fuelling risk-laden climate change." Readfearn added:

One of the most popular debating points for climate science deniers is to tell you that carbon dioxide is simply food for plants.

The ACCCE report takes this well worn and simplistic climate science denial talking point and pushes it to its extreme. While it's true that some plants generally grow quicker when more carbon dioxide is available, this is grossly simplistic and ignores the impacts of human-caused climate change on flooding and prolonged drought. [DeSmog blog, 2/6/14]

NRDC And EDF Also Criticized MISI/ACCCE Paper For Dismissing The Social Costs Of Carbon Pollution. The Natural Resource Defense Council's (NRDC) Laurie Johnson noted that the MISI/ACCCE paper is based on the false premise that energy is the "one thing" that creates societal wealth and that the paper "den[ies] that carbon pollution threatens every component of our health and economy." And the Environmental Defense Fund's Gernot Wagner and Jeremy Proville penned an open letter responding to Dr. Roger Bezdek, the lead author of the MISI/ACCCE study, which noted in part:

[E]very ton of coal--like every barrel of oil--causes more in external damages than it adds value to GDP. The costs faced by those deciding how much fossil fuel to burn are much lower than the costs faced by society.

[...]

Your claim that what you call "social benefits" of coal dwarf the costs is wrong in theory and practice. In theory, because they are private benefits. As a matter of practice because these (private) benefits are very much included in the calculations that give us the social costs of coal. What you call out as the social benefits of coal use are already captured by these calculations. They are part of economic output.

Our indicators for GDP do a pretty good job capturing all these private benefits of economic activity. Where they fail is with the social costs. Hence the need to calculate the social cost of carbon pollution in the first place. [Natural Resources Defense Council, 1/26/14; Environmental Defense Fund, 2/4/14]

NBCC Study Condemned By Minority Group Leaders

Hispanic, Black Leaders Criticized NBCC Report As "Junk Science," "Scare Tactics," And More. A group of Hispanic and black leaders responded to the NBCC report, criticizing its flaws and asserting that the Clean Power Plan will benefit minority communities. Van Jones, the founder of Green For All, said NBCC is pushing out "junk science and junk economics in order to try to turn communities of color against the most important clean air protections of our generation." Adrianna Quintero, founder of Voces Verdes, said NBCC is using "inflammatory scare tactics" to mislead consumers "to go against their own best interests and support the multimillion dollar polluter industry that poisons our air and worsens climate change." Mark Magana, founder of GreenLatinos, called the report a "sham study" that is "rife with misinformation." And Rev. Lennox Yearwod Jr., president and CEO of Hip Hop Caucus, said the report is "full of dangerous lies promoted by the fossil fuel industry." [Voces Verdes, 6/11/15]

Clean Power Plan Will Actually Bring Health, Economic Benefits To Low-Income And Minority Communities

NRDC: Low-Income Communities In U.S. Helped By Clean Energy Shift. A recent report from the NRDC found that low-income communities in the United States face disproportionate health impacts from fossil fuel pollution, and that shifting to low carbon energy sources can lessen these impacts:

[T]he shift to clean energy offers a chance to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, while lessening the toll that dirty fossil fuels are currently wreaking on some of our most vulnerable communities.

[...]

Nationally, the Clean Power Plan's efforts to curtail carbon pollution will help prevent up to 6,600 premature deaths, 150,000 asthma attacks in children, 3,300 heart attacks, 2,800 hospital admissions, and 490,000 missed work/school days annually in the United States. A sizable impact will be felt by those with the least resources and least access to quality healthcare -- low- and fixed-income Americans; in part because low-income communities are stuck living closer to dirty power plants. [NRDC, accessed 4/29/15]

EPA Administrator McCarthy: "Communities Of Color" Are Hardest Hit By Climate Change. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy wrote in an op-ed that "communities of color and low-income Americans are the hardest hit" by climate change and cited statistics to show why African-Americans in particular could benefit from the EPA's plan to reduce carbon pollution:

[W]hile climate change hurts everyone, communities of color and low-income Americans are the hardest hit.

[...]

Although we limit pollutants like mercury, sulfur and arsenic, there are currently no limits on carbon pollution from power plants, our nation's largest source. That's not smart, it's not safe, and President Barack Obama has determined that it needs to stop. Close to 3 out of 4 African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, and African-American children have an 80 percent higher rate of asthma and are nearly three times more likely to die from asthma than their white peers. [The Root, 7/29/14]

National Climate Assessment: New Hispanic Immigrants Are "More Vulnerable To Changes In Climate." The 2014 National Climate Assessment stated that new Hispanic immigrants are "more vulnerable to changes in climate," due to "[l]ow wages, unstable work, language barriers, and inadequate housing," all of which are "critical obstacles to managing climate risk." [National Climate Assessment, May 2014]

EPA: Clean Power Plan Benefits Will Dwarf Costs. The EPA found that by 2030, the annual cost of complying with the Clean Power Plan will be $7.3-8.8 billion, whereas its annual climate and health benefits will be worth $55 to $93 billion. [EPA, accessed 3/25/15]

EPA: Clean Power Plan Will Result In Lower Electricity Bills Due To Energy Efficiency Gains. According to the EPA, the Clean Power Plan will ultimately reduce consumers' electricity bills due to gains in energy efficiency:

States, cities, businesses and homeowners have been working for years to increase energy efficiency and reduce growth in demand for electricity. EPA projects that the Clean Power Plan will continue - and accelerate - this trend. Nationally, this means that, in 2030 when the plan is fully implemented, electricity bills would be expected to be roughly 8 percent lower than they would been without the actions in state plans. That would save Americans about $8 on an average monthly residential electricity bill, savings they wouldn't see without the states' efforts under this rule. [EPA.gov, Fact Sheet, accessed 5/1/15]

NBCC's Op-Ed Campaign Follows Similar Attacks On The Clean Power Plan From Fossil Fuel Front Groups

Americans For Prosperity State Directors Are Running Op-Ed Campaign Attacking Clean Power Plan. At least 16 newspapers across the country have published nearly identical op-eds from state leaders of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which misleadingly cite statistics on electricity prices while calling for state legislatures to fight back against the Clean Power Plan. Every newspaper Media Matters reviewed except one failed to disclose the group's ties to the oil industry: AFP was founded, and continues to be largely funded, by the oil billionaire Koch brothers. [Media Matters, 3/25/15]

Beacon Hill Institute And State Policy Network Also Seeking To Undermine EPA Climate Plan With Op-Ed Campaign. The Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) partnered with members of the State Policy Network (SPN) to jointly produce sham studies and op-eds that dramatically inflate the Clean Power Plan's projected cost without even analyzing the EPA's actual proposal. As of April 13, 11 newspapers in four states had published op-eds written mostly by executives from SPN groups or state legislators, but none of the op-eds disclosed the fossil fuel industry funding behind them. Both BHI and SPN have financial ties to the Koch brothers, and the reports themselves were funded by a group run by Richard Berman, a corporate PR executive who has solicited millions in funding from the oil and gas industry. [Media Matters, 4/13/15]

The values and voices of America's diverse communities are too often excluded from the news media.

This needs to change.

---

GINNI THOMAS

Head of National Black Chamber of Commerce on Obama’s priorities: ‘This is not America’

GINNI THOMAS

Contributor

8:40 PM 08/11/2013

1838125

Committed to successful black entrepreneurship, Harry C. Alford, Jr. has been president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce since 1993.

During that time, he has spoken out with increasing boldness against the liberal orthodoxy hurting the black community. In 2009, he took on Democratic California Sen. Barbara Boxer at a cap-and-trade hearing, and that video went viral. In this interview with Alford, he continues to boldly confront the politics of government dependency, which he believes stand opposed to the founding principles of capitalism, private property and opportunity.

Alford claims President Barack Obama is hurting black entrepreneurship everyday with entitlements and dependency.

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“It’s for the freedom of being what you want to be and not being … suppressed from your dreams,” he continued. “Go for it. But this president seems to think the government will run everything.”

Alford compared the founders’ guiding principles with Obama’s.

“Free enterprise. The freedom to have your own business to create jobs and wealth. The freedom to be educated. The freedom to speak any way you want, as long as it’s moral and true. Freedom of the press. Freedom of speech. The right to own a gun to protect you and your family. This administration is against all that,” he said. “And a surprising amount of people are trying to support that on his side, and it’s not America! Go back to your history books, it’s not America.”

His provocative blog includes recent commentary comparing what he believes was President Obama’s superficial trip to Africa with the productivity of China’s president, pointing out corruption in minority assistance programs and providing ideas for rebuilding Detroit.

Mrs. Thomas does not necessarily support or endorse the products, services or positions promoted in any advertisement contained herein, and does not have control over or receive compensation from any advertiser.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/11/harry-alford-on-obama-priorities-this-is-not-america-video/#ixzz3eBEI506u

---

bs, note he brags on energy testimony

Harry C. Alford President & CEO For these last twenty years, NBCC President/CEO and co-founder Harry C. Alford has established himself as perhaps the nation’s preeminent champion of African American business empowerment. From a visionary concept of what Blacks need to do to fully seize their place in the economic mainstream, Mr. Alford has built a global organization that has earned a place at the table in the White House and at the top levels of Corporate America. As the intellectual and spiritual linchpin of the NBCC, Mr. Alford has been responsible for opening doors that have led to billions of dollars in new business for Black owned firms throughout the nation. His courage and leadership have been noted by all in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His relentless energy and advocacy is helping forge international business opportunities for African Americans and emerging entrepreneurs in Africa, the Caribbean, South America and the rest of the African Diaspora. For this work he was formally named a Cultural Ambassador by the US State Department. A native of California, Mr. Alford has made his mark at the highest levels of both the private and public sectors. He matriculated at the University of Wisconsin via an athletic scholarship (football). After earning top honors as Company Commander in the Army’s Officer Candidate School class (OC3-72), [draft dodger?]

