Ritter Gov

<div>=</div><div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/bradley-foundation-funds-web-climate-change-deniers/">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/bradley-foundation-funds-web-climate-change-deniers/</a></div><div>
</div><div>Armiak</div><div>
</div><div>Bradley Foundation internal documents reviewed by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reveal a concerted effort by the organization to delegitimize climate science, while promoting fossil fuel energy development in the United States.An analysis of Bradley’s climate-related activities shows that the foundation has made significant grants to support energy policy think tanks, attack-dog groups that target environmentalists, and efforts to discredit climate science.A 2013 internal foundation document details how Bradley “instructed staff to explore options…to make more energy-related grants.” The document also notes that the Board gave a “terminal grant” of $263,591 to the Sand County Foundation (SCF), which previously administered the Bradley Fund for the Environment.The documents do not reveal Bradley’s motivation in splitting from SCF, but they do outline a serious effort to promote fossil fuel industry interests at the expense of the environment.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CENTERS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL AND FOSSIL FUEL DEVELOPMENT</h2>As part of its push to support studies and public relations to cast doubt on mounting scientific evidence on climate change, Bradley has focused its resources on “Energy Policy Centers,” many of which are housed in “Bradley-supported” <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/spn/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">State Policy Network</a> (SPN) “think tanks.” SPN is a web of 156 right-wing groups in 49 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Canada, and the UK that receives funding from the billionaire Koch brothers, the Bradley Foundation, and the Roe Foundation, as well as many multi-national corporations.The examined documents show that the Center for Energy Policy and the Environment (CEPE) at the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Manhattan_Institute_for_Policy_Research" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Manhattan Institute for Policy Research</a> (MIPR), a member of SPN, received a total of $500,000 for its Center, with another $200,000 distributed in <a href="http://www.bradleyfdn.org/Portals/0/pdfs/Report2016/2016%20Annual%20Report.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">2016</a>. (Manhattan Institute for Policy Research GPR, February 23, 2016) CEPE works to promote fossil fuel development despite the devastating effects of climate change. A background document on CEPE states its goal clearly: “The Center’s research and public education activity aims at demonstrating that the United States is poised to reap substantial economic benefits in the form of job creation, lower gasoline and electricity prices, and increased productivity provided public policies allow companies to access valuable energy resources and distribute them at home and abroad.”A recommendation by Bradley staff on the Manhattan Institute’s 2016 grant proposal specifically states that CEPE is worth funding because, “They have succeeded in identifying and publicizing so many of the falsehoods that surround energy and the environment.” (Manhattan Institute for Policy Research GPR, February 23, 2016) Anexample of this “success” can be found in the work of CEPE senior fellow Mark Mills, who is recognized as originating the idea that North America can surpass the Middle East as the largest energy supplier in the world. (Manhattan Institute for Policy Research GPR, November 12, 2013)The Energy Policy Center (EPC) at another SPN “think tank”, the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Independence_Institute" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Independence Institute</a>, received $195,000 from the Bradley Foundation between 2012 and 2016.Bradley documents examined show that EPC’s purpose is to “consciously counter-balance former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s environmental think tank” at Colorado State University, which promotes a “New Energy Economy.”Bradley considers EPC to be highly successful in fighting local and federal environmental initiatives. The Bradley documents note that EPC was a “key coalition partner” in preempting local bans on fracking in Colorado, and that it “has developed a toolkit for policymakers, attorneys general, and other conservative state think tanks to help them push back against U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations.” (Independence Institute GPR, June 2, 2015)In addition to these two centers, Bradley has funded the Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) at the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a> (CEI), an “associate member” of SPN, and the Center for Energy Innovation and Independence at Consumers’ Research.CEE is led by the prominent climate change denier Myron Ebell, who steered Trump’s EPA transition team. Ebell also chairs the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Cooler_Heads_Coalition" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Cooler Heads Coalition</a>, which brings together right-wing activists and scholars for monthly meetings. The coalition was established on May 6, 1997, “to dispel the myths of global warming by exposing flawed economic, scientific and risk analysis.”CEI was long tied to tobacco disinformation campaigns, but is now a leading organization in the movement to discredit climate science.Bradley does not mention how much of its funding to CEI was designated for CEE operations. Between 1986 and 2015, Bradley Foundation gave $2.2 million to CEI, the majority of which was “to support general operations.” (Competitive Enterprise Institute GPR, June 2, 2015).The Center for Energy Innovation and Independence received $250,000 from Bradley in 2013 to get the new group off the ground. According to a background document, the group “will closely monitor federal environmental regulations and potentially lay the foundation for multi-state litigation against them, similar to those actions in the Obamacare and Dodd-Frank lawsuits, of which aggressive (Scott) Pruitt was and is a part.” Pruitt is the former AG of Oklahoma and recently resigned as the EPA Administrator under Trump.