defector bak

<div id="node-body-top" class="clear-block">this category refers to major companies that have bailed from major organizations ALEC and US CoC, often fronts and often because of specific attacks by activists  see also divestment, CSR, shareholder revoltsalso ICCC/Heartland, also mountaintop removal; so perhaps this is the new phase: force co's to abandon the buffer/front/industry group; cf divestment strategy 350 org, apartheidleverage? cascade effect? have some corps been hit by multiple campaigns?  what is the biggest win? wells fargo reneged re alec?RJR sticks with alec, peabody
12/18 expand to include fox boycott by biz=BP DEFECTS 2/20<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">12 pp</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/sustainability/our-participation-in-trade-associations-climate.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/sustainability/our-participation-in-trade-associations-climate.pdf</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Summary findings table – for further details see page 7</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Not aligned Associations deemed not aligned are those which we found to have</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">stated opposition to BP positions with limited balancing support in</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">other areas. </div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Associations in this category are:</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM)</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AFPM collaborated with its members over the past year to support</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">changes to its climate policy. While we are encouraged by this</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">progress, BP and AFPM’s views on carbon pricing are at odds and</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">currently we have no areas of full alignment. As a result, we have</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">decided to resign our membership.</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Western Energy Alliance (WEA)</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We have decided not to renew our membership with WEA due to</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">material differences around the federal regulation of methane and</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">due to BP’s divestment of assets in the states in which the</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">organization is active.</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA)</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BP has decided to resign its membership in WSPA as a result of...</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">---</div>=<div>SHELL DEFECTOR (when was court loss?]</div><div><a href="https://news.yahoo.com/1-shell-quit-u-refining-105931571.html">
</a></div><div><a href="https://news.yahoo.com/1-shell-quit-u-refining-105931571.html">https://news.yahoo.com/1-shell-quit-u-refining-105931571.html</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>reuters</div><div>UPDATE 7-Citing climate differences, Shell walks away from U.S. refining lobby</div><div>By Ron Bousso</div><div>April 2, 2019</div><div>* Shell to leave AFPM in 2020 over climate "misalignment"</div><div>
</div><div>* Shell releases first report on links with industry groups</div><div>
</div><div>* Investor welcomes report as "industry first" (Adds comment from French oil major Total)</div><div>
</div><div>By Ron Bousso</div><div>
</div><div>LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc on Tuesday became the first major oil and gas company to announce plans to leave a leading U.S. refining lobby due to disagreement on climate policies, citing its support for the goals of the Paris climate agreement.</div><div>
</div><div>In its first review of its association with 19 key industry groups, Shell said it had found "material misalignment" over climate policy with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and would quit the body in 2020.</div><div>
</div><div>The review is part of Shell's drive to increase transparency and show investors it is in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement's goals to limit global warming by reducing carbon emissions to a net zero by the end of the century.</div><div>
</div><div>It is the latest sign of how investor pressure on oil companies, particularly in Europe, is leading to changes in their behavior around climate. Last year, Shell caved in to investor pressure over climate change, setting out plans to introduce industry-leading carbon emissions targets linked to executive pay.</div><div>
</div><div>Its chief executive, Ben van Beurden, has since repeatedly urged oil and gas producers to take action over climate and pollution, staking out a more radical position than the heads of other major oil companies.</div><div>
</div><div>"AFPM has not stated support for the goal of the Paris Agreement. Shell supports the goal of the Paris Agreement," the Anglo-Dutch company said in its decision.</div><div>
</div><div>"The need for urgent action in response to climate change has become ever more obvious since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. As a result, society's expectations in this area have changed, and Shell's views have also evolved," van Beurden said in the report.</div><div>
</div><div>The company has disagreed with AFPM on a number of issues for some time, according to two lobbying sources. Shell said it also disagreed with AFPM's opposition to a price on carbon and action on low-carbon technologies.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell and AFPM have also been at odds in recent months over regulation over the use of renewable fuels. While Shell and other large refiners invested in cleaner fuel technology, AFPM has fought hard against standards requiring refiners to blend or subsidize the blending of biofuels into the gasoline pool - saying it hurts independent refiners.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell and rivals Exxon and BP have in recent years left the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative political group, over its stance on climate change.</div><div>
</div><div>AFPM Chief Executive Chet Thompson thanked Shell for its "longstanding collaboration."</div><div>
</div><div>"We will also continue working on behalf of the refining and petrochemical industries to advance policies that ensure reliable and affordable access to fuels and petrochemicals, while being responsible stewards of the environment," Thompson said in a statement.</div><div>
</div><div>AFPM counts around 300 U.S. and international members including Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp, BP Plc and Total SA that operate 110 refineries and 229 petrochemical plants, according to its 2018 annual report.</div><div>
</div><div>French oil major Total said in a statement to Reuters that consensus required by organizations such as AFPM does not always reflect its position, and that it regularly monitors the relevance of its participation.</div><div>
</div><div>"In this case, Total takes a pro-active approach in order to convince its peers, particularly on climate issues. In case of differing points of view, Total publicly defends its position, and is ready to reconsider its participation in case of disagreement," the company said.</div><div>