Mr. Alford put his leadership skills to work in a series of key sales and executive positions at Fortune 100 companies such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and the Sara Lee Corporation. Mr. Alford has led large trade missions to Brazil, Ghana, Kenya and various nations in the Caribbean. Recently, he helped establish the French African Diaspora Chamber of Commerce in Paris, France. The birth and growth of the National Black Chamber of Commerce is consistent with the dynamic growth of African American owned firms in the United States – the fastest growing segment in the nation per the US Census Bureau. Mr. Alford is an award winning columnist for the National Newspaper Publishers Association and consults and speaks on business matters to groups and agencies throughout the nation. He proudly served on the NNPA Foundation Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Board of Directors of the US Chamber of Commerce where he chairs the Government Oversight and Consumer Affairs Committee. He is a member of the 2008 Health Sector Assembly which is a think tank of national leaders concerned about healthcare. As a consultant, he has developed business models tailored to specific corporations and public agencies. Mr. Alford is regularly called upon by Congress to testify on various legislative initiatives related to small business development, the Gulf Coast rebuilding, ecommerce, healthcare, energy, tax reform and global trade issues. He received national recognition while delivering testimony concerning the recent Cap and Trade Energy debate. He was inducted into the Oxnard High School Hall of Fame in 2013. Mr. and Mrs. Alford reside in Virginia and have two sons who were scholar athletes at the University of Maryland (lacrosse)

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BY ARI PHILLIPS POSTED ON MARCH 17, 2015

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/17/3634581/house-takes-on-smog/

Smog is getting its moment in the Congressional spotlight, and the politics are dirty.

But Alford’s record of actively opposing environmental policies has struck a nerve with other black leaders in America, who are condemning his relationship with polluting industries.

This testimony harms African Americans.

“He’s just mouthing off talking points from Edison Electric,” said Dorsey. “It’s disturbing that he would subject himself to being so manipulated.”

Dorsey’s distress extends to Congress as well.

This is not a new line of attack.

Harry C. Alford (Deceased)

Credentials

Bachelor’s degree in Correctional Administration (School of Sociology, University of Wisconsin).¹

Background

Harry C. Alford was the president and founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC). According to his biography at NBCC (PDF), Alford worked “in a series of key sales and executive positions at Fortune 100 companies such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and the Sara Lee Corporation.” He passed away on December 6, 2021.² ^3

Harry Alford testified before House committees, contending that regulations on the energy industry and limitations on offshore drilling would cause job losses and hikes in electricity prices. NBCC positions minorities at odds with the EPA, and claims that regulations would cause undue harm to these groups.

Alford was also a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chair of their Government Oversight and Consumer Affairs Committee⁴. The U.S. Chamber has declared it will “Resist ill-conceived legislation” that would slow the development of “affordable, innovative energy technologies.”⁵

A September 2015 profile by *The Washington Post* described Alford as “a veteran of multiple campaigns to quash regulations intended to improve air quality or fight climate change.” Describing Alford’s fight against limits on ozone and other regulations, the post writes that his message “is nearly identical to the one being broadcast widely by the rules’ opponents from business and industry.”⁶

NBCC Funding

The National Black Chamber of Commerce has received over $1,000,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.⁷

Harry Alford has been unapologetic about the group’s funding, with the following statement published in an NBCC article titled “Fossil Fuels and African Americans – It’s Family!” (emphasis added):⁸

“Recently, a writer from USA Today wanted to know if the National Black Chamber of Commerce receives money from fossil fuel companies (coal, oil, natural gas, petrochemicals, etc.). That is a ‘no brainer’. Of course we do and it is only natural. The legacy of Blacks in this nation has been tied to the miraculous history of fossil fuel and the economic growth in communities because of the successful harvest of fossil fuels. Consistent with the emergence of the Industrial Revolution and the availability of the Homestead Act for freed slaves, fossil fuels have been our economic friend.”⁹

Stance on Climate Change

“Certainly the climate changes as time goes on – sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. So far, there is no pattern that seems to be very detrimental to our earth. There is an ebb and flow and it takes time to see any significant detrimental trend. It is like Stevie Wonder wrote, ‘When you believe in things you don’t understand; you suffer. Superstition ain’t the way’.” – Harry Alford, co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.¹⁰

Key Quotes

Undated

Harry Alford offered a statement of support for the Kemper Power Plantin Kemper County Mississippi, where he also promotes fracking:

“These are very exciting times for the fuel industry in America. We are at the point of being totally oil independent. We are finding new reserves in various parts of our great nation. Natural gas is now abundant thanks to a new process known as Fracturing or Fracking. In fact, we were once importers of natural gas but now, thanks to Fracking, we are exporting it for attractive profits. No longer do we have to rely on nations that don’t particularly like us for our energy needs. God blesses the child who has his own and we are certainly blessed.”¹¹

October 2016

Writing at at the Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) website, Alford declares:

“Clearly, there can be no America without the utilization of coal.”¹²

“Coal is a vital component to our infrastructure and will remain a vital resource. God put it here for us to use and for hundreds of years in the future we will continue to produce with improvements and environmentally safe methods.”¹³

November 2015

In an article in *The Philidelphia Tribune*, Alford claims that both the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported that “there has been no global warming detected for the last 18 years”:

“No global warming, but millions of jobs have been erased through adverse regulations in the name of addressing the global warming issue. Billions of dollars, mostly tax dollars, have been spent trying to address the same ‘ghost.’ Many low-income and minority communities have greatly suffered from these onerous regulations that seem to be made in vain.

“The Sierra Club and similar organizations are clinging to the global warming myth. In fact, they can be fanatical about it. They are funded by billionaires who try to manipulate our economic status and disrupt the common peace. They have even funded a cadre of “goons” who will verbally and sometimes physically attack any person or group that questions the global warming issue.

“Believe me, I have personally experienced these nuts, and the National Black Chamber of Commerce has been slandered for its energy positions. It appears that we are right and they are wrong. Let the whole world know about it.”¹⁴

Notably, a June 2015 study (also by the NOAA)states that “the rate of global warming during the last 15 years has been as fast as or faster than that seen during the latter half of the 20th Century.” According to the NOAA summary, “The study refutes the notion that there has been a slowdown or ‘hiatus’ in the rate of global warming in recent years.”¹⁵

October 2015

Harry Alford testified on “how overregulation harms minorities” (PDF) at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing:

“[T]he continuous stream of unreasonable and overreaching regulations that have come out of the federal government over the last few years has led to the denial of countless opportunities for minorities.”¹⁶

“[T]he Clean Power Plan in particular seems poised to escalate energy costs for Blacks and Hispanics in the United States, including individuals, families and minority-owned businesses.”¹⁷

September 2015

Evlondo Cooper with the Checks and Balances Project tried to interview Harry Alford regarding Coal pollution’s health impacts, but was refused a response.¹⁸

“You are about the dumbest ass I’ve ever met in my life,” Alford said. “You’ve come to Columbus to harass me.”

February 2013

Harry Alford spoke out against President Barack Obama’s call for more gun control, alongside Niger Innis of theCongress of Racial Equality:

“The National Rifle Association was started, founded by religious leaders who wanted to protect free slaves from the Ku Klux Klan. They would raise money, buy arms, show the free slaves how to use those arms and protect their families. God bless you. Many of us probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the NRA.”¹⁹

July 2009

Harry Alford testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works opposing climate change reglations:

“The bottom line is this: any climate legislation that fails to meaningfully reduce the human impact on the climate or does so in an economically unsustainable manner, can’t be effective. Under the House bill, American consumers and businesses would take on a heavy burden. This burden would fall at exactly the wrong time. “

”[…] I’m not a climate change expert, but I have to believe that there are better options than the one currently on the table.”²⁰

Key Deeds

April 6, 2020

Harry Alford, representing NBCC, is signatory to an American Energy Alliance letter to President Donald Trump supporting the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule which would scrap federal fuel economy mandates under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program.²¹

Describing CAFE, the letter contends: “Those families and individuals who prefer or need trucks, SUVs, and crossovers pay more to subsidize those who buy smaller vehicles or electric vehicles under the existing mandate. This significant, needless, and unjust cost is a very real regressive tax on American families that has made our country worse off.”²²

July 11, 2019

Harry Alford, representing National Black Chamber of Commerce, was a signatory to an American Energy Alliance open letter to President Trump, congratulating him for rolling back Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and urging him not to cut a deal with California to allow them to operate with separate regulations.²³

“Your efforts to reform this mandate will save consumers money, preserve their choices, and ensure that the federal government, and not a single state, sets national policy,” the letter reads²⁴

“The existing mandate makes cars more expensive. … In short, because of the mandate, those consumers who prefer trucks, SUVs, or crossovers pay more to subsidize those who buy smaller vehicles or electric vehicles.”²⁵

May 9, 2019

Harry C. Alford, representing the National Black Chamber of Commerce, signed on to an open letter organized by the American Energy Alliance designed to fight against an electric vehicle tax credit.²⁶

“The American Energy Alliance has organized a coalition to proclaim in one unified voice that there should be no expansion of the misguided electric vehicle tax credit,” Thomas Pyle wrote in a statement,quoted at *The Daily Caller. *“There is no question that the electric vehicle tax credit distorts the auto market to no gain.”²⁷

According to Pyle and others who signed the letter, electric vehicle tax credits “overwhelmingly benefit the rich.” DeSmog’sKoch vs. Clean projecthas systematically debunked this, among other well-rehearsed talking points and misinformation put forward by industry about electric vehicles.²⁸

The letter cites research by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a group that has received over $600,000 from ExxonMobil and millions from “dark money” groups DonorsTrust andDonors Capital Fund.