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SMEAR CAMPAIGNS AND FUNDING EFFORTS TO DISCREDIT CLIMATE SCIENCE</h2>At the same time Bradley rolled out funding for “Energy Policy Centers,” it was doling out cash to discredit environmental organizations and climate change science.A grant proposal record for the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Consumer_Freedom" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Consumer Freedom</a> (CCF), a front group created by the close Bradley ally <a target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out;">Rick Berman</a>, details an organized effort to weaken the credibility of well-respected, national environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, the National Resources Defense Council, and Food and Water Watch. (The Center for Consumer Freedom GPR, November 12, 2013) Berman also founded <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rick_Berman" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Berman and Company</a>, a notorious Washington, D.C.-based corporate lobbying and PR company known for creating numerous corporate “front groups” and astroturf propaganda campaigns.Berman’s anti-environmental project at CCF was called Big Green Radicals and was seeded with a $150,000 “public education” <a href="http://www.bradleyfdn.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=5haFFTeImkg=&portalid=0" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">grant</a> from Bradley in 2013.According to Bradley’s background document, the Big Green Radicals project would include the following components:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 40px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[N]ew, updated research profiles for NRDC, Food and Water Watch, and Sierra Club; standalone websites for all three organizations; a Facebook group seeded with several thousand fans to provide a base for the message; the production of two online videos to explain the real agenda of the environmental left; and Google keyword advertising for members of the media and the public searching for information about one of the targeted groups.</blockquote>In addition to providing the start-up funding for Big Green Radicals, Bradley gave $85,000 to the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Capital_Research_Center" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Capital Research Center</a> (CRC), a group led by former Berman and Company employee Scott Walter. The grant was designated for “general operations,” but it may have been used to support the publication Green Watch. A background document on CRC states that, “Green Watch tracks the money flow to environmental nonprofits and critiques their positions, and those of their allies, including their policymaking ones.” (Capital Research Center GPR, August 19, 2014)Since 2014, the Bradley Foundation has distributed numerous grants to discredit the vast amount of scientific research demonstrating the harmful effects of climate change. In 2014, it gave $65,000 to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_C.Marshall_Institute" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">George C. Marshall Institute</a> (GMI), a right-wing front group largely funded by oil and gas interests. Newsweek <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/global-warming-deniers-well-funded-99775" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">called</a> GMI “a central cog in the denial machine” in 2007.GMI folded in late 2015, so Bradley recommended $50,000 in “seed funding” the following year for its “successor organization,” the CO2 Coalition. The coalition is led by a <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/William_Happer" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Dr. William Happer</a>, a well-known climate change denier. “We’re doing our best to try and counter this myth that CO2 is a dangerous pollutant. It’s not a pollutant at all,” Happer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Asj-3efMVB8" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> at a Heritage Foundation event on energy and climate.Another $10,000 Bradley grant in 2014 for the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change (CSCDGC) went to support its Science & Public Policy Institute (SPPI). A staff recommendation notes that SPPI “has helped demonstrate that no real-world data confirms that floods, draughts [sic], or hurricanes are becoming more frequent or severe, as global-warming alarmists allege. Neither is there any real-world data that sea levels are about to rise precipitously, inundating the world’s coasted [sic] lowlands, as is also often alleged.” (Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change GPR, June 17, 2014)<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase;">ENERGY ROUNDTABLES</h2>Documents show that, beginning in 2013, Bradley provided funding to the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Thomas_Jefferson_Institute_for_Public_Policy" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy</a>, also an SPN member, to host and organize two “energy roundtables” a year — one before the Heritage Foundation’s annual Resource Bank meeting, and the other before SPN’s annual fall meeting. (Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy GPR, November 10, 2015)The $50,000-per-year grant from Bradley for the meetings was matched “by staff arrangement” by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Consumer_Energy_Alliance" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">C</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Consumer_Energy_Alliance" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">onsumer Energy Alliance</a> (CEA), a front group for the energy industry that promotes fossil fuel development and opposes efforts to regulate its activities.“Planned and put on in close cooperation with the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), the roundtables allow state think tanks to better promote free-market energy and environmental policies,” one document states. (Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy GPR, November 12, 2013)Attendance has been high at the roundtables, with as many as “67 SPN leaders” attending the event in Denver in September 2014. The agenda for that meeting details presentations from a number of fossil fuel lovers including: Artic Power, Consumer Energy Alliance, Vital for Colorado, Devon Energy, GOPAC (a political action committee that backs and trains Republican candidates), and Freedom Partners. Freedom Partners, a funding conduit for the billionaire Koch brothers, delivered a talk on “Messaging and State Action.” (Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy GPR, November 11, 2014)<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BRADLEY GRANTEES WORKED TOGETHER TO DEFEAT LOCAL REGULATIONS ON FRACKING IN COLORADO</h2>In 2014, the Independence Institute and Berman’s Big Green Radicals worked in lockstep in Colorado to defeat local fracking bans, such as the one that passed by ballot measure in Longmont in November of 2013. A 2015 Bradley backgrounder on the Independence Institute praises the anti-fracking work of Independence Institute’s Energy Policy Center, saying, “It has also been a key coalition partner in the movement to stop local and statewide bans on hydraulic fracturing. Last