</div><div>Total said it was fully aware of climate issues, has publicly recognized them and takes them into its strategy.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell's review was welcomed by Adam Matthews, director of ethics and engagement for the Church of England Pensions Board, which invests in Shell and led discussions with the company over its climate policy.</div><div>
</div><div>"This is an industry first," Matthews said. "With this review Shell have set the benchmark for best practice on corporate climate lobbying not just within oil and gas but across all industries. The challenge now is for others to follow suit."</div><div>
</div><div>WALK AWAY</div><div>
</div><div>Shell also found "some" misalignment with nine other trade associations, including the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's main lobby.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell said that while it had some climate-related differences with the API, it welcomed the lobby's advocacy on a range of state and federal issues such as trade and transport, as well as the API's efforts to reduce methane emissions.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell said it will continue to engage with the API and other groups over climate policies and monitor their alignment.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell last month urged President Donald Trump's administration to tighten restrictions on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, instead of weakening them as planned.</div><div>
</div><div>(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in New York and Bate Felix in Paris; Editing by Louise Heavens, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler)</div></div><div>
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</div><div><a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Shell-warns-U-S-trade-groups-it-may-leave-over-16084555.php">https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Shell-warns-U-S-trade-groups-it-may-leave-over-16084555.php</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>ENERGY</div><div>Shell threatens to leave US trade groups over climate disagreements</div><div>
</div><div>Paul Takahashi Staff writer</div><div>April 8, 2021</div><div>
</div><div>Shell’s move reassessing its trade group memberships comes as the European oil giant moves from its longtime fossil fuels business to meet its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.</div><div>
</div><div>European oil major Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday urged U.S. oil and gas trade groups to take stronger positions in the fight against climate change under the threat of leaving them.</div><div>
</div><div>The Netherlands-based oil major took aim at the American Petroleum Institute, the Texas Oil & Gas Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pushing them to support and advocate for climate policies in line with the Paris climate agreement. The 2015 agreement aims to limit the rise in the average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell’s move reassessing its trade group memberships comes as the European oil giant moves from its longtime fossil fuels business to meet its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.</div><div>
</div><div>“We must be confident that our participation in industry associations is consistent with our views on climate action,” Van Beurden said. “Our memberships should strengthen and not undermine our support of the goal of the Paris Agreement and the global drive to achieve net-zero emissions.”</div><div>
</div><div>A BALANCE: API says U.S. must grow oil and gas while reducing emissions</div><div>
</div><div>API and the U.S. oil and gas industry face mounting pressure from their European members, which have moved aggressively over the past year to address climate change. Shell, Total and BP are investing heavily in wind and solar power, as well as electric vehicle charging stations, to prepare for a low-carbon future. Their largest American counterparts, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, have been slower to adopt renewables, instead working to reduce carbon emissions from their oil and gas operations through investments in carbon capture and storage technology.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell said API, the largest U.S. oil and gas trade association, has not stated publicly that it supports net-zero emissions, even though its chief executive said in January that the group supports the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. The company urged API to explicitly support the goals of the Paris Agreement, carbon pricing and direct regulation of methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas.</div><div>
</div><div>“Shell continues to urge API to take a more proactive and constructive approach to climate-related policy and advocacy, in line with the goal of the Paris Agreement,” the company said.</div><div>
</div><div>API spokeswoman Bethany Aronhalt said that the oil and gas industry is tackling climate change by working to reduce emissions while at the same time incentivizing lower-carbon innovations.</div><div>
</div><div>PULLING THE REINS: API president criticizes energy transition as moving too fast</div><div>
</div><div>Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden</div><div>
</div><div>“The scope of this challenge is big enough for a variety of solutions, and every company has a unique approach,” Aronhalt said in an email. “As an association representing 600 companies of varying sizes and segments of the industry, we know there is more that unites us than divides us, and each member brings an important voice to our advocacy efforts. We look forward to continuing to partner with Shell to advance innovative solutions for a lower carbon future and ensure API is at the forefront of the debate over how to address climate change while maintaining access to affordable, reliable energy around the world.”</div><div>
</div><div>Pressure is mounting on API and other oil and gas trade groups to change their views on climate policies.</div><div>
</div><div>Total in January said it will leave API over “certain divergences” in approaches climate change. The French oil major, which has a significant presence in Houston, said it disagreed with API’s opposition to electric vehicle subsidies and its endorsement of political candidates who argued against U.S. participation in the Paris climate agreement.</div><div>
</div><div>Total is developing 16 solar farms in the U.S., including nine in Texas, to achieve its net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goals and to generate 40 percent of its sales from renewable power by 2050.</div><div>
</div><div>HISTORIC MOVE: Shell admits its oil production is now on the decline</div><div>
</div><div>BP, which also has ambitions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, said in January that it is monitoring its membership in trade associations, particularly those it views as being only “partially aligned” with the company on climate-related issues. The company, however, said it remains committed to trying to influence those associations from within and will give an update on its memberships by the middle of this year.</div><div>
</div><div>Shell said it sees many benefits of its memberships in the trade associations, and believes that it is more effective working on climate change policies as a member of an association rather than on the outside. But it warned that in cases where it finds “material misalignment” with an association, it will not hesitate to reassess its membership. Shell in 2019 left the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers association after it found substantial disagreements with the group over climate policies.</div><div>