February 12, 2018

Harry Alford was a signatory to an open letter organized by Americans for Prosperity, representing the NBCC. ATR was one of several organizations to join Americans for Prosperity (AfP) in a coalition opposing a federal gas tax increase.²⁹

“Raising the gas tax is a bad idea. It will make the burden of government on families and businesses heavier,” the coalition’s open letter read.³⁰

Signatories include:³¹

“Raising the gas tax is a bad idea. It will make the burden of government on families and businesses heavier,” the coalition’s open letter read.30

Signatories include:31

Name	Title	Company
Brent Wm. Gardner	Chief Government Affairs Officer	Amer
Michael A. Needham	CEO	Heritage Action for America
Grover Norquist	President	Americans for Tax Reform
David McIntosh	President	Club for Growth
Nathan Nascimento	Executive Vice President	Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce
Mark Scribner	Senior Fellow	Competitive Enterprise Institute
Jason Pye	Vice President of Legislative Affairs	FreedomWorks
Tom Schatz	President	Citizens Against Government Waste
Pete Sepp	President	National Taxpayers Union
Phil Kerpen	President	American Commitment
Mario H. Lopez	President	Hispanic Leadership Fund
Daniel Garza	President	The Libre Initiative
Carrie L. Lukas	President	Independent Women’s Forum
Heather R. Higgins	President and CEO	Independent Women’s Voice
Harry C. Alford	President and CEO	National Black Chamber of Commerce
Jeffrey Mazella	President	Center for Individual Freedom
Donald Bryson	President	Civitas Action
David Barnes	Policy Director	Generation Opportunity
Norm Singleton	President	Campaign for Liberty
Judson Phillips	Founder	Tea Party Nation
Seton Motley	President	Less Government
Kim Crockett, Esq.	Vice President, Senior Fellow and General Counsel	Center of the American Experiment
Tom Brinkman, Jr.	Chairman	Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST)
Matthew Kandrach	President	Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE)
Katie McAulliffe	Executive Director	Digital Liberty
Brett Healy	President	John K. MacIver Institute
Sean Noble	President	American Encore
Annette Meeks	CEO	Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
Andrew F. Quinlan	President	Center for Freedom and Prosperity

September 2017

A Bloomberg article on Harry Alford and the National Black Chamber of Commerce illustrates a connection between NBCC, Alford, and DCI Group LLC. DCI Group is a lobbying and PR firm, which has historically worked with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and was behind the now-defunct Tech Central Station (TCS), a website that worked as a forum for climate change skeptics and received direct funding from ExxonMobil for “climate change support.” Bloomberg noted that many groups that benefited from the NBCC’s actions have also hired DCI, donated money to NBCC, or both. Examples included ExxonMobil, Penn National Gaming, and numerous others.32 33

Bloomberg offered a summary chart of causes backed by the NBCC that also benefited large companies and investors, reproduced below:34

NBCC ACTION	BENEFICIARY	HIRED DCI	DONATED TO NBCC
Opposed Puerto Rico bankruptcy bill	Investors in Puerto Rico bonds	Y
Criticized government handling of Fannie Mae	Investors in Fannie Mae shares	Y
Opposed limits on swipe fees	Visa		Y
Opposed pollution regulations	Exxon Mobil	Y	Y
Bought ad supporting phosphate mine	Mosaic
Backed Samsung at Int’l Trade Commission	Samsung in dispute with Apple	Y
Advocated for Argentine bondholders	Investors in Argentine bonds	Y
Supported solar measure backed by utilities	Gulf Power		Y
Opposed Anna Nicole Smith’s claim on fortune	Heirs of billionaire J. Howard Marshall II	Y
Opposed casino expansion in Maryland	Penn National Gaming	Y	Y
Fought “gainful employment” rule	For-profit college operator EDMC	Y	Y
Defended rum tariff rules in U.S. Virgin Islands	Fortune Brands and Diageo

January 12, 2017

Harry Alford was a signatory to a January 12, 2017 official letter of support (PDF) for Scott Pruitt,in which numerous groups, including The Heartland Institute,American Energy Alliance (AEA), and others, declared that the Senate should “swiftly approve his nomination” for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Other signatories of the letter included:³⁵

Thomas Pyle, American Energy Alliance
Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
Kent Lassman, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks
David McIntosh, Club for Growth
Phil Kerpen, American Commitment
Craig Richardson, Energy and Environment Action Team
David Williams, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Jim Martin , 60 Plus
Andrew Langer, Institute for Liberty
Heather Higgins, Independent Women’s Voice
Independence Institute
Richard Martin, Americans for Limited Government
Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST)
Brett Healy, MacIver Institute
J**oseph Bast, Heartland Institute
George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom
Randy Eminger, Energy Policy Network
Paul Gessing,Rio Grande Foundation
Mike Nasi, Balanced Energy for Texas
Brent Mead, Montana Policy Institute
Forest Thigpen, Mississippi Center for Public Policy

October 25, 2016

Harry C. Alford writes that he took part in a tour of coal mines in Alabama sponsored by the energy group PACE (Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy), where he has held a board seat since 2015 according to the group’s available 990 tax forms.³⁶ ^37 ^38

“Clearly, there can be no America without the utilization of coal,” Alford writes at the PACE website (energyfairness.org).

“Coal is a vital component to our infrastructure and will remain a vital resource. God put it here for us to use and for hundreds of years in the future we will continue to produce with improvements and environmentally safe methods.”

The Energy and Policy Institute profiles PACE as a “anti-clean energy front group” incorporated by William D. Lineberry, an attorney with Balch & Bingham, a firm that lobbies on behalf of Southern Company and its Alabama Power subsidiary.³⁹

PACE is an “official partner” with the Consumer Energy Alliance, an advocacy group that has attached alternative fuels. In addition to the Consumer Energy Alliance, PACE lists the following fossil fuel interests as official partners:⁴⁰

Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives
Empower Consumers
Tennessee Mining Association
The National Federation of Independent Business

November 23, 2015

Alford published an article at The Hill titled “EDMC settlements chart new direction for private-sector education.” HuffPost reported that the article bore signs that it had actually been authored by EDMC (Education Management Corp.) and Alford had put his name on the byline.⁴¹ ^42

The original article contained the following paragraph (emphasis added), which appears to have been accidentally left in by the editor:⁴³

“As an observer with a rooting interest in providing students with an education that enables jobs that change lives (or from an employer perspective, if that fits the writer), it makes much more sense to allow the private-sector institutions to do their good work, making corrections where necessary and building on the innovation and nimbleness that is characteristic of the sector.”⁴⁴

November 4, 2015

The National Black Chamber of Commerce’s President and CEO Harry Alford published an article in the Philadelphia Tribune where he describes global warming as a “costly farce.”⁴⁵

“[The NOAA and NASA ]have reported that there has been no global warming detected for the last 18 years. That is over 216 months in a row that there has been no detected global warming. At the same time, sea ice in Antarctica is building up at record levels,” Alford writes.“⁴⁶

“No global warming, but millions of jobs have been erased through adverse regulations in the name of addressing the global warming issue. Billions of dollars, mostly tax dollars, have been spent trying to address the same ‘ghost.’ Many low-income and minority communities have greatly suffered from these onerous regulations that seem to be made in vain.”⁴⁷

Alford says that the “the National Black Chamber of Commerce has been slandered for its energy positions,” but claims that “we are right and they are wrong.”⁴⁸

However, climate scientists provide an explanation for this supposed hiatus in global warming. According to Michael Mann at Penn State University, “There certainly has not been a hiatus in global warming — global warming hasn’t stopped, even though you still hear those contrarian talking points.”⁴⁹

An 2015 analysis by US government scientists in the journal Nature and Climate Changesuggested that if temporary natural fluctuations were ignored then world was probably now warming at a rate of about 0.2°C per decade — higher than the IPCC’s longer-term average.⁵⁰

October 6, 2015

Harry Alford testified on “how overregulation harms minorities” (PDF) at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing.⁵¹

According to Alford, “the continuous stream of unreasonable and overreaching regulations that have come out of the federal government over the last few years has led to the denial of countless opportunities for minorities.”⁵²

The first set of regulations that Alford accuses is the Clean Power Plan (CPP). He contends: “[T]he Clean Power Plan in particular seems poised to escalate energy costs for Blacks and Hispanics in the United States, including individuals, families and minority-owned businesses.”⁵³

He points to a June, 2015 NBCC study that suggested the CPP would “ impose severe and disproportionate economic burdens on poor families, especially minorities.” Alford writes how The NBCC study found “EPA’s rule increases Black poverty by 23% and Hispanic poverty by 26%.”⁵⁴

In addition to the CPP, Alford also points to the National Ozone Air Quality Standard as a rule that would “disproportionately affect America’s urban, low-income and minority families.”⁵⁵

September 2, 2015

Harry Alford’s NBCC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce jointly hosted a symposium opposing the EPA Ozone Rule, describing it as devastating to the Pennysylvania Economy.⁵⁶

“As world markets shuttered amidst instability in China, the President reminded us that the American economy is resilient and the backbone of the global market. Unfortunately, the EPA’s proposed ozone rule threatens that resiliency, found in our urban centers like Pittsburgh, by bringing the economic recovery to a halt,” Harry C. Alford said. “Today’s forum was an opportunity for local business owners and elected officials to discuss the effects of this regulation and how to continue our fight to keep EPA’s assault at bay.”⁵⁷

Other contributors at the event included:

State Rep. Jake Wheatley (D-Allegheny)
Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry
Robert Agbede, president of Chester Engineers;
Howard Feldman, director at the American Petroleum Institute
Mark Kempic, president of Columbia Gas
Morgan O’Brien, president of Peoples Natural Gas

June 23, 2015

Harry Alford testified at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee opposing the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.⁵⁸

With reference to a NBCC study, Alford said that “The study finds that the Clean Power Plan will inflict severe and disproportionate economic burdens on poor families, especially minorities.” He continued, saying “The EPA’s proposed regulation for GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions from existing power plants is a slap in the face to poor and minority families.”⁵⁹

Video below.