year, current Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper crafted a delicately balanced compromise on local control of oil and gas drilling that removed all initiatives on the issue from the state ballot.”Berman’s Big Green Radicals rolled out an attack campaign to discredit anti-fracking efforts in the state in May of 2014. Big Green Radicals <a href="https://www.biggreenradicals.com/colorado/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">asserted</a>that “extreme groups, mostly based far from Colorado in San Francisco, New York, or Washington D.C., are spending millions and spreading their anti-science message to scare voters into approving ballot measures in November to send the oil and gas industry (and the jobs and affordable energy it provides) packing from the Centennial State.”The efforts by these two groups were successful in overturning local fracking bans. Bradley agreed and decreased its funding recommendation for EPC to $25,000 in 2016, saying, “it is unlikely that there will be any significant developments for EPC in the upcoming months, and therefore staff believes this reduced award is important.”It is uncertain where the next battleground for energy development will be for Bradley, but the documents demonstrate that they have the funds to bankroll infrastructure in place to discredit climate science and smear the opposition.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">OTHER NOTABLE BRADLEY GRANTS</h2>Other significant Bradley grants to support fossil fuel development or dispute climate science in recent years include:<ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">$150,000 to Opportunity Ohio for “program activities.” (2016)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">$100,000 to Energy and Environment Legal Institute for “transparency practice general.” (2016) HORNER SCHNARE</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">$20,000 to Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment for “general operations.” (2016)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">$200,000 to Competitive Enterprise Institute for “general operations” and “litigation.” (2013, 2015)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">$100,000 to The Sand County Foundation for “energy resource development.” (2014)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">$100,000 to National Center for Policy Analysis for “general operations.” (2014)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">$20,000 to Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment for “general operations.” (2014)</li></ul></div><div></div></div><div></div><div>wiki</div><div>August William "Bill" Ritter (born September 6, 1956) is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">American</a> politician. He was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Colorado" title="List of Governors of Colorado" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">41st</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Colorado" title="Governor of Colorado" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Governor</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.state" title="U.S. state" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">state</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado" title="Colorado" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Colorado</a>, from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Democratic Party</a>. Before his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_gubernatorial_election,2006" title="Colorado gubernatorial election, 2006" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">election in 2006</a>, he served as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_attorney" title="District attorney" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">district attorney</a> for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver,Colorado" title="Denver, Colorado" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Denver</a>. He was the first native-born governor of Colorado since 1975, as well as being the first Democratic governor to serve with a Democratic majority in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_General_Assembly" title="Colorado General Assembly" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Colorado General Assembly</a> in 50 years. Ritter did not run for a second term as Governor in 2010.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[1]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); padding: 7px; font-size: 13px; display: table; zoom: 1; color: rgb(37, 37, 37);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="color: black; background-image: none; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; font-size: 13px; display: inline; line-height: 1.3;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Early_life_and_childhood" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1 Early life and childhood</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Career_in_law" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2 Career in law</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Charity_work" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3 Charity work</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Governorship" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4 Governorship</a><ul style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Violent_incident" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.1 Violent incident</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Popularity" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.2 Popularity</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Political_positions" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.3 Political positions</a><ul style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Plea_bargains" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.3.1 Plea bargains</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Post-gubernatorial_career" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">5 Post-gubernatorial career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Family" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">6 Family</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#Electoral_history" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7 Electoral history</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#See_also" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">8 See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#References" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">9 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">10 External links</a></li></ul></div></div><div>