</div><div>“When we see little possibility of change, we are prepared to walk away,” Van Beurden said.</div><div>
</div><div>paul.takahashi@chron.com</div><div>twitter.com/paultakahashi</div></div><div>
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</div><div>=</div><div><div>=</div><div>ref F&WW on api 2 face:</div><div><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/in-shift-key-climate-denialist-group-heartland-institute-pivots-to-policy/">
</a></div><div><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/in-shift-key-climate-denialist-group-heartland-institute-pivots-to-policy/">https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/in-shift-key-climate-denialist-group-heartland-institute-pivots-to-policy/</a></div><div><div class="page-meta page-meta--article" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto 1.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; max-width: 660px;"><div class="page-metainner" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="articlepubdate small-caps-copy" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em;">NOVEMBER 2, 2018</div><div class="page-metaattribution" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.6; display: flex;">by<div class="page-metaitem-outer author-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="page-metaitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.35em; margin-right: 0.35em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/person/katie-worth/" class="page-metaitem-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">Katie Worth</a></div></div></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Few entities have worked harder to instill doubt in American minds about the science of climate change than the Heartland Institute.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The self-styled “<a href="https://www.heartland.org/about-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">action tank</a>” has published dozens of books and other media amplifying the voices of those who reject the scientific consensus on climate change.  Last year, the libertarian organization <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/climate-change-skeptic-group-seeks-to-influence-200000-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">mailed</a> instructional materials questioning whether global warming is real to science teachers across the nation.Now, the group is declaring itself victorious in its crusade to convince Americans that climate science is debatable — despite the broad scientific agreement that it is not — and says it is instead pursuing economic and moral arguments to advance policies that bolster domestic fossil fuel production.“It took a while, but we think we’ve won the battle — Al Gore was wrong,” said Heartland president and CEO Tim Huelskamp, a former Republican Congressman. “Now we’re focusing on implementation.”The pivot comes at a paradoxical moment: There has never been more evidence that humans are altering the climate; nor has Heartland’s message to the contrary ever enjoyed a more sympathetic ear in the White House. President Donald Trump has in the past <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/408977616926830592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E408977616926830592&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.snopes.com%2Ffact-check%2Fdonald-trump-global-warming-hoax%2F" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">described</a> climate change as a “hoax;” last month, days after the United Nations released a <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">report</a> warning that climate change may have catastrophic impact as soon as 2030, Trump <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-says-climate-change-not-a-hoax-but-questions-if-its-manmade/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">said</a> he wasn’t convinced “that it’s man-made.” Trump’s transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency was <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/meet-myron-ebell-the-climate-contrarian-leading-trumps-epa-transition/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">led by a close Heartland associate</a>. Emails obtained by Freedom of Information Act lawsuits <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/meet-myron-ebell-the-climate-contrarian-leading-trumps-epa-transition/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">revealed</a> that under Trump, EPA officials have corresponded with Heartland leaders, in some cases to drum up support for policies and events. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, his <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-trumps-plan-to-roll-back-fuel-economy-standards-means-for-your-wallet-and-the-environment" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">proposal to roll back</a> car fuel economy standards and his <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-trumps-rules-on-coal-fired-power-plants-differ-from-obamas" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">plan</a> to support old coal-powered plants are all policies that Heartland has <a href="https://www.heartland.org/topics/government-politics/trump-action-plan/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">advocated</a>.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heartland anticipated this bonanza. At the climate conference the organization hosted in Washington, D.C. just weeks after Trump’s inauguration in 2017, the mood was jubilant: “This is a wonderful time to be a global warming realist,” <a href="https://youtu.be/wgOOss302yc?list=PLgnnPnL9OL7GvpVrMUjl8kJxtjL0PKbKT&t=322" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">said</a> Heartland’s then-President Joseph Bast as he kicked off the meeting, using the term the organization uses to describe the movement.In that same speech, Bast — who has since semi-retired — hinted at a change in strategy: “The scientific debate is essentially over,” he <a href="https://youtu.be/wgOOss302yc?list=PLgnnPnL9OL7GvpVrMUjl8kJxtjL0PKbKT&t=452" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">said</a>. “What remains to be done is the political battle.”Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard University professor who examined Heartland and its allies in her book <a href="https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">Merchants of Doubt</a>, said there may be another reason for the pivot: They may have calculated that the science argument is not as effective as it used to be. “Organizations like Heartland are very effective at shifting tactics in response to whatever is happening in that moment,” she said. “If we were to have an unusually cold spell for three years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pick up the science again.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Since its founding in 1984, Chicago-based Heartland has worked on an array of free-market causes. But the organization, historically backed by the fossil fuel industry, is best known for nurturing the idea that climate science is up for debate.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 2008, Heartland began hosting what it called “<a href="http://climateconferences.heartland.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">International Conferences on Climate Change</a>,” which gathered the world’s most prominent climate contrarians under one roof. The arguments made there against prevailing climate science were diverse and often <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/science/earth/09climate.