IFrame Content

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) rebutted, saying that states who have taken action on climate change have seen their economies grow:

“Many states, such as New York and Delaware, have already taken action to reduce the largest emitter of carbon pollution – power plant emissions,” Carper said. “As we will hear today, the economies of these states continue to grow at a faster rate than the states that have yet to put climate regulations in place. However, we need all states to do their fair share to protect the air we breathe and stem the tide of climate change. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan attempts to do just that.”⁶⁰

June 2015

Media Matters reports that the National Black Chamber of Commerce published at least seven Op-Eds by Harry Alford attacking the EPA’s clean power plan.⁶¹

“Like Americans for Prosperity, the Beacon Hill Institute, and the State Policy Network before it, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) is the latest oil industry front group to run a deceptive op-ed campaign against the EPA’s climate change plan, with NBCC president Harry C. Alford alleging in newspapers across the country that the Clean Power Plan will impose ‘economic hardship’ on blacks and Hispanics,” Denise Robbins and Andrew Seifter write at Media Matters.⁶²

Articles published by the NBCC include (articles on file at DeSmog):

“The EPA vs. Iowa’s Minorities,” The Des Moines Register, 6/23/15
“Another Voice: ‘Clean power’ will impose hardships on minorities,” The Buffalo News, 6/24/15
“Harry C. Alford: The EPA vs. Oklahoma’s minorities,”Tulsa World, 6/22/15
“The EPA vs. Pennsylvania’s minorities,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,6/24/15
“Reader View: Clean Power Plan a matter of justice,” The Santa Fe New Mexican, 6/22/15
“Their View: Minorities to suffer under proposed EPA emissions standards,”Centre Daily Times, 6/22/15
“Harry C. Alford: The EPA vs. West Virginia minorities,” Charleston Daily Mail, 6/22/15

February 10, 2011

Harry C. Alford testified on behalf of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), opposing the Gulph moratorium which prevented energy companies from purchasing offshore drilling leases after the the Gulf Oil Spill.⁶³

“Now is the time to dust ourselves off and get back to work,” Alford’s testimony reads. “We must learn from this incident and not be afraid to move forward with domestic energy production.”⁶⁴

Alford also criticizes the EPA, claiming it “has gone beyond the intended scope of their authority and implemented far reaching policies by invoking the Clean Air Act (CAA) to defend their actions.”⁶⁵

While Alford says that “Reducing emissions to mitigate the effects of climate change is a very real challenge for the U.S. and the global community,” he goes on to state that current regulations on businesses are “unsustainable.” He also claims that “nearly 800,000 jobs are at risk due to EPA greenhouse gas proposals” — a statistic taken from an Environment and Public Works Report, a Senate Committee chaired by prominent climate change denier James Inhofe.⁶⁶

February 9, 2011

Alford was on “H.R. 910,” which would amend the Clean Air Act to prevent the EPA from regulating carbon emissions.⁶⁷

Witnesses included:

Name	Position	Affiliation
Greg Abbott	Attorney General	State of Texas
Harry C. Alford	President & CEO	National Black Chamber of Commerce
Betsy Blaisdell	Senior Manager	Timberland Company
Lonnie N. Carter	President & CEO	Santee Cooper
Steve Cousins	Vice President	Lions Oil Company
Peter S. Glaser	Partner	Troutman Sanders LLP
Lynn Goldman	MD	American Public Health Association
Fred T. Harnack	General Manager, Environmental Affairs	US Steel Corporation
James Inhofe	United States Senator	State of Oklahoma
Lisa Jackson	Administrator	Environmental Protection Agency
Philip Nelson	President	Illinois Farm Bureau
James Pearce	Director of Manufacturing	FMC Corporation
Steven Rowlan	General Manager	Environmental Affairs for Nucor Corporation
Margo Thorning	Senior Vice President and Chief Economist	American Council for Capital Formation

July 16, 2009

Harry Alford testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works opposing climate change reglations. He points to a study by the National Black Chamber of Commerce, claiming “ the current legislation out of the U.S. House of Representatives will negatively impact the most vulnerable of our society.”⁶⁸

“The bottom line is this: any climate legislation that fails to meaningfully reduce the human impact on the climate or does so in an economically unsustainable manner, can’t be effective,” Alford said. “Under the House bill, American consumers and businesses would take on a heavy burden. This burden would fall at exactly the wrong time.”⁶⁹

”[…] I’m not a climate change expert, but I have to believe that there are better options than the one currently on the table.”

During the hearing, Alford with Chairwoman Senator Boxer regarding global warming job losses (video below).⁷⁰

Affiliations

National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC)— Former Co-Founder, President & CEO⁷¹
U.S. Chamber of Commerce — Former member, Board of Directors. Chair, Government Oversight and Consumer Affairs Committee.⁷²
Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy (PACE)— Former Board Member (as of 2015’s 990).⁷³ ^74 ^75

Social Media

Twitter—@NationalBCC on Twitter

Other Resources

Ari Phillips. ”How The National Black Chamber Of Commerce’s Leader Is Harming African Americans,” ThinkProgress, May 17, 2015. Archived August 16, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/lBrRq
“HARRY C. ALFORD: President & CEO National Black Chamber of Commerce,” U.S. Census Bureau, June 14, 2010. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

Resources

“Our Rotten Prison System” (PDF), African American Voice, October 2013 (P. 8). Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

“Management Bios (PDF)”, National Black Chamber of Commerce, February, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“National Black Business Chamber Champion Harry C. Alford Dies,” Milwaukee Courier, December 11, 2021. Archived December 15, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ku4Tt

“Board of Directors,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Archived August 16, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SZjjk

“Climate Change,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Archived February 6, 2013. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Joby Warrick. “In smog battle, industry gets help from unlikely source: black business group,” The Washington Post, September 28, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Pfa2P

ExxonSecrets Factsheet: National Black Chamber of Commerce. Accessed August 16, 2016.

“’Fossil Fuels and African Americans – It’s Family!’ National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived July 31, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fXC1G

“Environmental Racism, Global Warming and Climate Change,” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived June 30, 2015.

“About The National Black Chamber of Commerce,” Kemperproject.org. Archived June 30, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mcTZ8

“Harry Alford: An Epiphany – Sweet Home Alabama,” PACE, October 25, 2016. Archived January 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/9rbOB

Harry C. Alford. “Global warming proponents cling to costly farce,” The Philadelphia Tribune, November 4, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“Science publishes new NOAA analysis: Data show no recent slowdown in global warming,” NOAA, June 4, 2015. Archived August 18, 2016. Archive.is URL:https://archive.is/LAmwA

“Opportunity Denied: How Overregulation Harms Minorities” (PDF – Testimony), October 1, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

“Evlondo Cooper interviews Harry Alford,” The Washington Post, September 28, 2015.

Nicholas Ballasy. “Black conservatives: Gun control has ‘racist’ roots [VIDEO],” The Daily Caller, February 22, 2013. Archived August 16, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zbOtx

“Senate Testimony, July 16, 2009,” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived August 16, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Or3H9

CAFE-Coaliton-to-Trump-April-2020-9 (PDF), American Energy Alliance.

“Dear Mr. President:” (PDF), American Energy Alliance, July 11, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

.“Dear Mr. President:” (PDF), American Energy Alliance, July 11, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

“Dear Mr. President:” (PDF), American Energy Alliance, July 11, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

“Dear Senator Grassley, Senator Wyden, Representative Neal and Representative Brady:” May 9, 2019. Retrieved from The Daily Caller.

Christ White. “CONSERVATIVES WARN LAWMAKERS: TESLA’S TAX CREDITS ‘OVERWHELMINGLY BENEFIT THE RICH’,”The Daily Caller, May 9, 2019. Archived May 9, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/qzvF3

“Americans For Prosperity Leads Coalition Against Gas Tax Hike,” Americans for Prosperity, February 12, 2018. Archived February 20, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vNQMN

“Dear Representative:” (PDF), Americans for Prosperity, February 12, 2018.

Zachary R. Mider. “When Harry Alford Speaks Up, a Washington Firm’s Clients Gain,” Bloomberg,September 14, 2017. Archived September 19, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/IuiRd

Kevin Grandia. “ABC News: Gore spoof video linked to Republican/Exxon Spinster,” DeSmog, August 4, 2006.

Zachary R. Mider. “When Harry Alford Speaks Up, a Washington Firm’s Clients Gain,” Bloomberg,September 14, 2017. Archived September 19, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/IuiRd

“Dear Senators,” (PDF), Competitive Enterprise Institute, January 12, 2017. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“Harry Alford: An Epiphany – Sweet Home Alabama,” PACE, October 25, 2016. Archived January 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/9rbOB

2015 990 Tax Form for Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy, Inc. (EIN-26-4374127). Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy,” Energy and Policy Institute. Archived January 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fFopF

Harry C. Alford. “EDMC settlements chart new direction for private-sector education,” The Hill, Archived November 24, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/61rjG

Jason Linkins. “For-Profit Education Grift Mill Submits Op-Ed Under Someone Else’s Byline,” HuffPost, December 1, 2015. Archived September 20, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/yzQtH

Harry C. Alford. “EDMC settlements chart new direction for private-sector education,” The Hill, Archived November 24, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/61rjG

Harry C. Alford. “Global warming proponents cling to costly farce,” The Philadelphia Tribune, November 4, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Graham Readfearn. “Global warming hiatus explained and it’s not good news,” ABCEnvironment, April 8, 2015. Archived March 22, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wA3yg

“Near-term acceleration in the rate of temperature change,” Nature Climate Change,333–336 (2015).

“Opportunity Denied: How Overregulation Harms Minorities” (PDF – Testimony), October 1, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

(Press Release). “Chambers of Commerce: EPA Ozone Rule Will Be Devastating to Pennsylvania Economy,” PR Newswire, September 2, 2015. Archived August 16, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/jhZ5g

Ali Meyer. “Black Chamber of Commerce: EPA Clean Air Plan Will Increase Black Poverty 23%, Strip 7,000,000 Black Jobs,” CNSnews.com, June 24, 2015. Archived July 31, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/l6bFB

Denise Robbins and Andrew Seifter. “National Black Chamber Of Commerce Joins Oil Industry’s Op-Ed Campaign Against EPA Climate Plan,” Media Matters, June 26, 2016. Archived March 22, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/O17Fr

“Testimony of Harry C. Alford on Behalf of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) Before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform” (PDF), National Black Chamber of Commerce, February 10, 2011. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.

,” YouTube video uploaded by user “EnergyCommerce”, July 20, 2011. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

“Senate Testimony, July 16, 2009,” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived August 16, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Or3H9

,” YouTube Video uploaded by user Senator Jim Inhofe. July 16, 2009.