</div><div>...</div><div><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6;">Violent incident<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Ritter&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Violent incident" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h3>On July 16, 2007 a man was shot and killed outside Ritter's offices. The man stormed the Capitol holding a pistol and threatening to kill Governor Ritter. He was shot and killed by a member of the governor's security detail.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[3]</a><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6;">Popularity<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Ritter&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Popularity" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h3>At the start of his term, Ritter was relatively popular with rural Coloradans, who in the past have tended to vote for Republican candidates (particularly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Front_Range" title="Colorado Front Range" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Front Range</a> voters). This may have stemmed from Ritter's rural roots. His popularity also extended to the Democratic strongholds in Colorado: the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_divide" title="Continental divide" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">continental divide</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_resorts" title="Ski resorts" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">ski resorts</a> such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen,Colorado" title="Aspen, Colorado" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Aspen</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vail,Colorado" title="Vail, Colorado" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Vail</a>, as well as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver-Aurora_metropolitan_area" title="Denver-Aurora metropolitan area" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Denver-Aurora metropolitan area</a>. An August 2007 poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports showed Ritter's approval rating at 60%, while 36% were disapproving and 4% remained undecided.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[4]</a>By July 2008, however, Ritter's approvals had begun a sharp decline, with a Rasmussen poll showing his approvals at 45%.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[5]</a> His numbers failed to improve—an April 2009 poll by Public Policy Polling showed the governor's approvals had further slid to 41%, with 49% disapproving of his performance. Perhaps more significantly, the same poll also showed Ritter trailing his most likely 2010 opponent, former Rep. Scott McInnis, by 7 points.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[6]</a> Though Ritter cited family reasons in his January 2010 announcement not to run for re-election, he was dogged by rumors that his poor polling numbers led Democratic power brokers to force him out of the race.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[7]</a><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6;">Political positions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Ritter&action=edit&section=7&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Political positions" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h3><table class="metadata plainlinks ambox ambox-content ambox-BLP_sources" role="presentation" style="font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 135.796875px 0px 110.828125px; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 10px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(170, 170, 170) rgb(170, 170, 170) rgb(170, 170, 170) rgb(242, 133, 0); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image" style="border: none; padding: 2px 0px 2px 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div style="width: 52px;"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Ambox_content.png" width="40" height="40" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" style="border: none; vertical-align: middle;" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text" style="border: none; padding: 0.25em 0.5em; width: 882px;">This <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons" title="Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none !important; padding: 0px !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important;">biographical section</a> needs additional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none !important; padding: 0px !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important;">citations</a> for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none !important; padding: 0px !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important;">verification</a>. Please help by adding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources" title="Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none !important; padding: 0px !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important;">reliable sources</a>. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation" title="Defamation" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none !important; padding: 0px !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important;">libelous</a> or harmful. (October 2013)</td></tr></tbody></table>As a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Democratic Party</a>, Ritter supports a "semi-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism" title="Progressivism" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">progressive</a>" agenda, emphasizing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care" title="Universal health care" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">universal health care</a>, environmental protection, housing subsidy and welfare increases and other stances aligned with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_politics" title="Left politics" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">left wing</a> of the Democratic Party. During the first campaign, more progressive, state Democratic leaders encouraged other candidates, including Denver Mayor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hickenlooper" title="John Hickenlooper" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">John Hickenlooper</a>, to pursue the Governorship, because of concerns over Ritter's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-life" title="Pro-life" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">pro-life</a> stance. Others believed that Ritter would win more votes in the "purple state", as opposed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Republican</a> opponents. Hickenlooper did not pursue the office in 2006 and he eventually supported Ritter.As Governor, Ritter pledged that overturning <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion" title="Abortion" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">abortion</a> laws would not be part of his agenda, and stated that he would veto any bill prohibiting abortion that did not provide for an exception for rape, incest, or fetal anomalies.