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">conflicting</a>: Some speakers denied the Earth’s atmosphere was changing; others said the Earth was actually cooling; others said it was warming for entirely natural reasons; still others accepted that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was causing the planet to warm, but argued the ensuing changes were good for life on Earth.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heartland hosted 12 such conferences in 10 years, even as the organization faced setbacks: As its leaders decried global warming a “hoax,” the planet endured year after year of <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">record-breaking global temperatures</a>, and most climate scientists became unwilling to debate with Heartland and its allies, worrying that doing so legitimized their message. Heartland faced widespread <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/09/local/la-me-gs-unabomber-billboard-continues-to-hurt-heartland-institute-20120509" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">criticism</a> in 2012, when it sponsored a billboard showing the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski along with the words, “I still believe in global warming. Do you?”But the message Heartland has promoted reflects the view of many people in America: In 2008, just 47 percent of Americans agreed there was solid evidence that the Earth was warming due to human causes, according to a <a href="https://nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/science-and-technology-public-attitudes-and-understanding/public-attitudes-about-specific-s-t-related-issues" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">Pew study</a>; as of 2016, that percentage had not much budged.Heartland has not hosted a climate change conference since the weeks after Trump’s election. Instead, in November 2017, the organization held an “America First Energy Conference,” named after and championing the president’s energy policy, and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/amid-u-n-climate-talks-trump-officials-attend-event-hosted-by-skeptics/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">coinciding</a> with the U.N’s annual climate talks. It opened with a video message from then-administrator of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, and featured two mid-level Trump administration officials.In August, it held a second of these conferences in New Orleans. The conference <a href="http://americafirstenergy.org/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">website</a> stated that 300 to 400 people were expected to attend, but most of the day it had an audience of 100 or fewer. Despite the modest attendance, the conference featured three Trump political appointees: Joe Balash, assistant secretary for land and minerals management at Department of Interior; Jason Funes, special assistant in DOI’s Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs; and Brooke Rollins, who serves as the assistant to the president for strategic innovations and leads the White House Office of American Innovation.“Despite what the anti-fossil fuel hypocrites say, the everyday American in this country loves fossil fuels,” Funes <a href="https://youtu.be/o-AugwuUtS0?t=75" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">told</a> conference attendees. “Under President Trump and Secretary [Ryan] Zinke, the literal war on American fossil fuels is now over and becoming energy dominant is a true reality.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Many other panelists were regulars from Heartland’s climate conferences. One of the day’s <a href="http://americafirstenergy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AFEC-2018-event-prog-final.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">panels</a> took direct aim at climate science; others were framed around policy, legal challenges, economic arguments, or moral ones.According to Oreskes, the economic argument — that climate change is too expensive to fix — have been part of Heartland’s arsenal for years. But the moral argument — the idea that regulating fossil fuels will create “energy poverty” by increasing energy prices so much that people with low incomes can’t afford it — is newer. Oreskes said it’s “one of the most pernicious arguments they’ve ever made.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“A central truth about climate change is that those of us who have benefited the most from using fossil fuels will suffer the least, while poor people, who have hardly benefited, will bear the brunt of climate change,” she said.In December, Heartland plans to be in Katowice, Poland during the U.N.’s next major climate conference, where it will release its book “Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels.” The book is the fifth volume Heartland has edited and published by the “Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change” (NIPCC) – a moniker derived from the name of the U.N.’s scientific body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).The previous four volumes, published between 2009 and 2014, were all attempts to contradict the climate science reported by the U.N. However, according to <a href="http://climatechangereconsidered.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-03-18-Summary-for-Policy-Makers-v3.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">talking points</a> that Heartland released earlier this month and distributed to state and federal policymakers, this fifth volume barely touches on climate science. Instead, it focuses on a cost-benefit analysis of reducing fossil fuel usage. The summary concludes that “nearly all the impacts of fossil fuel use on human well-being are net positive.”Heartland’s support for the fossil fuel industry has not been reciprocated, of late. Heartland once received financial support from ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and Alpha Natural Resources, among others, but those and other donations from the industry have largely dried up; Heartland’s <a href="https://www.heartland.org/about-us/funding/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">website</a> says most of its funding today comes from individual donors and foundations. In August’s conference on the energy sector, just one person employed by that sector spoke: <a href="http://americafirstenergy.org/Speaker/joe-leimkuhler/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">Joe Leimkuhler</a>, vice president of drilling of Louisiana-based deepwater exploration company LLOG Exploration.Heartland’s president Huelskamp blamed the lack of participation on companies not wanting to jeopardize government contracts, or backtrack on their efforts to promote an environmentally friendly image.“All these folks continue to think Hillary Clinton still runs things,” Huelskamp said. “So we’re not here promoting individual companies, we’re promoting free markets.”Heartland has also lost organizational allies: The program from its March 2008 climate conference <a href="http://climateconferences.heartland.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ICCC1.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">boasted</a> 52 co-sponsors from more than 20 countries, nearly all organizations promoting free-market initiatives. That number dwindled over the years, and the <a href="http://climateconferences.heartland.