“Management Bios (PDF)”, National Black Chamber of Commerce, February, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“Board of Directors,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Archived August 16, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SZjjk

“Harry Alford: An Epiphany – Sweet Home Alabama,” PACE, October 25, 2016. Archived January 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/9rbOB

2015 990 Tax Form for Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy, Inc. (EIN-26-4374127). Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy,” Energy and Policy Institute. Archived January 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fFopF

---

desmog: ORG VS GUY?

1350 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 825 Washington, DC 20036

Phone: (202) 466-6888

Fax: (202) 466-4918

Founded in 1993, the National Black Chamber of Commerce is on the "leading edge of educating and training Black communities on the need to participate vigorously in this great capitalistic society known as America." The NBCC has 95,000 black owned business members.

NBCC's position on the Kyoto Protocol cites "continued scientific uncertainties" and high economic costs associated with "radical" changes in emission policies. (http://www.nationalbcc.org/issues/default.asp?id=1303) NBCC's Public Policy Council works with the board of directors to "formulate positions on the Global Warming Treaty, Tax Reform, National Air Ambient Quality, OSHA Laws, etc." Membership on this council requires a $25,000 donation. Current Public Policy Council members include General Motors, Texaco, Caterpillar, Sprint, Daimler Chrysler, and Columbia/HCA. (http://www.nationalbcc.org/membership/categories.asp)

KEY QUOTES

"In December 1997, the 186 signatories to the Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Kyoto, Japan, to conclude an agreement that addresses concerns that increased concentration levels of greenhouse gases within the Earth's atmosphere will lead to climatic disruptions- the global warming theory. Despite continued scientific uncertainties related to this theory, the countries agreed in principle to the Kyoto Protocol-legally binding commitments by 38 industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to specific levels by specific dates. This treaty would have a significant impact on domestic and international economies, as participating nations adopt radical changes to existing energy policies in order to meet the Protocol's requirements."

Source: NBCC website 4/04

KEY DEEDS

Published a study entitled "Potential Economic Impacts on the Kyoto Climate Change Protocol on Blacks and Hispanics in the U.S."

Source: NBCC website 4/04

4 June, 1998

NBCC President Harry Alford testified before the House Small Business Committee that US ratification of the Kyoto Protocol would be detrimental to minority-owned small businesses.

Source: Transcript, Harry Alford's testimony before House Small Business Committee 6/4/98

FUNDING

National Black Chamber of Commerce has received $525,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

$50,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report

2003

$40,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report

2004

$50,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report

2005

$60,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report

2007

$75,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2007 Worldwide Giving Report

2008

$75,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: EXXON FOUNDATION AND CORPORATE GIVING 2008

2009

$75,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving

Source: ExxonMobil 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments

2010

$100,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving

Source: ExxonMobil 2010 Worldwide Giving Report

KEY PEOPLE

Harry C. Alford

President, CEO & Co-founder

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

PEOPLE

Kay DeBow WIFE

Executive Vice President & Co-founder

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Frederick E. Jordan

Chairman, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Doris Carson Williams

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Richard Bowles

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Jim Chitty

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Thomas Crosby

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Eugene Franklin

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Sherrie Gilchrist

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Reginald Daniel

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Larry Ivory

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Felix Jackson

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Dorothy Leavell

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Mike Little

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Shannon Reeves

Member, Board of Director

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Nathaniel Rido

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Myron Stewart

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Leroy Tombs

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Jerry Mitchell

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

John Harmon

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

SOURCES

ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report

Public Information and Policy Research

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4389

NBCC website 4/04

http://www.nationalbcc.org

National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

http://www.nationalbcc.org

Transcript, Harry Alford's testimony before House Small Business Committee 6/4/98

ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report

2004 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments Public Information and Policy Research

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4380

ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report

Public Information and Policy Research

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4387

ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report

Public Information and Policy Research downloaded from Exxon website

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4381

ExxonMobil 2007 Worldwide Giving Report

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=download&d=4586

EXXON FOUNDATION AND CORPORATE GIVING 2008

http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/community_contributions_report.aspx

ExxonMobil 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments

Exxon Mobil Corporation 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments

http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/files/gcr_contributions_pub-policy09.pdf

ExxonMobil 2010 Worldwide Giving Report

http://exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Files/gcr_contributions_pubpolicy-2010.pdf

---

only 2 officers:

:{Kay DeBow Alford Co-founder, NaOonal Black Chamber of Commerce Founder, PanAfrican Entrepreneurs Conference As an African-American woman and an entrepreneur, the co-founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce and founder of the PanAfrican Entrepreneurs Conference, has a unique perspective on what it takes to succeed in today's global economy. Ms. DeBow, who co-founded the NBCC in 1993, honed her business development skills over several years in administration with the Hoosier Minority Chamber of Commerce and as an owner of successful franchise and independent video stores.

Since assuming a key leadership role with the NBCC, Ms. DeBow has earned national and international respect in corporate circles for her stewardship of the chamber's signature annual convention. In addition to her daily responsibilities for the organization's personnel, budgets, administration, newsletter and event planning, she has coordinated and supervised every aspect of the world’s largest and most influential convention dedicated to African-American business development. The NBCC's annual convention routinely attracts more than 400 chamber affiliate members and business owners, plus representatives from over 30 government agencies and 100 major corporations.}:

True to her mission, Ms. DeBow uses the convention as both a practical and symbolic tool to promote Black business. In choosing a city to host an NBCC convention, Ms. DeBow told a reporter, "What we look for when we determine a convention site is the number of black businesses that can serve us while we are there - businesses like printers, audio/visual, hotels, caterers, reception halls ... places where we can go to spend our dollars with black businesses." She conceived the PanAfrican Entrepreneurs Conference as an opportunity to bring together businesses representing the Diaspora for collaborations and joint ventures. Ms. DeBow has also been recognized by the White House and international trade groups as one of the leading advocates of international business development opportunities for Latin American, South American and African nations.

[http://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/15/obituaries/charles-h-debow-jr.html]

Ms. DeBow has played a critical part in the organization's ongoing trade initiatives with countries such as Surinam, Kenya, Ghana, Brazil, France, Cuba, Colombia, and Botswana. A graduate of Indiana University, Ms. DeBow is heir to a long line of African-American pioneers. Her father, for example, was one of the original five Tuskegee Airman, the legendary Black military pilots who have been immortalized in movies and literature. Both her father and mother were among the first group of African-American educators to integrate the Indiana public school system. Her maternal grandfather, William Weir Stuart, travelled the world with John Philip Sousa (composer of Stars and Stripes forever) as his personal assistant. Ms. DeBow resides in Virginia with her husband. They are proud parents of their 2 sons who are currently enrolled in MBA programs at Johns Hopkins and Babson Colle

---

Charles DeBow - Wikipedia

After leaving the military, DeBow returned to the State of Indiana where earned a Master's degree from alma mater Indiana University and another Master’s degree from Butler University.^[3] DeBow became an English teacher at Indianapolis, Indiana's Thomas Carr Howe High School where he remained for 10 years. He later became an associate English lecturer at IUPUI until his death on April 4, 1986.^[3]

---

Pattern: sellouts BS uncle tom fronts? also hispanic

see ALFORD NBCC

capt alford 816

see ca prop 23

desmog 7/16

The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) was incorporated as The National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc. in 1993. The organization describes itself as “a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of African American communities.”

According to their website, “In essence, the NBCC is a 501(c)3 corporation that is on the leading edge of educating and training Black communities on the need to participate vigorously in this great capitalistic society known as America.” [1]

The NBCC maintains at least 140 affiliated chapters in the United States, as well as international affiliate chapters based in Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, France, Botswana, Cameroon and Jamaica.

The National Black Chamber of Commerce is a proponent of coal power and hydraulic fracturing (fracking), as NBCC President/CEO Harry Alford revealed in a column supporting the Kemper power plant in Kemper County, Mississippi. [2]

Stance on Climate Change

“Certainly the climate changes as time goes on - sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. So far, there is no pattern that seems to be very detrimental to our earth. There is an ebb and flow and it takes time to see any significant detrimental trend. It is like Stevie Wonder wrote, 'When you believe in things you don't understand; you suffer. Superstition ain't the way'.” – Harry Alford, co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. [3]

Funding

According to ExxonSecrets, The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) has received over $800,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. [4]

NBCC's President Harry C. Alford is unapologetic about the organization's fossil fuel funding. Alford states on the group's website (emphasis added):

“Recently, a writer from USA Today wanted to know if the National Black Chamber of Commerce receives money from fossil fuel companies (coal, oil, natural gas, petrochemicals, etc.). That is a 'no brainer'. Of course we do and it is only natural. The legacy of Blacks in this nation has been tied to the miraculous history of fossil fuel and the economic growth in communities because of the successful harvest of fossil fuels. Consistent with the emergence of the Industrial Revolution and the availability of the Homestead Act for freed slaves, fossil fuels have been our economic friend.” [14]

Conservative Transparency details the National Black Chamber of Commerce's funding as follows, with data going up to 2013: [5]

Donor Contribution

American Petroleum Institute $75,000

DonorsTrust $25,000

Exxon Mobil $835,000

MyWireless.org $150,000

Grand Total $1,085,000

990 Forms

Key People

Harry C. Alford – President & CEO

Kay DeBow Alford – Co-founder

[6]

According to their website, “The National Black Chamber of Commerce does not distribute information about our members to protect their privacy.” [7]

Actions

June 13, 2016

The National Black Chamber of Commerce was listed as a creditor in Peabody Energy's 2016 bankruptcy filings, reports the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD/PRWatch). [26]

While the available bankruptcy documents do not list the scale or dates of funding, they outline Peabody Energy's financial ties to a large network of groups promoting climate change denial. [27]

Prominent individuals appearing in the documents include climate deniers Willie Soon, Richard Lindzen, Roy Spencer and Richard Berman. The long list of organizations also includes groups such as Americans for Prosperity, American Legislative Exchange Council, CFACT, Institute for Energy Research, State Policy Network, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and dozens more. [28]

The Guardian also analysed and reported on the Peabody bankruptcy findings: [29]

“These groups collectively are the heart and soul of climate denial,” said Kert Davies, founder of the Climate Investigation Center, who has spent 20 years tracking funding for climate denial. “It’s the broadest list I have seen of one company funding so many nodes in the denial machine.”