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[8]</a> Ritter further stated that he would restore state funding to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood" title="Planned Parenthood" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Planned Parenthood</a> for family planning and would reverse the veto of a bill that would have allowed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacist" title="Pharmacist" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">pharmacists</a> to dispense the emergency<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraception" title="Contraception" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">contraception</a> known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning-after_pill" title="Morning-after pill" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">morning-after pill</a>. Ritter also staked out moderate positions on business and labor issues, vetoing legislation in 2007 that would have made it easier for workers to form unions,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-rockyroad-9" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[9]</a> and, mid-term, naming moderate Republican <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Marostica" title="Don Marostica" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Don Marostica</a> his director of economic development.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-lawmaker-10" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[10]</a>In September 2010, Ritter was one of seven governors to receive a grade of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_the_United_States" title="Academic grading in the United States" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">F</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Institute" title="Cato Institute" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Cato Institute</a>'s fiscal-policy report card.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[11]</a>....</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><a href="http://www.climate-one.org/content/climate-and-politics">http://www.climate-one.org/content/climate-and-politics</a><div>
</div><div>McInnis, <a href="http://www.hhlaw.com/smcinnis/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">an attorney for a Denver law firm</a> that does extensive work for the oil and gas industry, has been <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/45720/even-as-hickenlooper-sets-to-announce-candidacy-mcinnis-continues-campaign-against-ritter-drilling-regs" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">campaigning on a platform</a> that would roll back Gov. Bill Ritter’s more environmentally stringent oil and gas drilling regulations. He also has provided lip service to the renewable sector, but, like Penry and Gardner, is a staunch opponent of Ritter’s “New Energy Economy.”</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>stub</div><div>Bill Ritter is the Governor of Colorado and a superdelegate in the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); padding: 7px; font-size: 12px; display: table; zoom: 1; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; font-size: 12px; display: inline;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Bio" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1 Bio</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#2008_elections" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1.1 2008 elections</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Money_in_politics" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2 Money in politics</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Committees_and_affiliations" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3 Committees and affiliations</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Affiliations" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.1 Affiliations</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Endorsements" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.2 Endorsements</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Articles_and_resources" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4 Articles and resources</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Related_SourceWatch_articles" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#Sources" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.2 Sources</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#External_resources" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.3 External resources</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#External_articles" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.4 External articles</a></li></ul></li></ul></div><h2 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Bio</h2><h4 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">2008 elections</h4><table style="font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 19.200000762939453px; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(192, 215, 240); border: 1px solid rgb(67, 92, 122); margin: 0.5em 0.75em;"><tbody><tr><td style="border-right-width: 0px; padding: 0.5em;"><div style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid rgb(92, 121, 181);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/File:Sdtp-banner.jpg" class="image" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><img alt="Sdtp-banner.jpg" src="http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/thumb/1/13/Sdtp-banner.jpg/150px-Sdtp-banner.jpg" width="150" height="39" srcset="/images/1/13/Sdtp-banner.jpg 1.5x, /images/1/13/Sdtp-banner.jpg 2x" style="border: none; vertical-align: middle;" /></a></div></td><td width="100%" style="border-left-width: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0.5em 0.5em 0em;">This information was gathered by volunteer researchers as part of the Superdelegate Transparency Project on the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Superdelegates" title="Superdelegates" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">superdelegates</a> for the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. For more info see the<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_2008_presidential_primary_and_superdelegates" title="Colorado 2008 presidential primary and superdelegates" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Colorado superdelegate tracker</a> or visit the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Superdelegate_Transparency_Project" title="Portal:Superdelegate Transparency Project" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">STP homepage</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>