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ICCC-12-program-final.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">program from its 2017 conference listed</a> only 10 co-sponsors, two of which were international. Heartland spokesman Jim Lakely said the decline was due to a policy that co-sponsors must financially support the conference to be listed. “It is no reflection at all on the view of our allies or friends,” he said.Heartland’s strident policies on climate change may have strained a relationship with one of its most powerful remaining allies: the <a href="https://www.alec.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>, an influential organization that unites private interests and conservative politicians to craft legislative proposals. Heartland has long been an instrumental member of ALEC, helping draft model legislation on climate change. But its proposals have alienated some of ALEC’s large corporate members. In 2014, eBay, Facebook, Yelp, Microsoft and Google all <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/24/facebook-abandons-rightwing-lobby-group-alec" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">left</a> the organization; then-Google chairman Eric Schmidt <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/09/22/google-were-parting-with-the-climate-change-skeptics-at-alec/?utm_term=.8458111dceb4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">said</a> the company was leaving because ALEC was “just literally lying” about climate change. The exodus has continued: This December, ExxonMobil took <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/big-oil-heartland-climate-science-misinformation-campaign-koch-api-trump-infographic" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">issue</a> with a climate resolution that Heartland had backed in an ALEC meeting. The company chose to <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/396700-exxon-leaves-conservative-advocacy-group-alec" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">step away</a> from ALEC in June.Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Wisc.), who attends ALEC meetings and then <a href="https://progressive.org/dispatches/alec%E2%80%99s-attack-on-public-education-a-report-from-the-frontlin/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">writes</a> about them, said that at a meeting in August, an ALEC task force only barely passed a Heartland-backed <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/resolution-in-support-of-the-reconsideration-of-corporate-average-fuel-economy-cafe-standards/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">proposal</a> to rewrite fuel economy standards. “It almost went down, because there were 10 or 11 private industry people voting against it,” she said. “I’d never seen that before.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Heartland is being rebuffed again and again and again,” says Kert Davies, founder of the Climate Investigations Center, which monitors organizations that delay action on climate change. “A lot of companies cannot be caught dead supporting the extremist climate denial rhetoric that Heartland proffers.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heartland’s James Taylor dismissed rumors of tension between the two libertarian institutions.“We have the warmest of relationships with ALEC,” he said. “A rift between us is wishful thinking on behalf of the environmental left.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When asked about tensions between the organizations, ALEC’s chief marketing officer and executive vice president of external relations and strategic partnerships Bill Meierling said in a statement that “differing perspectives generate substantive debate that results in stronger, better policy models.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heartland’s leaders say its new strategy has nothing to do with making itself more palatable to funders or allies, and that they are not abandoning their efforts on science — for example, they are working to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/dueling-books-compete-to-educate-kids-on-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">publish a new book</a> on climate change aimed at science teachers and their students.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We’ve convinced the people who matter that there’s profound uncertainty in the science,” said Bast. “So the next step is energy policy.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—Nicole Einbinder contributed reporting.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; width: auto; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Katie Worth is a GroundTruth Fellow and a 2018 O’Brien Fellow in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/person/katie-worth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent; display: inline; transition: background-color 0.25s ease 0s;">Katie Worth</a>, <span class="page-trust-authortitle-sub" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Former Reporter, <span class="page-trust-authorcompany-sub" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; font-weight: 600;">FRONTLINE</div><div>=</div></div><div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>docket</div><div>microsoft is a prominent example of an American company walking a public relations tightrope on climate change. It professes a serious commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, touts its clean energy bonafides and vocally supports the Paris Climate Agreement and the dire need to combat a growing climate crisis. But it also remains a member of a trade group, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which has worked for decades to delay action on climate change and defend the fossil fuel companies whose products cause it.</div><div>
</div><div>NAM, in fact, has been so proactive in anti-climate action projects that it draws comparisons to its <a href="https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/results/#q=%22national%20association%20of%20manufacturers%0A%22&h=%7B%22hideDuplicates%22%3Atrue%2C%22hideFolders%22%3Atrue%7D&subsite=tobacco&cache=true&count=6053" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">support for the tobacco industry</a> as it faced a liability battle in the 1980s. NAM, along with other trade groups, backed tobacco companies as they faced hundreds of lawsuits and were charged with racketeering by the federal government for deceiving the public about the catastrophic health hazards of smoking. NAM has <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2019/02/26/national-association-manufacturers-oil-climate-liability/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">even hired the same law firm</a> that defended the tobacco industry to launch an assault on climate liability lawsuits. As then, NAM’s member companies face public pressure for supporting those efforts. Microsoft, along with other companies, including Intel and Proctor and Gamble, told Climate Liability News that they disagree with NAM’s actions and policy positions on climate change. But they have not ended their memberships. While other climate change-denying groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council have suffered membership losses because companies like Google and Apple felt they could no longer be publicly associated with its tactics, NAM has experienced no such repercussions so far. “The views expressed by NAM do not reflect Microsoft’s position on climate change,” a Microsoft spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Microsoft