Western Fuels

350 org report sb 100: Chu abstrain on key vote=see peabodysee also WSPA Env CA Dan Jacobsen sp//CoC
=<a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/">https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/</a> 5 22w<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160224214011/http://www.westernfuels.org/what-we-do" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">estern Fuels Association (WFA) is a not-for-profit cooperative </a>that “supplies coal and transportation services to consumer-owned electric utilities throughout the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions.” The group was founded in 1973 with the purpose of providing coal and other services to consumer-owned utilities. In 2013, the group was responsible for the production and or procurement and delivery of approximately 17 million tons of coal on behalf of its members. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s1" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[1]</a>In the early 1990s, <a href="http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/11FBD95382157280?p=NewsBank" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">WFA and its director Fred Palmer were behind a targeted message to farmers and legislators </a>suggesting that considerable doubt existed about the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming. Palmer <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20150309234216/http://www.peabodyenergy.com/content/112/Leadership-Team" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">moved to Peabody Energy in February, 2001 where he served as Senior Vice President of Government Relations</a>. In January, 2016, Palmer<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160225044936/http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2016/01/coal-news-fred-palmer-joins-an-expanding-total-spectrum.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> joined the public affairs firm Total Spectrum</a>. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s2" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[2]</a>, <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s3" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[3]</a>According to a<a href="http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/11FBD95382157280?p=NewsBank" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> 2008 article in the Kansas City Star</a>, past <a href="https://www.desmog.com/fred-palmer" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">WFA Director Fred Palmer</a> “confirmed in an interview that he created a nonprofit society that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a public relations campaign to promote the idea that considerable doubt existed about the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[4]</a><h2 id="h-information-council-for-the-environment-ice" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2;">Information Council for the Environment (ICE)</h2>WFA was involved in a 1991 coalition of US coal companies which created a campaign that proposed to “Reposition global warming as theory (not fact).” The coalition was titled <a href="https://www.desmog.com/information-council-environment" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Information Council for the Environment (ICE)</a> and included membership from WFA, coal-heavy utility Southern Company and utilities association Edison Electric Institute. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s5" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[5</a><a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s5" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">]</a>The campaign included a detailed PR campaign <a href="http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=2950" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">(documented by Greenpeace)</a> which set out to target “older, less-educated males from larger households who are not typically ‘information seekers’ and ‘younger, lower-income women.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s6" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[6]</a>Proposed advertisement headlines included: <blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The most serious problem with catastrophic global warming is– it may not be true.”  “If the earth is getting warmer, why is Minneapolis getting colder?’  “Who told you the earth was warming… Chicken Little?’  “Some say the earth is warming. Some also said the earth was flat.”</blockquote>ICE was <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2009/12/07/case-studies/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">given $510,000 by the Western Fuels Association to test its message</a><a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2009/12/07/case-studies/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">s </a>in the districts of members of the Energy and Commerce or Ways and Means Committees of the US House of Representatives. The purpose was to “demonstrate that a consumer-based media awareness program can positively change the opinions of a selected population regarding the validity of global warming.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s7" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[7</a><a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s7" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">]</a>View <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3119453-1991-Informed-Citizens-for-the-Environment.html" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">additional ICE documents and print ads here</a>. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s42" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[42]</a><h2 id="h-the-greening-earth-society" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Greening Earth Society</h2>The WFA founded the now-defunct <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greening_Earth_Society" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Greening Earth Society</a> (GES) in 1997. While in operation, the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050308200600/www.greeningearthsociety.org/join.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">GES described itself as “a vehicle for advocacy on climate change</a>, the environmental impact of CO2, and fossil fuel use.” GES openly declared that the “bulk of our financial support comes from rural electric cooperatives, municipal electric utilities, and their fuel suppliers, including Western Fuels Association, Inc.”  <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s8" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[8]</a>According to a 1988 report by the Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research, GES and WFA were “located at the same office suite in Arlington, VA. They share the same leader, Fred Palmer, several WFA board members serve as the board for GES, and they have the same ‘manager of communications and governmental affairs,’ Ned Leonard. Leonard and Palmer are both registered lobbyists for Western Fuels Association.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[9</a><a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">]</a>Past <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/19990220084713/http://www.greeningearthsociety.org/advisors.htm#Wojick" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">“Scientific Advisors</a><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/19990220084713/http://www.greeningearthsociety.org/advisors.htm#Wojick" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: 500; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">” to the Greening Earth Society</a> included a number of prominent climate change deniers: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s10" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[10]</a><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/sallie-baliunas" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sallie Baliunas</a></li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/robert-c-balling-jr" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Robert C. Balling, Jr.</a></li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/patrick-michaels" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Patrick J. Michaels</a></li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mark_P.Mills" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Mark P. Mills</a></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/willie-soon" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Dr. Willie H. Soon</a></li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sylvan_H.Wittwer" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sylvan H. Wittwer</a></li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/david-wojick" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none; font-weight: 500;">David E. Wojick</a></li></ul><h2 id="h-stance-on-climate-change" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Stance on Climate Change</h2>1995<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160225012856/http://dieoff.org/page82.htm" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">According to Ross Gelbspan, who writes in Harper’s Magazine</a>, the Western Fuels Association’s past annual reports have included statements on climate change:<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“[T]here has been a close to universal impulse in the trade association community here in Washington to concede the scientific premise of global warming […] while arguing over policy prescriptions that would be the least disruptive to our economy. […] We have disagreed, and do disagree, with this strategy.” “When [the climate change] controversy first erupted […] scientists were found who are skeptical about much of what seemed generally accepted about the potential for climate change.”<a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s11" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> [11]</a></blockquote>1998<a href="https://www.desmog.com/patrick-michaels" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Patrick J. Michaels</a><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px;">“The evidence that increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is going to cause a disaster is somewhere between slim and none.” ”[…] The entire global climate change hysteria is driven by computer models. It is not driven by reality.” </blockquote><a href="https://www.desmog.com/robert-c-balling-jr" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Robert C. Balling</a><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Damaging hurricanes, tornadoes, and whatever […] are not linked to the buildup of greenhouse gases.”   “Increased CO2 worldwide with few exceptions means plants grow better, period. […] CO2 is something that plants love […] It’s hardly a pollutant at all. It’s a naturally occurring gas […]”</blockquote><a href="https://www.desmog.com/sallie-baliunas" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sallie Baliunas</a><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“That early 20th century warming had to be natural […] We estimate that most of the changes of the last several hundred years […] can be caused by these fluctuations in the sun’s energy output.” </blockquote><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Thomas_Gale_Moore" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Thomas Gale Moore</a>  “Climate is naturally very variable […]”  <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sylvan_H.Wittwer" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sylvan H. Wittwer </a><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Carbon dioxide is a nutrient.” </blockquote><h2 id="h-funding" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Funding</h2>According to its <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160225050248/http://www.westernfuels.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/wfa-2014-2015-annual.pdf?sfvrsn=0" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">2014/2015 annual report (PDF)</a>, WFA had $348M in total coal and transportation revenue with expenses roughly matching total revenue. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s13" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[13]</a>Other Annual Reports:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120206070902/http://www.westernfuels.org/about/2005_WFA_AR.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">2005 (PDF)</a></li></ul><h3 id="h-center-for-the-study-of-carbon-dioxide-and-global-change" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change (?)</h3>When K. Estrada <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160224235912/http://www.co2science.org/subject/questions/1999/morefunding.php" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">submitted a series of questions to the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change</a>, he stated “I think the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change is funded by Western Fuels Association.” The Center responded as follows:<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“In spite of what you think, you could be wrong.  But as we do not divulge this information, you may also continue to think that you are right.  In either case, we are not inclined to confirm or deny your conclusion.  Also, don’t you think your time would be better spent in trying to understand the issue than by trying to find out who funds us?  There is so much new work reported almost daily that we spend nearly all our waking moments studying the latest research on the subject of carbon dioxide and global change.  If you want to know how the world of nature functions, you will never discover the answer by wasting your time on trying to divine the sources of people’s funding.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s14" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[14]</a></blockquote><h3 id="h-american-legislative-exchange-council-alec" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</h3><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/200012021600/http://wyl.ewg.org/FoxProCGI.acgi$run_module?data_code=CLEAR&extra_code=group_code=ORG197&the_type=Group&" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">According to an archived CLEAR profile on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</a>, the Western Fuels Association was a funder of ALEC as of the early 2000s. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s15" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[15</a><a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s15" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">]</a>The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) describes ALEC as a “pay-to-play operation where corporations buy a seat and a vote on ‘task forces’ to advance their legislative wish lists and can get a tax break for donations, effectively passing these lobbying costs on to taxpayers.”<a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/What_is_ALEC%3F" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> Learn more at ALECExposed.org.</a><h3 id="h-arch-coal-bankruptcy-documents" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Arch Coal Bankruptcy Documents</h3>The Western Fuels Association is one of several US national and state coal lobby groups listed as <a href="http://endcoal.org/2016/03/arch-coal-funded-us-libertarian-think-tank-and-alec/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">creditors in Arch Coal’s bankruptcy documents</a>. (<a href="https://www.desmog.com/wp-content/uploads/files/M106119013301-rep-1003112645.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">See .pdf, page 36 of 39</a>).<a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s29" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[29]</a>, <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s30" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[30]</a>Coal lobby groups mentioned in the creditors lists include: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s29" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[29]</a><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The National Mining Association</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The National Coal Council</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">American Coal Council</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Illinois Coal Association</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kentucky Coal Association</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Montana Coal Council</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">West Virginia Coal Alliance</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Western Virginia Coal Association</li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Western Fuels Association in Colorado</li></ul><h2 id="h-key-people" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Key People</h2><h3 id="h-board-of-directors-year-over-year" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Board of Directors (Year over Year)</h3><div>...</div><div>no tbl]</div><div><div></div><div>key People</div><div>
</div><div>Board of Directors (Year over Year)</div><div>
</div><div>Name 2010[41] 2011[40] 2012[39] 2013[38] 2014[37] 2015[36] 2016[16] Description</div><div>
</div><div>Andy Serri Y Y Director, CEO and General Manger, Basin Electric Power Cooperative</div><div>C. Jim Soehner Y Y Vice Secretary/Treasurer.Secretary, Tri-State Generation & Transmission</div><div>Charles Ayers Y Y Y Chairman of the Board, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</div><div>Claudio Romero Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Director, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Inc.</div><div>Darrell D. Dorsey Y Y Y Manager, Electric Production & Supply, Kansas City Board of Public Utilities</div><div>David P. Geschwind Y Y Y Y Executive Director & CEO, Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency</div><div>Don L. Gray Y Y Y Y Y Y Y General Manager, Kansas City Board of Public Utilities</div><div>Dong Quach Y Y Electric Production Acting Manager, Kansas City Board of Public Utilities</div><div>Ed Throop Y Y Y General Manager, Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilites</div><div>Harold “Hub” Thompson Y President, Tri-State Generation & Transmission</div><div>L. Earl Watkins, Jr. Y Y Secretary/Treasurer. President and CEO, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</div><div>Loren Ochs Y Y Y Y Chairman of the Board, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</div><div>Mark S. Mitchell Y Y Y Y Y Director of Operations & COO, Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency</div><div>Mike McInnes Y Y Y Executive Vice-President & General Manager, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Inc.</div><div>Paul Baker Y Y Director, Basin Electric Power Cooperative</div><div>Paul Sukut Y Y Y CEO and General Manager, Basin Electric Power Cooperative</div><div>Ray Hayward Y Y President. Executive Director and CEO, Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency</div><div>Reuben Ritthaler Y Y Vice President. Director, Basin Electric Power Cooperative</div><div>Rex Johnson Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Corporate Counsel. Sherard, Sherard and Johnson, Wheatland, WY</div><div>Rick Gordon Y Y Y Y Y Y President & Chairman of the Board, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Inc.</div><div>Rick Landers Y Y General Manager, Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities</div><div>Robert (Bob) D. Adam Y Y Manager, Electric Supply, Kansas City Board of Public Utilities</div><div>Ron Harper Y Y Director, CEO and General Manager, Basin Electric Power Cooperative</div><div>Stuart Lowry Y Y Y Y President & CEO, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</div><div>Tony Casados Y Y Y Y Y Y Vice Chairman, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Inc.</div></div><div><h3 id="h-management-team-2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">management Team (2016)</h3>As of February, 2016, The Western Fuels Association listed the following people on their “<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160225042112/http://www.westernfuels.org/who-we-are/management-team" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Management Team</a>”: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s17" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[17]</a><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Meri Sandlin — Chief Executive Officer & General Manager</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Kurt Mickelson — Controller</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kenneth_Gray" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Ken Gray </a>— Manager, Coal Transportation</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Jerry Barneby — Fleet Manager</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Beth Goodrough — Manager, Regulatory Affairs & Lands</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Micah Carolus — Supervisor, Escalante Railway</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Dave Gauntner — Mine Manager, Dry Fork Mine</li></ul><h3 id="h-board-officers-2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Board Officers (2016)</h3>As of February, 2016, The <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160225042322/http://www.westernfuels.org/who-we-are/officers" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Western Fuels Association listed the following Board Officers on their website</a>: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s18" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[18]</a><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">David P. Geschwind (President) — Executive Director  & CEO,  Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Paul Baker (Vice President) — Basin Electric Power Cooperative</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Tony Casados (Secretary/Treasurer) — Vice Chairman,  Tri-State Generation & Transmission</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Stuart Lowry (Vice Secretary/Treasurer) — President & CEO Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</li></ul><h3 id="h-other-people" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Other People</h3><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fred_Palmer" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Fred Palmer </a>— Served as General Council and later Chief Executive Officer of Western Fuels Association before moving to Peabody Energy.