Before <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Hillary_Clinton" title="Hillary Clinton" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Hillary Clinton</a> conceded the race, Bill Ritter, as a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Superdelegate" title="Superdelegate" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">superdelegate</a>, had not endorsed a candidate for President.<div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; margin: 0.5em 0.75em; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(220, 232, 248); border: 1px solid rgb(92, 121, 181); padding: 0.25em;"><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">For more information and sources, see the state page for this superdelegate linked to in the blue box above.</li></ul></div>
<h2 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Money in politics</h2><h2 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Committees and affiliations</h2><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Affiliations</h3><ul style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Advisory Board, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Sustainable_Business_Council" title="American Sustainable Business Council" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">American Sustainable Business Council</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[1]</a></li></ul><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Endorsements</h3><h2 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Articles and resources</h2><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Related SourceWatch articles</h3><ul style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Superdelegate_Transparency_Project" title="Portal:Superdelegate Transparency Project" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Portal:Superdelegate Transparency Project</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Superdelegates_in_the_2008_presidential_primaries" title="Superdelegates in the 2008 presidential primaries" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Superdelegates in the 2008 presidential primaries</a></li></ul></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.presidential_election,2008" title="U.S. presidential election, 2008" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">U.S. presidential election, 2008</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.presidential_election,2008/Congressional_endorsements" title="U.S. presidential election, 2008/Congressional endorsements" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">U.S. presidential election, 2008/Congressional endorsements</a></li></ul></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:2008_U.S._Congressional_Elections" title="Portal:2008 U.S. Congressional Elections" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Portal:2008 U.S. Congressional Elections</a></li></ul><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Sources</h3><ol class="references" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Ritter#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> American Sustainable Business Council <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://asbcouncil.org/advisory-board" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Advisory Board</a>, organizational web page, accessed December 27, 2013.</li></ol><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">External resources</h3><ul style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">DemConWatch</a> - A very comprehensive list of superdelegates and known commitments. Please use this as a starting point and double check by doing a news search to make sure the data is accurate. If you have a tip, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="mailto:demconwatch@googlegroups.com" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAMAAAC67D+PAAAAMFBMVEX///////+IioX29vbq6unJx8O9vbvl5ePZ2NX7+/iysrLp5+KjoZyop6Oxrqrx8O1Uz2ohAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAENJREFUeNotxscBwCAMA0AsudAS9t82hnCvK2kAUQ6FCPSuzvy/x3wf0RFir6KAnbKqMSstMEnZZW/0cWqNVMs6Lv8AS44BeHjFSEUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">let them know</a>.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/primaries/2008_superdelegates.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">WashingtonPost.com</a> - Web site with full listing of superdelegates broken out by state and then type.</li></ul></div><div>
</div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In North Carolina, Halliburton and other fracking industry interests helped write a fracking chemical disclosure bill.  But when that bill ended up requiring disclosure of harmful chemicals to the state environmental agency, the bill was killed and replaced with one that further limited disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">cache of emails</a> obtained by Greenpeace has revealed the cozy relationship between the hydraulic fracturing industry and North Carolina’s Mining and Energy Commission.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px;">The Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) was set up after an errant vote by a state senator <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/03/2174842/state-senate-overrides-gov-perdues.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">legalized fracking in North Carolina</a>. Because the state had not seen oil and gas drilling in recent history, the Mining and Energy Commission was tasked with writing oil and gas regulations, specifically for fracking. The 15 members of the MEC propose regulations for fracking, which are then passed on to the North Carolina legislature to be turned into law.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px;"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">Emails and meeting schedules</a> from members of the North Carolina’s Mining and Energy Commission reveal how various fracking companies and national lobby groups, including America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), Energy in Depth (EID), Halliburton, and Koch Industries, influenced the Mining and Energy Commissioners, in regards to disclosure of chemicals used in fracking.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Halliburton’s Hand<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Halliburton has played a significant role in shaping potential fracking regulations in North Carolina. In March of 2013, the Commissioners approved a chemical disclosure bill in committee which would have required fracking companies to disclose to the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) the chemical ingredients in <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/The-Problem/fracking/Environmental-Impacts-Water/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">fracking fluid</a>, many of which are extremely toxic. However, Halliburton, a major fracking services company, raised some reservations which killed the bill, as <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2014/05/nc-board-members-met-lobbyist-fracking-rules" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">AP reporter Michael Biesecker confirmed:</a><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In an interview with AP, Mining and Energy Commission Chairman Jim Womack acknowledged that before deciding to delay the vote, he spoke with a senior Halliburton executive.<div id="attachment_26763" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 430px;">