is committed to sustainability and addressing climate change. We work with many groups on various technology policy issues and do not expect that any organization’s agenda will align to ours in all policy areas.” <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Trade Group Tango </h4>Whether a company joins—and remains—a member of NAM or any trade group depends on how much it agrees with the association’s activities and how its membership in the association affects its reputation, said Michael Barnett, a professor of management & global business at <a href="http://www.business.rutgers.edu/faculty/michael-barnett" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Rutgers Business School</a> who has studied trade groups. “[Trade associations] are effective by influencing what others outside the industry think of the industry, like regulators, like customers, like communities,” Barnett said. Trade groups help shield individual companies from the public relations backlash of lobbying on behalf of their industry. They often work as organizing forces to oppose regulation of industries and to lobby government for favorable laws and policies.“The member firms want cover, they want that legitimacy, they want an improved reputation, but they don’t want to do those things necessary to gain that,” Barnett said. “It’s sort of like they’ve hired a personal trainer and they want that trainer to say, ‘Eat cake and you’re going to get fit.’” Sharon Eubanks, a former Department of Justice lawyer who led the government’s racketeering case against the tobacco industry, compared efforts by NAM to defend the fossil fuel industry’s inaction on climate change to efforts by trade groups to back the tobacco companies. She cited the Tobacco Institute and the Center for Tobacco Research, which provided faulty research and inaccurate testimony to support the tobacco industry’s lies about the harms of its product.“I would say that this group is a little more in your face and direct than the tobacco industry was in what they are doing,” Eubanks said.  “They tried to put on a fig leaf, the tobacco industry did, but NAM, there’s no fig leaf—it’s out there.” NAM has attacked climate scientists, undermined international climate negotiations and worked to delay the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions through the <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2019/04/25/gcc-global-climate-coalition-history/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Global Climate Coalition</a>, a fossil fuel front group that operated from 1989 to 2002. NAM and the Global Climate Coalition were so closely intertwined that one recently discovered document instructs members to make dues checks payable to “NAM – Global Climate Coalition.”More recently, NAM launched its <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2019/02/26/national-association-manufacturers-oil-climate-liability/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Manufacturers’ Accountability Project</a> to defend big polluters against climate liability suits. Formed in 2017, the Manufacturers’ Accountability Project has attempted to discredit municipalities filing suits against oil companies for the damage they’ve caused to the climate. Last year NAM launched the <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2019/03/07/nam-shareholder-pressure-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Main Street Investors Coalition</a> to fend off shareholder resolutions calling for more transparency and action on climate change. <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Why Do NAM’s Members Abide Its Backing of Fossil Fuel Companies? </h4>NAM doesn’t publicly list its members, and companies with executives on NAM’s <a href="https://www.nam.org/About/Board-of-Directors/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">board</a> include large fossil fuel companies with a clear interest in preventing climate liability suits. At the same time, other board members come from a wide variety of companies, some which appear to have a strong commitment to protecting the climate and have little or no chance of being named in a climate liability suit, including Pella, Microsoft, Intel, Mueller WP, Volvo, Ball, Proctor and Gamble, Corning and Baker Boy, a North Dakota-based donut chain, among others.<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/environment/carbon/our-approach" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Microsoft</a>, which has recently come under fire for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/01/microsoft-joins-group-seeking-to-avoid-climate-change-lawsuit" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">joining</a> the <a href="https://www.clcouncil.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Climate Leadership Council</a>, an <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2018/10/09/exxon-carbon-tax-climate-liability/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">industry-backed</a> group advocating for a <a href="https://www.clcouncil.org/our-plan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">carbon dividend plan</a> that could <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2018/07/17/carbon-tax-climate-liability-waiver/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">do away with</a> climate liability suits, has tried to back away from NAM’s work without leaving NAM. Intel is also carefully distancing itself from NAM’s campaigns to delay action on climate change. Intels positions don’t always align with NAM’s, said William Moss, an Intel spokesperson. “In the case of climate change, we have raised it directly with NAM, and state in our <a href="https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibility/environment-climate-change-policy.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">climate change policy</a> our support for the IPCC and the Paris Agreement, and our own commitment to reducing our carbon footprint,” said Moss, who added that the overall benefits of Intel’s membership in NAM outweigh its differences on issues like climate change.“In areas where we may have significant differences, we often publish our position separately so our stakeholders know where we stand,” Moss said.   Proctor and Gamble said its NAM membership is aligned with its general business goals and strategies, but the company does not agree with NAM’s position on every issue.“We also respect and value the views of our shareholders, especially on topics that are of importance to the company,” said a Proctor and Gamble spokesperson in a statement. “The trade associations of which we are members are aware of our policy positions, including our views on climate policies. We are consistent in the positions we share with external stakeholders as well as in our trade association engagement.”NAM did not respond to a request for comment, but in a radio interview last year, its president, Jay Timmons, claimed NAM’s 250 board members are “unified in their concern about what lawsuits like this will do to manufacturing operations if they are successful,” Timmons said, referring to climate liability suits. Guy Moos, president of<a href="http://www.bakerboy.com/About/Culture" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;"> Baker Boy</a>, said his company remains a member of NAM because of other membership benefits, not its stance on climate issues.