<a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s19" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> [19]</a></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">John Daly —<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030702211043/http://www.westernfuels.org/pdf/wfar2000.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> Science advisor</a> as of 2000. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s43" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[43]</a></li></ul>According to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030702211043/http://www.westernfuels.org/pdf/wfar2000.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">WFA‘s 2002 annual report</a>: “Based on work by our newest science advisor John Daly concerning the fatal flaws of the ground-based temperature record and revelations concerning agreement among ground-based thermometers, instruments onboard satellites, and carried aloft by weather balloons, Western Fuels is now prepared to argue that no reliable record exists to show a warming globe, and second, to establish the lack of warming, apocalyptic or otherwise.’” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s43" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[43]</a>John Mashey noted in his <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2017/07/23/western-fuels-association-decades-of-dollars-for-doubt-and-denial" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">2017 report on WFA‘s decades of climate science denial</a>: “Tasmanian resident John Daly was not a scientist of any kind,  but mostly known for his blog Still Waiting For Greenhouse, which was well debunked by scientist John Robert Hunter. Daly’s blog was filled with cherry-picking errors, and an important step in this Medieval Deception series.”<a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s44" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> [44]</a><h3 id="h-climate-change-deniers-funded-by-wfa-1998" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Climate Change Deniers Funded by WFA (1998)</h3>According to CLEAR‘s 1998 report on <a href="http://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1809673/ges-all-2-needs-re-scanning.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">“The Greening of Planet Earth Continues”</a> the following individuals received or were suspected of having received funding from the Western Fuels Association: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[9</a><a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">]</a><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/sallie-baliunas" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sallie Baliunas </a>(Suspected funding)</li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/robert-c-balling-jr" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Robert Balling</a></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/robert-e-davis" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Robert Davis </a>(Suspected funding)</li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/craig-idso" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Craig Idso</a> (Suspected funding)</li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/keith-idso" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Keith Idso</a></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/sherwood-b-idso" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sherwood Idso</a></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/richard-lindzen" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Richard Lindzen</a></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/patrick-michaels" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Patrick Michaels</a></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/willie-soon" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Willie Soon (</a>Suspected funding)</li><li style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sylvan_H.Wittwer" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sylvan Wittwer</a> (Suspected funding)</li></ul><h2 id="h-actions" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Actions</h2>July 2000The<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160224222952/http://www.pawalaw.com/assets/docs/corporate_legal_times_article.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> Western Fuels Association (WFA) sued Friends of the Earth, the Earth Island Institute, Rain Forest Action Network, Turning Point Project, the International Center for Technology Assessment and Ozone Action</a>, in Western Fuels Association v. Turning Point Project, No. 00-CV-074-D (D. Wyo. 2001) for “promulgating false and misleading statements about the impact of burning fossil fuels.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[20</a><a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">]</a>The lawsuit challenged an an advertisement in the New York Times on December 13, 1999, entitled “Global Warming-How Will It End?”<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“When people say things about our business,” WFA‘s CEO and General Manager Frederick D. Palmer said, “and our effect on people in a public forum, in a New York Times’ ad, the Internet or national television, by God, they better be ready to back up what they say.“I’m talking in the context of the Lanham Act,” he adds, “about people who are competing with us.”</blockquote>The suit was <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070716185454/www.icta.org/press/release.cfm?news_id=17" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">subsequently dismissed by federal judge</a>. Attorney Matthew F. Pawa, of Milstein, who represented the environmental groups, stated “Western Fuels’ lawsuit is an obvious attempt to use a court  to harass and intimidate citizens concerned with global warming by subjecting them to expensive litigation in an inconvenient forum.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s21" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[21]</a>1998The Greening Earth Society and WFA released <a href="http://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1809673/ges-all-2-needs-re-scanning.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">a sequel to their 1991 video, titled “The Greening of Planet Earth Continues</a>.” Emily Headen of the Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research (CLEAR) provided the following review: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[9]</a><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px;">“The Western Fuels Association is recycling a tired plot. It‘s a re-run of the corporate denial we‘ve seen from the tobacco companies’ paid scientists.” </blockquote>The CLEAR report outlined WFA‘s “global warming denial habit,” referring to WFA‘s 1998 annual report, which read “We lost $583,000 in 1997 […even though] Western Fuels is operating substantially in the black […] Our half-million dollarshortfall is due entirely to our advocacy in the area of climate change.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[9]</a><figure class="wp-block-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[pix credits // below]</figure>The full video is available below[vid]january 1997WFA commissioned <a href="https://www.desmog.com/craig-idso" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Craig D. Idso</a> to prepare a report, titled “<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/greening-of-planet-earth-its-progression-from-hypothesis-to-theory/oclc/40861274" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Greening of planet earth : its progression from hypothesis to theory</a>.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s22" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[22]</a>May 1995<a href="https://www.desmog.com/richard-lindzen" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Richard Lindzen</a>, <a href="https://www.desmog.com/frederick-seitz-dead" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Frederick Seitz</a>, <a href="https://www.desmog.com/robert-c-balling-jr" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Robert Balling Jr</a>, <a href="https://www.desmog.com/patrick-michaels" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Patrick Michaels</a>, and <a href="https://www.desmog.com/keith-idso" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Keith Idso</a>.  <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160225012856/http://dieoff.org/page82.htm" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">served as expert witnesses on behalf of Western Fuels Association</a> in St. Paul, Minnesota to determine the environmental cost of coal burning by state power plants. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s11" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[11]</a>They provided written testimony (document id <a href="https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/EFiling/edockets/searchDocuments.do?method=showPoup&documentId={29D7C392-321B-4290-BC60-9B4CB8A047B8}&documentTitle=183819" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">18319</a> and <a href="https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/EFiling/edockets/searchDocuments.do?method=showPoup&documentId={CBBAD570-3687-4AEB-A00C-48B46EE58B07}&documentTitle=183820" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">13820</a> <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s34" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[34]</a>, <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s35" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[35]</a>) and verbal testimony, about which Ross Gelbspan’s<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heat-Climate-Crisis-Cover-up-Prescription/dp/0738200255" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">The Heat Is On(1995) </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heat-Climate-Crisis-Cover-up-Prescription/dp/0738200255" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">i</a>s a key source: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s11" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[11]</a> Testimony documents below, via Greenpeace research documents:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141028040426/http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=download&d=2885" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">05/22/95</a> – Richard Lindzen <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s31" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[31]</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20141025062450/http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=download&d=2884" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">05/23/95</a> – Richard Lindzen (cont), Pat Michaels. Note that, when asked, Lindzen noted WFA had paid expenses for a 1991 testimony <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s32" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[32]</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141209082357/http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=download&d=2883" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">05/24/95</a> – Keith Idso and Robert C. Balling, Jr. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s33" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[33]</a></li></ul>1991/92In 1991, the Western Fuels Association<a href="http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?id=3046&method=full" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> spent $250,000 to produce a video titled “The Greening of Planet Earth,”</a> narrated by <a href="https://www.desmog.com/sherwood-b-idso" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sherwood Idso</a>. <img src="https://www.desmog.com/wp-content/uploads/files/Screen%20Shot%202016-02-24%20at%205.49.24%20PM.png" alt="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: none; height: 319px; max-width: 100%; border-radius: 0px; box-shadow: none; width: 453px;" />The video predicts large increases in crop yields from the doubling of the atmosphere’s concentration of carbon dioxide. (See full video below). <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s23" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[23</a>[vid] he WFA‘s video presented a number of <a href="http://www.skepticalscience.com/fixednum.php" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" box-shadow="box-shadow">well-debunked myths that have since been cataloged by SkepticalScience </a>such as ”#120 CO2 is plant food,” “#5 “Models are unreliable” and “#56 Medieval Warm Period was warmer.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s24" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" box-shadow="box-shadow">[24]</a>Shortly before the release of the video, WFA had been working with the National Coal Association and the Edison Electric Institute to create a group titled the “Information Council for the Environment (ICE).”ICE‘s founding documents were leaked, and eventually made available online. The strategy was written in a document produced by the Western Fuels Association to “reposition global warming as theory (not fact),” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/wp-content/uploads/files/GlobalWarming_Oreskes%20%281%29.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">reported</a><a href="https://www.desmog.com/wp-content/uploads/files/GlobalWarming_Oreskes%20%281%29.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;"> Naomi Oreskes</a>. <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s25" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[25]</a>An official from the campaign <a href="http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=4461&Method=Full&PageCall=&Title=The%20Coal%20Industry%27s%20%22ICE%22%20Campaign%20%281999%29&Cache=False" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">denied that the strategy was ever implemented </a>and said that the public relations  ”’program targeted … all the people in the communities’ that were the objects of the campaign, according to Frederick Palmer, CEO of Western Fuels Association, Inc., and a vice-president of the Board of Directors of the ICE Campaign.” <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s26" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[26]</a>1990sIn the early 1990s, WFA and its director Fred Palmer were behind a targeted message to farmers and legislators promoting the idea that considerable doubt existed about the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming.According to the Kansas City Star, then WFA Director Fred Palmer “confirmed in an interview that he created a nonprofit society that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a public relations campaign to promote the idea that considerable doubt existed about the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming.”  <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[4]</a><h3 id="h-western-fuels-association-contact-location" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Western Fuels Association Contact & Location</h3>The <a href="https://www.westernfuels.org/contact-us" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Western Fuels Association listed the following contact information</a> in its website as of May, 2016: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s28" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[28]</a><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px;">Corporate Headquarters 12050 N. Pecos Street, Suite 310 Westminster, CO  80234 Phone: 720-697-6956 Fax: 720-697-6957 email <a href="http://meri@westernfuels.org/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">meri@westernfuels.org</a> Meri Sandlin, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager</blockquote><h2 id="h-related-organizations" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Related Organizations</h2><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greening_Earth_Society" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none; font-weight: 500;">Greening Earth Society</a> (Now-Defunct) <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s8" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[8]</a>MembershipAccording to its website, the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160225044313/http://www.westernfuels.org/who-we-are/current-members" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Western Fuel Association’s membership includes</a>: <a href="https://www.desmog.com/western-fuels-association/#s27" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">[27]</a>“Class A Members”<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Basin_Electric_Power_Cooperative" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Basin Electric Power Cooperative</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Kansas City Board of Public Utilities</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Association</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sunflower_Electric_Power_Corporation" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tri-State_Generation_and_Transmission_Association" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Inc.</a></li></ul>“Class B Members”<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Arizona Electric Power Cooperative</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Arkansas River Power Authority</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">City of Grand Island</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">City Utilities</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Colorado Springs Utilities</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Dairyland Power Cooperative </li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Department Of Utilities</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Great River Energy</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Hastings Utilities</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Heartland Consumers Power District</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Lincoln Electric System</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Lower Colorado River Authority</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Missouri River Energy Services</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Nebraska Public Power</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Silicon Valley Power</li></ul><h2 id="h-resources" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Resources</h2></div>=<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Expert witness for Western Fuels Association[</h3>In May 1994 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lindzen" title="Richard Lindzen" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Richard Lindzen</a>, Michaels, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Balling" title="Robert Balling" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Robert Balling</a> served as expert witnesses on behalf of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Fuels_Association" title="Western Fuels Association" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Western Fuels Association</a> in St. Paul, Minnesota to determine the environmental cost of coal burning by state power plants.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-harpers1995-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[17]</a> Western Fuels Association is a consortium of coal producers that uses collective advocacy to represent industry interests.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-whatWFA-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[18]</a><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">World Climate Report, Greening Earth Society, and Western Fuels Association[</h3>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Climate_Report" title="World Climate Report" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">World Climate Report</a>, a newsletter edited by Michaels was first published by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greening_Earth_Society" title="Greening Earth Society" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Greening Earth Society</a>. The society was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations" title="Public relations" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">public relations</a> organization associated with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Fuels_Association" title="Western Fuels Association" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Western Fuels Association</a> (WFA), an association of coal-burning utility companies.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a> It has been called a "front group created by the coal industry"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[22]</a> and an "industry front".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[23]</a> Fred Palmer, a society staffer, is a registered lobbyist for Peabody Energy, a coal company.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[24]</a> WFA founded the group in 1997, according to an archived version of its website, "as a vehicle for advocacy on climate change, the environmental impact of CO2, and fossil fuel use."