</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“They indicated to me in a phone conversation that there may be other options than what was written in that rule,” Womack said.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The bill was taken off the agenda by Womack, and sent back to be rewritten by the chemical disclosure committee. Commissioner Womack himself is not worried about <a href="http://www.dcbureau.org/201302148261/natural-resources-news-service/pro-fracking-industry-interests-dominate-north-carolina-mining-and-energy-commission-tasked-with-writing-hydraulic-fracturing-regulations.html#sthash.6JdJlAPw.dpuf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">water contamination from fracking.</a> He once said:<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“You’re more likely to have a meteorite fall from the sky and hit you on the head than you are to contaminate groundwater with fracking fluid percolating up from under the ground.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Halliburton has always cast a long shadow over the MEC. Commissioner<a href="http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Letter-to-NC-AG-final.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">Vikram Rao</a> was at Halliburton for over 30 years, ultimately as the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.  He maintains a significant financial stake in Halliburton, and also has over $10,000 invested in BioLargo, a company involved in disposal of fracking wastewater.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rao has also called the idea of disclosing the contents of frackfluid “a joke.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">Documents obtained by Greenpeace</a> also reveal that the shale industry was close with one commissioner in particular.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">George Howard, the pro-fracking conservationist<div id="attachment_26769" class="wp-caption alignright" style="font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 490px;">
</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">George Howard serves as vice chairman of the MEC, and as the chairman of the chemical disclosure committee, which is tasked with creating regulations for frack fluid and other fracking chemicals. He was appointed by North Carolina’s Senate President Pro-Tem Philip E. Berger to serve in one of two “conservation” slots on the MEC. Berger received $46,700 in campaign contributions from <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/16/3169151/north-carolina-fracking-chemicals/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">fracking interests</a> between 2009 and 2011.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In his tenure as Mining and Energy Commissioner, George Howard has been a<a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/11/22/3396977/nc-energy-and-mining-commission.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">strong proponent of hydraulic fracturing</a>. He has said that public fears around fracking are exaggerated and that responding to public pressure is “pandering.” He has also claimed “it is physically impossible for hydraulic fracturing – the full industry term for fracking – to contaminate underground aquifers.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In addition to serving as commissioner for the MEC, Howard is the founder and CEO of Restoration Systems, an environmental remediation company. Through Restoration Systems, Howard has a significant financial stake in the fracking industry, including a multi-million dollar <a href="http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/article_1b1aeeda-680f-11e2-801d-001a4bcf6878.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">shale play project in Pennsylvania</a>. Howard has also invested in the area of North Carolina most likely to be leased by fracking companies.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Howard is connected to other top regulators, especially <a href="http://www.bluenc.com/mccrorys-denr-pick-conflicted-they-come" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">John Skvarla</a>, the Head of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR), who was president of Restoration Systems before becoming an environmental regulator. DENR would be the agency responsible for enforcing fracking laws recommended by the MEC.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Halliburton/Koch Industries Lobbyist Pushed ALEC fracking bill<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">Documents obtained by Greenpeace</a> include correspondence between George Howard and various representatives of the oil and gas industry during the creation of the first chemical disclosure bill. Howard had multiple meetings with the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">American Petroleum Institute</a> (API) and spoke with high-ranking members of the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">American Natural Gas Association</a> (ANGA). Howard specifically requested help from <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">Energy In Depth (EID)</a>, an oil and gas front group <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/12/11921/%E2%80%9Cenergy-depth%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-reporters%E2%80%99-guide-its-founding-funding-and-flacks" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">run by the PR firm FTI Consulting</a> and funded by the fracking industry. Howard asked Steve Everley, the spokesman for EID and an FTI Consulting operative, to help him prepare for a MEC meeting on chemical disclosure.<div id="attachment_26766" class="wp-caption alignright" style="font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 135px;"><a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Bowen-Heath.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32);"><img class="size-full wp-image-26766 " alt="Bo Heath" src="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Bowen-Heath.jpg" width="125" height="125" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; max-width: 100%; height: auto;" /></a>Bowen Heath</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Although George Howard met with and solicited information from multiple shale industry groups, one lobbyist was particularly influential.  <a href="http://www.mwcllc.com/people/d.