“In North Dakota, we’re probably wired a little differently because the Bakken oil field is a pretty big deal around here and so I personally don’t take a position of anti-fossil fuel,” Moos said. Barnett said the more trade associations try to serve a narrow focus, the more difficult it is to retain a broad industry base. After a recent <a href="https://www.shell.com/sustainability/transparency/public-advocacy-and-political-activity/jcr_content/par/textimage.stream/1554466210642/0a46ab13e36e99f8762ebb021bd72decec2f47b2/final-industry-association-climate-review-april-2019.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">review</a> of its membership in several trade associations, Shell found it had “some misalignment” with NAM’s climate-related policy positions. While the oil giant announced it would not renew its membership in the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, it said it would “continue to engage with [NAM] and closely monitor our alignment on climate-related topics.” Shell is facing climate <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2019/02/11/nyc-climate-suit-appeal-second-circuit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">liability</a> suits in the U.S. for the <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2018/11/15/fisheries-crab-climate-change-liability/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">damage</a> its <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2019/03/13/san-francisco-oakland-climate-lawsuit-appeal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">products</a> have done to the climate and for failing to adequately plan for and <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2018/05/15/shell-climate-suit-conservation-law-foundation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">protect</a> its facilities from climate change. Seven environmental and human rights organizations in the Netherlands have filed suit against Shell for <a href="https://www.climatedocket.com/2019/04/05/shell-sued-in-the-netherlands-for-insufficient-action-on-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">failing</a> to align its business model with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Barnett said fossil fuel companies will continue to accrue liability as long as they deny responsibility for climate change.</div></div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">=</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy%e2%80%8b/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy%e2%80%8b/</a>
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</div><div>also mary b</div><div>july 2018</div><div>ExxonMobil, the largest oil and gas company in the world, will not renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) after a split within the corporate lobbying group over how to address climate change, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-12/exxon-quits-koch-backed-business-group-after-climate-change-row" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">reported</a> earlier today.Exxon’s exit follows a disagreement <a href="https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/heartland-institute-statement-on-alec-endangerment-finding-resolution" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">over a resolution</a> introduced in December by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank that denies climate change, that would have asked the federal government to reconsider its findings that greenhouse gasses are harmful to human health.The EPA did its spadework and laid out the scientific foundation of the endangerment findings in over <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents/endangerment_tsd.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">200 pages</a> of technical documentation in 2009. Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt failed to reconsider those findings, much to the disappointment of the Koch crowd.Although large companies like Ford, Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and many others have <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">cut ties</a> with ALEC, few have given and supported ALEC as much as Exxon has. Exxon was listed as a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4597750-ALEC-Letter-to-Philip-Morris-1981.html" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">“major contributor”</a> to ALEC as far back as 1981 and has given ALEC <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/01/11/letter-to-senate-committee-on-rex-tillersons-exxon-funding-for-alec/" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">millions</a> over the years to promote its corporate agenda. Exxon has also consistently served on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-spacing: 3.6px;">Reaction to the Announcement</h2>“This is a major loss for ALEC. It’s not just the financial support that Exxon provides, which has been significant over the years. This also represents a growing split between oil and gas majors that are increasingly concerned about their public image, and groups like ALEC that still regularly promote debates about climate science on their agenda,” said Nick Surgey, co-director of Documented.“Exxon’s departure should send a strong message to ALEC that it’s extreme agenda and undemocratic, secretive operations have no place in American politics,” said Jay Riestenberg, campaigns & media strategist at Common Cause.“It’s very significant when a giant of the fossil fuels world thinks that ALEC ‘s denial of the existence of climate change is intolerable. I hope that other responsible corporations that are still members of ALEC will follow suit,” said Wisconsin State Rep. Chris Taylor, who has attended ALEC events and <a href="https://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/rep-chris-taylor-alec-abandoned-tech-giants-call-it-quits/article_82d5d70c-4e34-5549-9ac4-adcf0c272379.html" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">written</a> about its climate denial positions.With regard to ALEC and the Koch brothers’ hostility to renewable energy and public transportation, Taylor said, “Their positions belong in the dinosaur age. We need to be investing in transit and renewables, and they just keep throwing up road block after road block.”“Other major oil companies, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, left ALEC years ago. It’s about time ExxonMobil finally did, too,” said Kathy Mulvey, fossil fuel accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/press/2018/exxonmobil-departure-climate-denying-alec-long-overdue#.W0fYHdhKjOR" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">formal statement</a>. “But the company has a lot more to do to set things straight.” Exxon continues to fund the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, both of which continue to do battle with groups and regulators attempting to address climate change, Mulvey said.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-spacing: 3.6px;">Exxon Used ALEC to Promote Climate Change Denial for Decades</h2>In October 2016, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2016/10/06/exxon-alec-running-illegal-lobbying-scheme-irs-complaint/" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">filed additional evidence</a> for their 2012 IRS whistleblower complaint against ALEC detailing how Exxon had pumped $1.7 million into the front group “to promote the oil giant’s climate denial policies and legislative agenda, in gross violation of ALEC’s 501(c)(3) charitable status.”ALEC claims to spend zero dollars on lobbying but the complaint showed that Exxon had deliberately used ALEC over two decades as its lobbying arm to advance its position on cap-and-trade policies, the Keystone Pipeline, the Obama Clean Power Plan, and fracking.CMD <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/01/13199/exxon-illegally-funded-alec-under-tillersons-tenure-cmd-tells-committee" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">brought</a> this concern to the attention of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in January 2017 when ExxonMobil’s former CEO, Rex Tillerson, was nominated to be President Trump’s Secretary of State.