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[25]</a>=<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/mar/08/fred-palmer-peabody-coal-interview" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Fred Palmer:</a>Fred Palmer, a career climate denier, ran the “ICE” campaign while at the <a href="http://www.climatefiles.com/?s=western+fuels+association" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Western Fuels Association</a>, a consortium of coal utilities and suppliers. He later worked as Peabody Coal’s Senior Vice President for Government Relations, before joining the climate denying <a href="https://climateinvestigations.org/?s=heartland+institute" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Heartland Institute</a> where he runs their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUFroTKiEqE" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">coal campaign</a>. Palmer once said <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/mar/08/fred-palmer-peabody-coal-interview" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">“every time you turn your car on, and you burn fossil fuels, and you put CO2 in the air, you are doing the work of the Lord.”</a> a sentiment he has <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fred-palmer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">expressed repeatedly</a>.<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/23/western-fuels-association-decades-of-dollars-for-doubt-and-denial">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/23/western-fuels-association-decades-of-dollars-for-doubt-and-denial</a>Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal and Peabody Energy have filed bankruptcies, incidentialy revealing payments to climate anti-science groups. The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160326041859/http://www.westernfuels.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Western Fuels Association</a> (WFA) may be smaller and less known, but its long history of funding climate denial is already better exposed. It was called out by Senator Tom Udall in his<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/07/18/webofdenial-senators-strong-remarks-collected-and-annotated" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> #WebOfDenial </a>remarks in July 2016.  Its earliest well-known disinformation effort is detailed in <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/23/medievaldeception-1991-richard-lindzen-hijacks-ipcc" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Medieval Deception 1991: Lindzen Hijacks Curve For Western Fuels Video - Early Fake News</a>.Its front group <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/greening-earth-society" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Greening Earth Society</a> (GES) claimed “sound information” following the “sound science” theme of <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/advancement-sound-science-coalition" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition</a> (TASSC), started as front for Philip Morris in 1993, but like WFA, also involved <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Pat Michaels</a>.Newly-assembled information adds evidence that #WesternFuelsKnew the science was against them, decades ago.Ross Gelbspan began writing about WFA in the mid-1990s. DeSmog offers a <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/western-fuels-association" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">detailed profile</a> (read first!), which includes WFAAnnual Reports for <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120206070902/http://www.westernfuels.org/about/2005_WFA_AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2005</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160225050248/http://www.westernfuels.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/wfa-2014-2015-annual.pdf?sfvrsn=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2014/2015</a>.  Recent searches found the 1998-2003 reports, attached and annotated here, with a few especially instructive quotes, plus a few key events from other sources.Annual Reports
<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/1998.WFA.AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">1998 - The CO2 Issue</a>  1996,1997 financials, and $583K was a substantial fraction of its non-coal  costs <blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;">p.6 'We lost $583,000 in 1997, even though coal deliveries were substantially over 20 million tons.
1997's red ink  was not due to adverse operational performance either in coal deliveries or by management. …
On an ongoing basis, Western Fuels is operating substantially “in the black.”
Our half-million dollar shortfall is due entirely to our advocacy in the area of climate change. The Board of Directors continues to provide financial support to programs designed to turn back efforts by the Clinton Administration to dial-out coalfired generation in the US energy supply mix.'  (advocacy, not science)p.7 'It is not that the science associated with the vision of apocalypse is uncertain. It simply is wrong.
Western Fuels' ongoing activity, including our creation of Greening Earth Society (described elsewhere in this report), is designed to convince Americans that warm is good, cold is bad; using more fossil fuels benefits everyone; and by using fossil fuels, conditions are being created on earth for humans to grow, both in numbers and living standards.'    (strawman, but at least clear statement that the goal is convincing Americans, i.e., PR)</blockquote><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/1999.WFA.AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">1999 Coal Fired Electricity Energizes the U.S. Economy</a> 1998 financials<blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;">p.10 'The global-climate-change issue is about the wisdom of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide: a greenhouse gas, primary nutrient for plant life, and unavoidable consequence of humans using fossil fuels.
Western Fuels’ advocacy since 1988 reflects our understanding of this fundamental fact.  (1988 important)
Coal is king among fossil fuels in terms of its generation of CO2 per unit of energy output …' (false)p.15 'Our advocacy work was robust last year. … GES itself had an excellent first year. We premiered The <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1510961-thegreeningea01550.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Greening of Planet Earth Continues</a>: The Promise for the 21st Century and Beyond at the Basin Electric annual meeting last November. It was very well received and many people believe it is superior to our earlier video,
The Greening of Planet Earth. … While Big Media and Big Government give no credence to either “Greening” video,
the science they depict has the advantage of being right. (false)</blockquote><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2000.WFA.AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2000 Fuel for Thought - Transforming the debate over coal-fired electricity</a>  1999 financials.  The best to study.<blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;">p.5 '… we have continued our steadfast opposition to this jihad against CO2 and coal-fired electricity, and we will continue to do so. Our financial performance during the past year reflects this effort. Once again, our advocacy work has left us with a deficit for the year. …  Western Fuels remains in a position to continue vigorous pursuit of our advocacy activity. This is particularly true because we  continue to receive more and more support (financial and otherwise) from other industry participants.  (inquiring minds might ask: who else paid?)p.7 'Additionally, our early and effective advocacy work with respect to the benefits of cheap electricity through the work of Mark Mills,  and now David Wojick, likewise has paid off. 'p.10 'Since Earth Day 1998, Western Fuels Association’s climate change advocacy has been rooted in Greening Earth Society… bi-weekly World Climate Report Online, … a host of studies by the ASU Climate Data Task Force. Together with The Heartland Institute, we now publish World Climate Report’s content in the monthly tabloid Environment & Climate News. Circulation is more than 40,000 nationwide. Pat Michaels, Bob Balling, Sallie Baliunas, and other scientists working under contract with New Hope Environmental Services increase their influence on public and political dialogue.'  (ASU = Robert Balling)p.11 'Mark Mills has worked with us for many years… Mark’s work has been featured in Forbes Magazine and has atracted the attention of high-tech futurist George Gilder.'
(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gilder" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Gilder</a> was cofounder of the Discovery  Institute (creationism) ; “men superior to women in work environment,” and seemed to to think  Art Robinson and his son Noah great climate scientists watch first 2 minutes of <a href="https://www.discovery.org/v/30" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">this video</a>. He also suggested that the Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2015/06/10/willie-soon-and-friends-early-days" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">seek a climate OpEd from the Robinsons</a>.)p.12 'Where does our advocacy stand, today? Based on work by our newest science advisor John Dalyconcerning the fatal flaws of the ground-based temperature record and revelations concerning agreement among ground-based thermometers, instruments onboard satellites, and carried aloft by weather balloons, Western Fuels is now prepared to argue that no reliable record exists to show a warming globe, and second, to establish the lack of warming, apocalyptic or otherwise.'  (Tasmanian resident John Daly was not a scientist of any kind,  but mostly known for his blog <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090907112456/http://www.john-daly.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Still Waiting For Greenhouse</a>, which was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090921140329/http://www.members.iinet.net.au/_{johnroberthunter/www-swg/}" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">well debunked</a> by scientist John Robert Hunter.
Daly's blog was filled with cherry-picking errors, and an important step in this MedievalDeception series. )</blockquote><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2001.WFA.AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2001 WF/BW AR/00</a> 2000 financials <blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;">p.2 'As a result of our steadfast advocacy of sound science and cheap electricity, we had been a target of derision and scornful attacks by environmental groups. While we do not rejoice in California’s woe, the situation presents a wake-up call for the energy sector. The science that Western Fuels has helped research and promote in the “global warming debate” has made important impacts on national energy policy. …'