The company’s filings reveal funding for a range of organisations which have fought Barack Obama’s plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and denied the very existence of climate change. […]

Among Peabody’s beneficiaries, the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change has insisted – wrongly – that carbon emissions are not a threat but “the elixir of life” while the American Legislative Exchange Council is trying to overturn Environmental Protection Agency rules cutting emissions from power plants. Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity campaigns against carbon pricing. The Oklahoma chapter was on the list. […]

“The breadth of the groups with financial ties to Peabody is extraordinary. Thinktanks, litigation groups, climate scientists, political organisations, dozens of organisations blocking action on climate all receiving funding from the coal industry,” said Nick Surgey, director of research for the Center for Media and Democracy.

“We expected to see some denial money, but it looks like Peabody is the treasury for a very substantial part of the climate denial movement.”

Notable organizations listed in the initial documents include:

60 Plus Association

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

American Energy Alliance

Alliance For Energy And Economic Growth

American Energy Alliance

American Legislative Exchange Council

Americans For Prosperity Oklahoma

Atlas Economic Research Foundation

Berman And Company, Inc

Consumer Energy Alliance

Center For Clean Air Policy

Center for Energy and Economic Development

Center For The Study Of Carbon Dioxide And Global Change

Coalition for Responsible Regulation

Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow

Council on State Taxation

DCI Group AZ, LLC

Ducks Unlimited

Energy & Environment Legal Institute

Edison Electric Institute

Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

Free Market Environmental Law Clinic

Frontiers Of Freedom Institute

George C. Marshall Institute

Hill Knowlton Strategies

Hill Knowlton, Inc

Hudson Institute

Hunton & Williams

Independence Institute

Institute For Energy Research

Institute for Liberty

National Association of Manufacturers

National Black Chamber of Commerce

National Conference of State Legislatures

National Mining Association

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

NextGen Energy Council

PACE (May refer to Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy)

Science & Public Policy Institute

Sidley Austin LLP

State Policy Network

Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute

Texas Public Policy Foundation

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Western Business Roundtable

Notable individuals named in the initial documents include the following:

Kelly Forbes Mader

Heather A. Wilson

Roy W. Spencer

Willie Soon

Richard Lindzen

December 13, 2015

Writing as a guest blogger on Watts Up With That, CFACT's executive director Craig Rucker denounced the latest UN climate change agreement: [39]

“This agreement will not meaningfully alter the temperature of the Earth, even under the U.N.’s own computer models.

“The bad news is that it plants the seeds of a new UN climate regime that left unchecked will swell into a bureaucratic behemoth.”

November 4, 2015

The National Black Chamber of Commerce's President and CEO Harry Alford published an article in the Philadelphia Tribune where he describes global warming as a “costly farce.” [22]

“[The NOAA and NASA ]have reported that there has been no global warming detected for the last 18 years. That is over 216 months in a row that there has been no detected global warming. At the same time, sea ice in Antarctica is building up at record levels,” Alford writes. “

“No global warming, but millions of jobs have been erased through adverse regulations in the name of addressing the global warming issue. Billions of dollars, mostly tax dollars, have been spent trying to address the same 'ghost.' Many low-income and minority communities have greatly suffered from these onerous regulations that seem to be made in vain.”

Alford says that the “the National Black Chamber of Commerce has been slandered for its energy positions”, but claims that “we are right and they are wrong.”

However, climate scientists provide an explanation for this supposed hiatus in global warming. According to Michael Mann at Penn State University, “There certainly has not been a hiatus in global warming — global warming hasn't stopped, even though you still hear those contrarian talking points.” [23]

An 2015 analysis by US government scientists in the journal Nature and Climate Change suggested that if temporary natural fluctuations were ignored then world was probably now warming at a rate of about 0.2°C per decade — higher than the IPCC's longer-term average. [24]

August 25, 2015

The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) was a “Supporting Organization” at the Heartland Institute's “Affordable Energy Summit 8.0,” which was co-sponsored with the Libertarian Party of Nevada in Las Vegas. Niger Innis, who serves on the NBCC's Board of Directors, was a speaker at the summit. [19]

According to the Affordable Energy Summit's “Events” webpage, the purpose of the summit was to “discuss the costs of climate change, as well as the fiscal and environmental impact of the so-called 'Clean Power Plan.'” [20] The “Events” page of the Affordable Energy Summit's website goes on to state that the speakers at the National Clean Energy Summit, which took place just one day earlier, “believe that evidence of man-made global warming is enough to justify any action intended to solve the problem, without regard for effectiveness and without any regard for the expense.” [20]

The Heartland Institute's James Taylor wrote in Forbes that, “Unlike the Clean Energy Summit, the Affordable Energy Summit will present the full picture on energy, economics, and the environment.” Taylor asserts that wind and solar power initiatives are “not only prohibitively expensive, but they produce worse environmental damage than the conventional power Obama and Reid seek to vilify.” [21]

July 28, 2015

The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) announced that it had joined forces with Consumers for Smart Solar effort to support the “Smart Solar Amendment, “ which would be a “Consumer-friendly alternative to the Shady Solar Amendment proposed by Floridians for Solar Choice.” [12]

NBCC submitted a brief to the Florida Supreme Court, claiming that the Solar Amendment was misleading. [13]

“As an advocate of small and minority-owned businesses, the National Black Chamber of Commerce is concerned with the substantial, negative impacts the Shady Solar Amendment may have on small and minority businesses,” said Harry C. Alford, President/CEO of NBCC. “These negative impacts – potential increases in electric service rates and higher state and local taxes – are why we oppose the Shady Solar Amendment.” [12]

June, 2015

As reported by Media Matters, The National Black Chamber of Commerce joined other organizations including Americans for Prosperity, the Beacon Hill Institute, and the State Policy Network in an op-ed campaign opposing the EPA's climate change plan. NBCC President Harry C. Alford alleged in newspapers across the U.S. that the Clean Power Plan would impose “economic hardship” on blacks and Hispanics. [8]

Seven nearly-identical op-eds were published:

“The EPA vs. Iowa's minorities” – The Des Moines Register (June 23, 2015)

“Another Voice: 'Clean power' will impose hardships on minorities” – The Buffalo News (June 24, 2015)

“Harry C. Alford: The EPA vs. Oklahoma's minorities” – Tulsa World (June 22, 2015)

“The EPA vs. Pennsylvania's minorities” – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (June 24, 2015)

“Reader View: Clean Power Plan a matter of justice” – The Santa Fe New Mexican (June 22, 2015)

“Their View: Minorities to suffer under proposed EPA emissions standards” – Centre Daily Times (June 22, 2015)

“Harry C. Alford: The EPA vs. West Virginia minorities” – Charleston Daily Mail (June 22, 2015)

Media Matters also reports that of the seven reports that the NBCC cites in the op-eds, three predate the Clean Power Plan, one was a preliminary analysis by a mining group, and the others received funding from fossil fuel interests.

The Op-Eds make reference to a study made by the National Black Chamber of Commerce that has also been repeated cited across conservative media sources. The original study, titled “Potential Impact of Proposed EPA Regulations on Low Income Groups and Minorities” is available here (PDF).

According to the study's abstract, “EPA is proposing new regulations, including guidelines to reduce CO2 emissions from existing fossil-fueled power plants. These regulations would have serious economic, employment, and energy impacts at the national level and for all states, and the impacts on low-income groups, Blacks, and Hispanics would be especially severe. The EPA rules would: 1) Significantly reduce U.S. GDP every year over the next two decades – over $2.3 trillion; 2) Destroy millions of jobs; 3) More than double the cost of power and natural gas to over $1 trillion; 4) Require the average family to pay over $1,225 more for power and gas in 2030 than in 2012.”

The report was prepared by Management Information Services, Inc. According to the group's website, the company has a history of providing services and reports for the oil and coal industries (American Electric Power Company, Chesapeake Energy, Energy Corporation of America, Peabody Energy, Washington Gas Company, Affordable Power Alliance, National Coal Council, to name a few). [15], [16]

Harry Alford also testified at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on June 23, 2015 to oppose the EPA's Clean Power Plan. With reference to the NBCC study, Alford said that “The study finds that the Clean Power Plan will inflict severe and disproportionate economic burdens on poor families, especially minorities.” He continued, saying “The EPA’s proposed regulation for GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions from existing power plants is a slap in the face to poor and minority families.” Video below. [17]

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) rebutted this view, saying that states who have taken action on climate change have seen their economies grow:

“Many states, such as New York and Delaware, have already taken action to reduce the largest emitter of carbon pollution - power plant emissions,” Carper said. “As we will hear today, the economies of these states continue to grow at a faster rate than the states that have yet to put climate regulations in place. However, we need all states to do their fair share to protect the air we breathe and stem the tide of climate change. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan attempts to do just that.”

September, 2013

The National Black Chamber of Commerce was a signatory to a letter designed by the American Energy Alliance (AEA) asking Congress not to renew wind energy tax credits that would expire at the end of the year. [9]

Other signers of the letter included:

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

The American Enterprise Institute

The Cato Institute

The Centre for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change

The Coalition of Affordable American Energy

The Competitive Enterprise Institute

The Congress of Racial Equality

Freedom Works

The Heartland Institute

The Heritage Foundation

Koch Industries

The Tax Foundation

July 16, 2009

Black Chamber of Commerce President Harry Alford had a heated exchange with Senator Boxer in a discussion on Global Warming Job Losses at a hearing by Senator James Inhofe's Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Video below. [10]

2005

The National Black Chamber of Commerce worked with the 60 Plus Association and United for Jobs as a coalition to oppose climate legislation put forward by Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), as reported by Connor Gibson at Polluterwatch. [11]

NBCC Contact & Location

As of June 2016, the National Black Chamber of Commerce listed the following contact information on its website: [25]

400 Jenifer St NW Suite 331

Washington DC, 20015

info@nationalbcc.org

Phone: (202) 466-6888

Fax: (202) 466-4918

http://www.nationalbcc.org

Related Organizations

The African-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, Inc., (AACCNJ)

60 Plus Association

United for Jobs

Americans for Prosperity

Beacon Hill Institute

State Policy Network

National Policy Alliance - Member [18]

Resources

“About Us,” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived June 30, 2015.