-heath" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">Bowen Heath</a>, who represents Halliburton, Koch Industries, and various other oil and gas interests for the lobbying firm McGuireWoods, had unparalleled access to the Commission. Emails reveal a chummy relationship between George Howard and Heath, who spent evenings together and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html#document/p8/a145566" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">went for beers</a> in the afternoons.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heath used that access to advocate for a fracking chemical disclosure system that allows generous exemptions for chemicals that companies deem “trade secrets.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heath provided a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html#document/p47/a145581" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">fracking chemical disclosure bill </a> to Howard that the shale industry and its political allies previously passed in Colorado. The Colorado bill was <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/12/04/alec-csg-exxonmobil-fracking-fluid-disclosure-model-bill-failing-by-design" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">based on a model bill</a> from the <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/american-legislative-exchange-council" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</a>, a corporate-funded group dedicated to passing legislation approved by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">ALEC’s corporate funders</a>, including fracking companies like Chesapeake Energy. Bo Heath has longstanding <a href="http://www.mwcllc.com/news-events/news/news-detail?id=504" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">ties to ALEC</a>, and has attended ALEC annual meetings.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A New York Times investigation found that the Colorado chemical disclosure bill was the handiwork of one ALEC funder in particular, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/alec-a-tax-exempt-group-mixes-legislators-and-lobbyists.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">ExxonMobil</a>.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px;">As part of the push for the ALEC fracking bill passed in Colorado, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html#document/p66/a145582" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">Bo Heath arranged</a> for Colorado ex-governor Bill Ritter to fly down to North Carolina to meet with George Howard and the MEC. The <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2014/05/nc-board-members-met-lobbyist-fracking-rules" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">AP confirmed</a> that Ritter’s fees and expenses were not paid by the MEC, and Bo Heath’s lobbying group refused to comment on Ritter’s funding.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hallmarks of the ALEC fracking bill include generous <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/alec-and-exxonmobil-push-loopholes-in-fracking-chemical-disclosure-rules" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">exemptions from disclosure</a> for “trade secrets,” and reliance on the FracFocus website for disclosing chemicals to the public. <a href="http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059976058" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">FracFocus’s</a> operational costs are paid for by the oil and gas industry lobbying groups <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/american-petroleum-institute" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">American Petroleum Institute (API)</a> and <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/14449" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA)</a>.<a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/environmentallawprogram/files/2013/04/4-23-2013-LEGAL-FRACTURES.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;"> FracFocus</a> was found to be “severely lacking” as a regulatory tool by a recent Harvard study.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heath continued to advocate for the industry/ALEC approach to chemical disclosure, and even brought in a key member of <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html#document/p69/a145583" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">FracFocus, Mike Paque</a>. Paque is the executive director of the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC). The GWPC has long been an ally of the oil and gas industry, receiving funding from the American Petroleum Institute and other industry affiliates. Reports produced by GWPC are the backbone of the oil and gas industry’s claims about the safety of fracking. The GWPC also runs  the FracFocus website, and advocates for its use.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Taking up his drinking buddy’s suggestion, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/905820-greenpeace-request-howard-response.html#document/p41/a145579" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">George Howard</a> selected Paque as an expert witness for the MEC. Paque presented the industry-funded FracFocus website in an <a href="http://portal.ncdenr.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=cd77e21d-917a-43fb-8b0f-1ccb2c513e4a&groupId=8198095" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">unrecorded meeting</a> on December 18, 2012.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The New Bill Further Limits Disclosure<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the end, even though the bill that George Howard passed through committee was shot down by Jim Womack and Halliburton, it contained most of what Bo Heath and other industry lobbyists wanted. It used the API, ANGA funded website FracFocus for disclosure of chemicals, and exempted chemicals deemed trade secrets from being disclosed to the public on that website. However, Halliburton killed the bill because it required disclosure of all chemicals to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The new bill, which has passed through the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/16/3169151/north-carolina-fracking-chemicals/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">MEC committee</a> and is headed for ratification in the State House of North Carolina, included a requirement to use the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/16/3169151/north-carolina-fracking-chemicals/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">FracFocus website</a>, following the ALEC fracking model legislation passed in multiple states. And like those states, trade secrets are <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/01/14/3532704/nc-fracking-panel-passes-chemical.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(126, 189, 32); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: 700;">not disclosed</a> to the state, or the public.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; color: rgb(51, 60, 61); font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div>=</div>