p.3 'We maintain a presence in Washington, DC, as concern for energy moves from far down in the hierarchy of consumer and political concerns to the very top, even as we broaden the scope of our climate change advocacy through management of the Greening Earth Society.'</blockquote><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2002.WFA.AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2002 Racing to Meet Demand</a>  2001 financials<blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;">p.4 'and Western Fuels Association’s continued investment in climate change advocacy in 2001.'p.12 'There is now bi-partisan opposition to designating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and there is growing awareness of coal as an abundant, reliable, and increasingly clean energy resource. …
Western Fuels sustains its financial commitment to the Greening Earth Society and challenges the popular belief that carbon dioxide emissions will lead to catastrophic changes in earth’s climate. At the same time we
are staying in front of the issues by exploring with others in the coal-chain industry voluntary programs to sequester additional carbon in forests, croplands, and grazing lands.'  (strawman, then “exploring”)</blockquote><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2003.WFA.AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2003 Securing Your Energy Future</a> 2002 financials <blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;">p.3  'Even that is not good enough for some in Congress who also insist on limits to carbon dioxide emissions….
As concerns carbon dioxide, we have loaned an executive to the Center for Energy and Economic Development to help CEED pursue a carbon sequestration initiative in behalf of the coal producers, utilities, and railroads that comprise its membership. The initiative encourages changes in agriculture practices and the management of forests and grasslands to sequester carbon. …
We also continue financial support of the climate change advocacy work of the Greening Earth Society.'</blockquote><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120206070902/http://www.westernfuels.org/about/2005_WFA_AR.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2006 Western Fuels Association Annual Report</a> financials for 2004, 2005 (no mention of GES, advocacy, CO2, etc)<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160225050248/http://www.westernfuels.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/wfa-2014-2015-annual.pdf?sfvrsn=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2015 Western Fuels Association Annual Report 2014/2015</a>  2014 financials<blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;">p.7 'Over 1.1 million comments were filed opposing the EPA GHG proposals through <a href="http://www.tellepa.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">www.tellEPA.com</a> and www. Action.coop. Coal states are refusing to comply. County commissioners and state legislators are becoming engaged and writing comments supporting coal issues. Friends of Coal chapters and support rallies are being organized in the West. As a result, a 2015 poll of national concerns shows that climate change is ranked #22 in priority out of 23 issues.8 Such polls are allowing legislators to question and try to rescind or reign in regulatory overreach by the EPA and OSM, block funding for their implementation, and investigate the lucrative “sue-and-settle” industry.Current benefits of carbon use to the economy and society overwhelmingly outweigh costs by 50-to-1 to 500- to-19including increased quality and quantity of foods, for example. Carbon based fuels have raised the standard of living worldwide, increased lifespans by decades, and have elevated over a billion people out of poverty in the past 20 years. Western Fuels supports publicizing, indeed celebrating, the social benefits of carbon…benefits which far outweigh the social cost of carbon touted by environmental groups.'
'9 Management Information Services, Inc. (December 2013) for American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, The Social Costs of Carbon? No, The Social Benefits of Carbon.'
(That report is by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/roger-bezdek" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Roger Bezdek</a>, who <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/06/07/peabodys-outlier-gang-couldnt-shoot-straight" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">testified for Peabody in 2015 Minnesota </a>Social Cost of Carbon Case. Jud</blockquote>
* Ross Gelbspan wrote pioneering books on climate disinformation.  He often mentioned WFA and its hired experts n <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heat-Climate-Crisis-Cover-up-Prescription/dp/0738200255" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Heat is On </a>(1997, 1998) and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--/dp/0465027628" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Boiling Point</a> (2005)., complemented by Jeff Goodell's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Big-Coal-Secret-Behind-Americas-ebook/dp/B003WUYPAG" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Big Coal </a>(2007), all recommended. ==
Alpha