“About The National Black Chamber of Commerce,” Kemperproject.org. Archived June 30, 2015.

“Environmental Racism, Global Warming and Climate Change,” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived June 30, 2015.

ExxonSecrets Factsheet: National Black Chamber of Commerce

“National Black Chamber of Commerce,” Recipient profile at Conservativetransparancy.org. Accessed June 30, 2015.

“Management Bios (PDF)”, National Black Chamber of Commerce. Accessed June 30. 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmogBlog.

“Frequently Asked Questions,” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived June 30, 2015.

Denise Robbins and Andrew Seifter. “National Black Chamber Of Commerce Joins Oil Industry's Op-Ed Campaign Against EPA Climate Plan,” Media Matters, June 26, 2015. Archived June 30, 2015.

David E. Newton. Wind Energy: A Reference Handbook: A Reference Handbook. (P. 74)

“National Black Chamber of Commerce President Takes on Chairman Boxer Over Global Warming Job Losses,” YouTube Video uploaded by user Senator Jim Inhofe. July 16, 2009.

Connor Gibson. “Science Denial and Andrea Saul – Romney 2012 Campaign Spokesperson,” PolluterWatch, August 6, 2012.

(Press Release) “National Black Chamber of Commerce Joins Effort in Support of Consumer-friendly Smart Solar Amendment,” PRNewswire-USNewswire, July 28, 2015. Archived July 31, 2015.

“INITIAL BRIEF OF OPPONENT NATIONAL BLACK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE” (PDF), Case Nos. SC15-780, SC15-890. Filing # 28320521 E-Filed 06/10/2015 01:47:04 PM. Archived July 31, 2015.

“Fossil Fuels and African Americans – It’s Family!” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived July 31, 2015.

“Clients: Private Industry,” Management Information Services. Inc. Archived July 31, 2015.

“Clients: Trade and Professional Associations,” Management Information Services. Inc. Archived July 31, 2015.

Ali Meyer. “Black Chamber of Commerce: EPA Clean Air Plan Will Increase Black Poverty 23%, Strip 7,000,000 Black Jobs,” CNSnews.com, June 24, 2015.

Brendan Mock. “Why are black lawmakers fighting clean energy?“ Grist, October 13, 2014.

“Speakers,” Affordable Energy Summit 8.0. Archived September 3, 2015.

“Events,” Affordable Energy Summit 8.0. Archived September 3, 2015.

James Taylor. “What The Clean Energy Summit Doesn't Want You To Know,” Forbes, August 24, 2015. Archived September 3, 2015.

Harry C. Alford. “Global warming proponents cling to costly farce,” The Philadelphia Tribune, November 4, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmogBlog.

Graham Readfearn. “Global warming hiatus explained and it's not good news,” ABC Environment, April 8, 2015. Archived March 22, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6gCqfe6bV

“Near-term acceleration in the rate of temperature change,” Nature Climate Change 333–336 (2015).

“Contact,” National Black Chamber of Commerce. Archived June 16, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6iK1Rl4Am

Nick Surgey. “Peabody Coal Bankruptcy Reveals Climate Denial Network Funding,” PRWatch, June 13, 2016. Archived June 20, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6iPmXjc4W

“In re: Peabody Energy Corporation, et al. Debtors,” United States Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division, Case 16-42529, May 27, 2016. Retrieved from DocumentCloud.

Farron Cousins. “Court Documents Show Coal Giant Peabody Energy Funded Dozens Of Climate Denial Groups,” DeSmogBlog, June 13, 2016.

Suzanne Goldenberg and Helena Bengtsson. “Biggest US coal company funded dozens of groups questioning climate change,” The Guardian, June 13, 2016. Archived June 20, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6iPnEUG1o

"You Have Been Fooled": AGU Reopens Exxon Sponsorship Review After Stinging Letter From Sen. Whitehouse and Rep. Lieu

Poll Shows African Americans Support Clean Power Plan and Climate Action, But Not Exxon-Funded National Black Chamber of Commerce

On 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina Former New Orleans Resident Questions African-American Leaders Siding With Climate Deniers

Tags:

National Black Chamber of Commerce

NBCC

denierorgs

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In an Environment and Public Works hearing today, National Black Chamber of Commerce CEO Harry Alford accused Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) of being a racist. Alford, an opponent of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act, attacked Boxer for being “racial” when she cited theNAACP’s support of clean energy and climate legislation. Saying he took “offense as an African American and a veteran,” he asked why she didn’t quote an “Asian” instead:

Madam chair, that is condenscending [sic] to me. I’m the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and you’re trying to put up some other black group to pit against me. . . .

All that’s condescending, and I don’t like it. It’s racial. I don’t like it. I take — I take offense to it. As an African-American and a veteran of this country, I take offense to that. You’re quoting some other black man — why don’t you quote some other Asian or some — I mean, you’re being racial here. And I think you’re getting on a path here that’s going to explode, in the Post. . . .

We’ve been looking at energy policy since 1996. And we are referring to the experts, regardless of their color. And for someone to tell me — an African-American, college-educated veteran of the United States Army — that I must contend with some other black group and put aside everything else in here. This has nothing to do with the NAACP, and really has nothing to do with the National Black Chamber of Commerce! We’re talking about energy. And that — that road the chair went down, I think is God awful.

[video]

Alford, whose organization has received at least $275,000 $350,000 from ExxonMobil, was invited by the Republican members to testify. He purported to have “a deep understanding of small and minority-owned businesses” and spoke on behalf of the “black community” in his opening statement. He cited a flawed economic analysis of Waxman-Markey commissioned by his organization that estimates extreme costs for reducing our dependence on coal and oil.

As Sen. Boxer noted, it seems “relevant” that other organizations with “a deep understanding” of the “black community,” such as NAACP and 100 Black Men of Atlanta, see the threat of global warming and the opportunity in a clean energy future.

Later in the hearing, Alford argued, “Let me speak for the African-American community, because I am African American.”

UPDATE

On WSJ’s Washington Wire, Siobhan Hughes notes:

The debate about race appeared to leave Democrats grumpy. When Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the panel, interrupted Sen. Tom Carper, the Delaware Democrat snapped: “Damn it. I want to be given the respect that I gave you.”

UPDATE

,Grist‘s Kate Sheppard reports:

Alford conceded that addressing climate change “should be a no-brainer,” but he called for an energy plan that expands the use of oil, gas, and coal. Befuddling? Perhaps not, when you note that Alford’s group has received $350,000 from ExxonMobil since 2003 and Alford has a history of offering up climate skeptic talking points.

UPDATE

,On Blog For Our Future, Isaiah Poole writes:

Well, as an African American I don’t know what the hell Alford was upset about — other than the fact that Alford was shown that his shilling for the right is not appreciated in much of the community he claims to represent. . .

For a man who compares seeking to organize a union through a person-to-person card-check drive to the efforts of Southern segregationists to violently suppress the black vote, a complaint that Boxer citing a resolution by the NAACP on climate change in a climate change hearing is somehow “racial” and something that would “explode” is certainly audacious. Condescending, though, is more apt.

So let’s be clear: Harry Alford does not speak for the African-American community. He does not speak for me. He speaks for a cabal of conservative obstructionists who are hell-bent on protecting the old order of oil companies being unaccountable to the environment, employers being unaccountable to their workers—and of African Americans who won’t pimp for the interests of corporate America being kept in their place.

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ting a new study by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri,” Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) today warned of the “disastrous effect” clean energy legislation would have on Missouri farmers. Using data from CRA International, FAPRI found that the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act “will cost the average Missouri farmer an additional $11,000 a year in 2020 and more than $30,000 a year by 2050.” During an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on climate legislation and the agriculture sector, Bond claimed:

Missouri farms will face tens of thousands of dollars each year in new, higher energy costs from the House cap and trade bill.

This study is a classic example of “garbage in, garbage out.” FAPRI itself concedes some of the limitations of its study, which “hinges directly on the energy price effects” predicted by CRA International in its May 2009 study prepared for the National Black Chamber of Commerce, an ExxonMobil-funded offshoot of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Sen. Bond specifically pointed FAPRI to the CRA study in his request for an analysis of possible impacts on Missouri farmers.

CRA has a history of flawed work, grossly overestimating the costs of compliance with pollution standards. In 2008 it did an analysis of some of the economic impacts from the Warner-Lieberman climate change bill on behalf of the Edison Electric Institute. Members of the electric utility lobbying group subsequently had to ask for revisions to assumptions used by CRA.

“This report is not a full analysis of the impact of H.R. 2454 on Missouri crop producers,” the FAPRI report’s introduction admits. The FAPRI study does not consider the positive economic impact on Missouri farmers of selling carbon offsets under Waxman-Markey, nor does it include possible gains from biofuels production. Under Waxman-Markey farmers can also take advantage of energy efficiency credits to improve their bottom line.

In the 2009 study used as the basis for the FAPRI report, CRA estimates electricity rates will rise by 16 percent by 2020. An EPA study of Waxman-Markey concluded that consumer utility spending, when the benefits of efficiency measures are included, would be about 7% lower in 2020. A separate analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council found that Missouri households would save $6.32 a month by 2020 under Waxman-Markey.

In a separate analysis of the impacts of Waxman-Markey on farmers, the head of Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development wrote that “the negative impacts on agriculture will be relatively small.” According to the Des Moines Register’s Green Fields blog, director Bruce Babcock predicted the production cost increase for soybean and corn farmers would be $4.52 an acre.

The FAPRI study also fails to consider the costs to farmers of inaction on climate change, which numerous studies have shown will be significant.

Last month’s comprehensive report on the impacts of climate change by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, for example, predicted that U.S. farmers will face daunting challenges in a warming world. They include increasing downpours, floods, droughts, and crop damage from insects and diseases:

Even moderate increases in temperature will decrease yields of corn, wheat, sorghum, bean, rice, cotton and peanut crops.