Natural Resources, Arch Coal and Peabody Energy have filed

bankruptcies, incidentially revealing payments to cllimate anti-science

groups. The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160326041859/http://www.westernfuels.org/" target="_blank">Western Fuels Association</a> (WFA)

may be smaller and less known, but its long history of funding climate

denial is already better exposed. It was called out by Senator Tom Udall

in his<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/07/18/webofdenial-senators-strong-remarks-collected-and-annotated"> #WebOfDenial </a>remarks in July 2016.  Its earliest well-known disinformation effort is detailed in <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/23/medievaldeception-1991-richard-lindzen-hijacks-ipcc">MedievalDeception 1991: Lindzen Hijacks Curve For Western Fuels Video - Early Fake News</a>.

Its front group <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/greening-earth-society">Greening Earth Society</a> (GES) claimed “sound information” following the “sound science” theme of <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/advancement-sound-science-coalition">The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition</a> (TASSC), started as front for Philip Morris in 1993, but like WFA, also involved <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels">Pat Michaels</a>.

Newly-assembled information adds evidence that #WesternFuelsKnew the science was against them, decades ago.

          <span class="field-content"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/23/western-fuels-association-decades-of-dollars-for-doubt-and-denial"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read mor</font></a></span><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==<br /></font></p><div class="views-field views-field-title-1">        <font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="field-content"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/23/medievaldeception-1991-richard-lindzen-hijacks-ipcc">MedievalDeception 1991: Lindzen Hijacks Curve  For Western Fuels Video  - Early Fake News</a></span>  </font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

<div class="views-field views-field-body"> <div class="field-content"><a href="https://www.skepticalscience.com/medieval-warm-period.htm" target="_blank" style="">“Medieval Warm Period was warmer”</a>  is

not only irrelevant to future climate, but was known wrong within

science by the early 1990s. In 2017, it is still repeated by climate

deniers.  They have long misused some version of an IPCC(1990) curve, whose abuse is the focus of this MedievalDeception series. The first known promoter now seems to be <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/richard-lindzen">Richard S. Lindzen</a>.

He was featured in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greening_of_Planet_Earth" target="blank" style="">The Greening of Planet Earth (produced 1991, published 1992)</a>, a <a href="https://youtu.be/ep5ptrPN6ns" target="blank">28-minute video</a>,*  widely promoted by the coal group <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/western-fuels-association">Western Fuels Association</a> (WFA), which funded many climate disinformation efforts, such as those by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels">Pat Michaels</a> and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/robert-c-balling-jr">Robert Balling, Jr</a>. For more, see <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/23/western-fuels-association-decades-of-dollars-for-doubt-and-denial">Western Fuels Association's Decades Of Dollars For Doubt And Denial</a>.