Farmers are already paying some of the costs of climate change. A 2000 study by the Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment showed that extreme weather events have “caused severe crop damage and have exacted a significant economic toll for U.S. farmers over the past 20 years.”

UPDATE

At Prime Buzz, Dave Helling notes that for Bond to claim that cap-and-trade has a $11,000 cost, he relies on FAPRI’s “representative” 1,900-acre farm in Lafayette County, MO:

But most Missouri farms are nowhere near 1,900 acres. In fact, the USDA says, more than 87 percent of Missouri farms are 500 acres or less. Less than 4 percent are between 1,000 and 2,000 acres.

The average Missouri farm, in 2007: 269 acres.

So let’s do some math.

$11,649 in added costs, divided by 1,900 acres comes to about $6.13 per acre. Multiply that by the average Missouri farm — 269 acres — and the average annual impact for Missouri farmers comes to $1,648.97, or about $137 a month.

Bond’s estimate is seven times higher.

Tags:

Chamber of Commerce Charles River Associates International Climate Legislation Global Warming Kit Bond Missouri

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Black Chamber of Commerce President Blasts "Marxist," "Brownshirt" Obama

RCP ^ | 4-29-11 | RCP

Posted on Friday, April 29, 2011 11:59:35 AM by tcrlaf

Today on The Laura Ingraham Show, Harry Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, blasted President Obama's anti-business administration in an explosive interview.

Alford, a 2008 Obama supporter, labeled the administration "Marxist" and "fanatical." "They might as well put on the brown shirts and swastikas," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...

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National Black Chamber of Commerce president Harry Alford has received $425,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

1350 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 825 Washington, DC 20036

Phone: (202) 466-6888

Fax: (202) 466-4918

KEY QUOTES

Source: NBCC website 4/04

KEY DEEDS

Published a study entitled "Potential Economic Impacts on the Kyoto Climate Change Protocol on Blacks and Hispanics in the U.S."

Source: NBCC website 4/04

4 June, 1998

NBCC President Harry Alford testified before the House Small Business Committee that US ratification of the Kyoto Protocol would be detrimental to minority-owned small businesses.

Source: Transcript, Harry Alford's testimony before House Small Business Committee 6/4/98

FUNDING

National Black Chamber of Commerce has received $525,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

$50,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report

2003

$40,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report

2004

$50,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report

2005

$60,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report

2007

$75,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: ExxonMobil 2007 Worldwide Giving Report

2008

$75,000 ExxonMobil Foundation

Source: EXXON FOUNDATION AND CORPORATE GIVING 2008

2009

$75,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving

Source: ExxonMobil 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments

2010

$100,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving

Source: ExxonMobil 2010 Worldwide Giving Report

KEY PEOPLE

Harry C. Alford

President, CEO & Co-founder

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

PEOPLE

Kay DeBow

Executive Vice President & Co-founder

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Frederick E. Jordan

Chairman, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Doris Carson Williams

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Richard Bowles

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Jim Chitty

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Thomas Crosby

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Eugene Franklin

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Sherrie Gilchrist

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Reginald Daniel

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Larry Ivory

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Felix Jackson

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Dorothy Leavell

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Mike Little

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Shannon Reeves

Member, Board of Director

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Nathaniel Rido

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Myron Stewart

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Leroy Tombs

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

Jerry Mitchell

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

John Harmon

Member, Board of Directors

Source: National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

SOURCES

ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report

Public Information and Policy Research

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4389

NBCC website 4/04

http://www.nationalbcc.org

National Black Chamber of Commerce website 4/04

http://www.nationalbcc.org

Transcript, Harry Alford's testimony before House Small Business Committee 6/4/98

ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report

2004 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments Public Information and Policy Research

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4380

ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report

Public Information and Policy Research

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4387

ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report

Public Information and Policy Research downloaded from Exxon website

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4381

ExxonMobil 2007 Worldwide Giving Report

http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=download&d=4586

EXXON FOUNDATION AND CORPORATE GIVING 2008

http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/community_contributions_report.aspx

ExxonMobil 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments

Exxon Mobil Corporation 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments

http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/files/gcr_contributions_pub-policy09.pdf

ExxonMobil 2010 Worldwide Giving Report

http://exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Files/gcr_contributions_pubpolicy-2010.pdf

In less than a decade, NBCC President, CEO and co-founder Harry Alford has established himself as perhaps the nation's preeminent champion of African-American business empowerment. From a visionary concept of what Blacks need to do to fully seize their place in the economic mainstream, Mr. Alford has built a global organization that has earned a place at the table in the White House and at the top levels of Corporate America. As the intellectual and spiritual linchpin of the NBCC, Mr. Alford has been responsible for opening doors that have led to billions of dollars in new business for Black-owned businesses throughout the nation. His courage and leadership has been noted by all in the rebuilding of the GulfCoast in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. His relentless energy and advocacy is helping forge international business opportunities for African-Americans and emerging entrepreneurs in Africa, theCaribbean, South America and the rest of the Black Diaspora. For this work he was recently named a Cultural Ambassador by the US State Department. A native of California, Mr. Alford has made his mark at the highest levels of both the private and public sectors. After earning top honors as Company Commander in the Army's Officer Candidate School class, Mr. Alford put his leadership skills to work in a series of key sales and executive positions at Fortune 100 companies such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and the Sara Lee Corporation. Mr. Alford has led large trade missions to Brazil, Ghana, Kenya and various nations in the Caribbean. Recently, he helped establish the French African Diaspora Chamber of Commerce in Paris,France.

The birth and growth of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (celebrating its 15th anniversary) is consistent with the dynamic growth of African American owned businesses in the United States – the fastest growing segment in the nation per the US Census Bureau.Mr. Alford writes weekly business columns for the National Newspaper Publishers Association's members across the country and consults and speaks on this matter to groups and agencies throughout the nation. He proudly serves on the NNPA Foundation Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Board of Directors of the United States Chamber of Commerce and he is a member of the 2008 Health Sector Assembly which is a think tank of national leaders concerned about healthcare. As a consultant, he has developed business models tailored to specific corporations and public agencies. Mr. Alford is regularly called upon by Congress to testify on various legislative initiatives related to small business development, the Gulf Coast rebuilding, e-commerce, health care, social security reform, tax reform and global trade issues. He has delivered key testimony, for example, on the ongoing debate over energy policy issues. Mr. and Mrs. Alford reside in Maryland and have two sons

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legit?

The Obama Administration is pouring billions of dollars into high-speed rail projects across the country, touting them as a way to stimulate local economies in recessionary times. Just this week, President Obama submitted a budget plan to Congress, seeking approval of an additional $8 billion for such ventures. Yet as these projects get underway, this massive infusion of federal money appears to be bypassing the very businesses that help bolster our local economies -- small and minority-owned businesses.

Data is making it increasingly apparent that minority-owned businesses -- among those hardest hit in the current economic climate -- are being largely shut out of bullet train contracting opportunities. California is a prime example of how little minority communities are benefiting from these projects. High-speed rail in the Golden State is designed to link San Francisco to Los Angeles and San Diego, with multiple stops throughout the Central Valley. The project is estimated to cost approximately $43 billion, making it the single largest public works venture in the nation.

Yet a civil rights complaint filed recently by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area details how minority-owned businesses are being largely excluded from contracting opportunities on this massive project. Through a restrictive procurement system and a laissez-faire attitude, the state agency established to oversee the project appears to be funneling nearly all contracting dollars to large non-minority -- and in some cases foreign-owned -- corporations.

For example, on 10 multimillion dollar design contracts already awarded, barely a dozen of the 134 prime and subconsultants are minority-owned firms. This includes those with exceedingly small contracts in comparison with overall contracting dollars, such as a minority-owned business with a $100,000 subconsulting contract on a $75 million prime contract. Statistics on participation by small businesses -- which many minority-owned businesses are -- paint an equally grim picture. Over the past six fiscal years, less than four percent of contracting dollars for California's bullet train have gone to small businesses.

California is not alone in seeing this trend. In Florida, the Obama Administration had committed over $2 billion to a bullet train line that would link Tampa to Orlando, with a possible extension to Miami at a later date. A statewide coalition of minority-owned businesses in Florida recently called upon the bullet train project there to take proactive steps to open up procurement opportunities, fearing that otherwise all of the contracting would remain only within an insular "old boys" network of firms. With the recent rejection of this high-speed rail project by Florida Governor Rick Scott, California stands to gain significantly from the redistribution of those funds, highlighting the need to ensure that equitable contracting ensues.

There is certainly no shortage of minority-owned businesses that are ready, willing, and able to do the necessary work if given the opportunity. A recent study by the California Department of Transportation found that hundreds of minority-owned civil engineers, structural engineers, land surveyors, and other professionals that are ready and able to participate in large-scale public works projects such as the high-speed rail.

When minority-owned businesses are allowed to compete on an equal footing in a fair and open system, they win contract awards. And when that happens, the ripple effect is astounding. Growing businesses hire workers, often from minority communities. They spend money locally and contribute to community re-vitalization. But when procurement systems are closed and insular, as bullet train projects are shaping up to be, none of these benefits are realized.

Fortunately, it is not too late for the Obama Administration to reverse this trend. Though billions of dollars have already been spent on these high-speed rail projects, many more billions are still at stake. The federal government holds the purse strings. It can -- and should -- insist that contracting opportunities funded by federal taxpayer dollars be open to all on an equal basis.

The civil rights complaint filed by minority-owned businesses in California demands that federal agencies suspend all funding to that state's high-speed rail project until its contracting practices are made fair and non-discriminatory. We support that effort, and call upon the Obama Administration to go even further. The Administration should re-examine federally-funded high-speed rail projects across the country, insist that minority-owned businesses be afforded equal opportunity to work on these ventures, and withhold funding until closed procurement systems are opened up.

Without immediate federal intervention, this multi-billion opportunity to jumpstart the economy will be squandered, and high-speed rail will end up as a fast-track to nowhere for minority businesses and the communities they help.

Diana LaCome is President of National Concilio of America, a non-profit organization promoting Hispanic business interests nationally. Harry Alford is the President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit organization dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity.

The civil rights complaint filed by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area regarding California's High-Speed Rail Project can be found here.

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