</div> </div>==

wars; west fuels ceo fred palmer; driving is doing the work of the lord

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer</a>

also Peabody

Fred Palmer is Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the coal mining company <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Peabody_Energy" title="Peabody Energy">Peabody Energy</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#cite_note-Bio-0" title="">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a id="togglelink" href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#Background">1 Background</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#Articles_and_resources">2 Articles and resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#References">2.1 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#Related_SourceWatch_articles">2.2 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#External_resources">2.3 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#External_articles">2.4 External articles</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Background</h2>

A biographical note states that he "joined Peabody in February 2001 and is responsible for advancing state and federal policies related to the production and use of coal. Prior to joining Peabody Energy, he served for 15 years as chief executive officer of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association" title="Western Fuels Association">Western Fuels Association</a>, Inc. He most recently served as counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shook_Hardy_%26_Bacon" class="mw-redirect" title="Shook Hardy & Bacon">Shook Hardy & Bacon</a>, a Kansas City-based law firm."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#cite_note-Bio-0" title="">[1]</a>

The biographical note states that he "is the 2004 recipient of the Erskine Ramsay Medal Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME). He is a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Coal_Council&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Coal Council (page does not exist)">National Coal Council</a>, Executive Committee and Chairman, Coal Policy Committee. He is Peabody Energy's representative and on the Board of Directors of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FutureGen_Alliance" title="FutureGen Alliance">FutureGen Alliance</a>, as well as on the Board of Directors of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=World_Coal_Institute" title="World Coal Institute">World Coal Institute</a>. He formerly served as: Board of Directors, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Mining_Association" title="National Mining Association">National Mining Association</a> and chaired its Legal Committee and Climate Change Task Force."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#cite_note-Bio-0" title="">[1]</a>

A biographical note on the FutureGen Alliance website also notes that Palmer was "Chairman of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Environmental_Information_Council&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Environmental Information Council (page does not exist)">Environmental Information Council</a>" and "President of the Board of Directors of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greening_Earth_Society" title="Greening Earth Society">Greening Earth Society</a>".<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Palmer#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association</a>

<h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading">Western Fuels Association</h1>

<h3 id="siteSub">From SourceWatch</h3><div id="contentSub">

This article is part of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Coal_Issues" title="Portal:Coal Issues">Coal Issues</a> portal on SourceWatch, a project of <a href="http://coalswarm.typepad.com/coalswarm/" class="external text" title="http://coalswarm.typepad.com/coalswarm/" rel="nofollow">CoalSwarm</a> and the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org" class="external text" title="http://www.prwatch.org" rel="nofollow">Center for Media and Democracy</a>.

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The Western Fuels Association states on its website that it is "a not-for profit cooperative that supplies coal and transportation services to consumer-owned electric utilities throughout the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions" <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a>, including the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sunflower_Electric_Power_Corporation" title="Sunflower Electric Power Corporation">Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</a>. Two members of its board are Sunflower's chief executive officer, Earl Watkins, and the Sunflower's board chairman. Sunflower's partner in the Holcomb expansion, a Colorado co-op, also has members on the board. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a>

The Association founded the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greening_Earth_Society" title="Greening Earth Society">Greening Earth Society</a> in 1997 , according to a archived version of the Society's website, "as a vehicle for advocacy on climate change, the environmental impact of CO2, and fossil fuel use."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a>

According to a March 30, 2008 article in the Kansas City Star, Western Fuels and its director Fred Palmer targeted a message to farmers, small-town officials and rural legislators in the 1990s to promote the idea that considerable doubt existed about the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming. Palmer is now a senior vice president at Peabody Energy, , which partnered with Sunflower in 2007 to buy pro-coal newspaper ads featuring Chavez, Ahmadinejad and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, warning that Kansas would have to import natural gas from Venezuela, Iran and Russia if no new coal plants were built.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a>

Previously, the Association had, at the inspiration of Palmer, sued Friends of the Earth, the Earth Island Institute, Rain Forest Action Network, Turning Point Project, the International Center for Technology Assessment and Ozone Action, in Western Fuels Association v. Turning Point Project, No. 00-CV-074-D (D. Wyo. 2001), challenging the truthfulness of an advertisement in the New York Times on December 13, 1999, entitled "Global Warming-How Will It End?" that called attention to the problem of global warming. The lawsuit attempted to establish a new legal precedent involving political speech by invoking the federal Lanham Act, which applies to commercial speech among competitors. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a> The suit was dismissed. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Fuels_Association#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a></div>

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(Arlington, VA - April 17, 2000) Western Fuels Association, Inc., today, files suit in Wyoming federal district court against the Turning Point Project, Friends of the Earth, Earth Island Institute, Ozone Action, Rainforest Action Network, and the International Center for Technology Assessment, alleging "commercial defamation" under Section 43 of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125).

ross gelbspan in Mo J The Western Fuels campaign was extraordinarily successful. In a Newsweek poll conducted in 1991, before the spin began, 35 percent of respondents said they “worry a great deal” about global warming. By 1997 that figure had dropped by one-third, to 22 percent.

Then as now, a prime tactic of the fossil fuel lobby centered on a clever manipulation of the ethic of journalistic balance. Any time reporters wrote stories about global warming, industry-funded naysayers demanded equal time in the name of balance. As a result, the press accorded the same weight to the industry-funded skeptics as it did to mainstream scientists, creating an enduring confusion in the public mind. To this day, many people are unsure whether global warming is real.

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Western Fuels

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