“For years, Exxon used ALEC as a key asset in a fossil fuel industry campaign to sow uncertainty about climate science, undermine international climate treaties and block legislation to reduce emissions,” said Arn Pearson, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, who drafted the 2016 IRS complaint. “And New York and other states have been investigating Exxon for its role in hiding evidence of its climate impact from shareholders and the public. So it is ironic that ALEC’s anti-science stance has apparently become too extreme even for Exxon.”Exxon did not respond to CMD requests for comment.</div><div></div></div></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">=</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">evil not wrong:</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Shareholder Activism</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Much of the Nathan Cummings Foundation’s shareholder activism focuses on pushing energy companies and electric utilities to disclose information about their activities, especially disclosures related to lobbying and industry advocacy efforts that would normally be confidential. [13] [14] Examples include:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After a 2014 Duke Energy coal ash spill in North Carolina, the NCF led a group of investors that included state treasurers and union pension funds to pressure Duke into publicly disclosing its related lobbying, advocacy and political spending. [15]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 2016, an NCF-led coalition forced a shareholder vote at electric utility FirstEnergy on a non-binding resolution asking the company to publicly report all its government and grassroots lobbying and expenses, including the amounts it contributed to organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council. [16]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 2017, a group of investors led by the NCF passed a nonbinding resolution at Occidental Petroleum’s annual meeting asking the company to predict what future risks it could face under a specific global warming outcome scenario. [17]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The NCF also engages in other forms of shareholder activism, such as resolutions designed to force companies to meet racial and gender quotas in their slates of proposed board candidates. [18] [19]</div></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">=</div></div></div>=facing so RAGA 1/6The public outrage over the riot at the U.S. Capitol is hurting RAGA's fundraising. Popular Information <a href="https://popular.info/p/after-riot-major-corporations-suspend?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMTA3OTEwLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozMTMwNTU4OCwiXyI6InVTU2pvIiwiaWF0IjoxNjEwNTU2Njc4LCJleHAiOjE2MTA1NjAyNzgsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNjY0Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.OrAb-C9IBWc_sZoajg4PQbo_crIZfDPmijpB4vjyohg" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box">reports</a> that the University of Phoenix is demanding its $50,400 donation back, while DoorDash, Edison Electric Institute, Facebook, Lyft, RIAA, and Smithfield Foods said they are suspending further contributions to RAGA. The Cherokee Nation has also <a href="https://www.newson6.com/story/5ffcebdad22b0d0bcdf42070/cherokee-nation-withdraws-donation-to-republican-ag-assoc-after-robocalls-promoting-dc-rally--" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box">announced</a> it's withdrawing its $150,000 donation to the group. And Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Smile Direct <a href="https://popular.info/p/after-riot-major-corporations-suspend?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMTA3OTEwLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozMTMwNTU4OCwiXyI6InVTU2pvIiwiaWF0IjoxNjEwNTU2Njc4LCJleHAiOjE2MTA1NjAyNzgsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNjY0Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.OrAb-C9IBWc_sZoajg4PQbo_crIZfDPmijpB4vjyohg" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box">told</a> Popular Information they're reviewing their contribution policies in light of RAGA's messaging.
<div>=</div><div>2014</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-did-google-support-alec-one-of-the-most-controversial-organizations-ever-2014-9">https://www.businessinsider.com/why-did-google-support-alec-one-of-the-most-controversial-organizations-ever-2014-9</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>Why Did Google Support ALEC, A Giant Organization That Denies Climate Change?</div><div>Dave Smith Sep 22, 2014, </div><div>
</div><div>Google on Monday announced it would pull its support from The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) due to the organization’s ongoing denial of climate change.</div><div>"The facts of climate change are not in question anymore, everyone understands that climate change is occurring, and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place, and we should not be aligned with such people,” Google chairman Eric Schmidt said in a statement.</div><div>
</div><div>But some people might be wondering: Why did Google support this organization in the first place?</div><div>
</div><div>For those who don’t know, ALEC was founded in 1973 as “the Conservative Caucus of State Legislators,” but its current goal is to further “the fundamental principles of free-market enterprise, limited government, and federalism.” </div><div>
</div><div>Among its various campaigns, ALEC has previously focused on opposing insurance coverage for  birth control</div><div> in the US; opposing the individual health insurance mandate enacted by the Affordable Care Act; expanding the “Stand Your Ground” laws that allow citizens the right to self-defense if they feel their property is under attack; prohibiting cities from building public broadband networks; urging state legislatures to demand voters produce state-issued IDs; and much more.</div><div>
</div><div>Last October, Google (and Facebook, too) joined ALEC, a group that has initiatives to give tax cuts to tobacco companies, privatize schools and for-profit education companies, repeal state taxes for the wealthy, and oppose renewable energy efforts.</div><div>
</div><div>But Google didn't just join ALEC; it also funded it.</div><div>
</div><div>According to the watchdog group Common Cause, "In addition to paying to be a member of ALEC ($12,000 - $25,000 per year), Google and Facebook both pay to be a member of ALEC’s Communications and Technology Task Force ($5,000 per year). If they sponsor a workshop, training, or party during ALEC’s conferences, that is an additional amount (somewhere around $40,000 per event), plus conference fees to send their lobbyists/executives to ALEC conferences, plus any additional funding they give to ALEC or ALEC scholarship accounts. All of this funding is considered charitable contributions to a 501(c)(3). Google may write it off as a tax write-off."</div><div>
</div><div>In a column for The Huffington Post, author Norman Solomon cited a book by Robert McChesney in hopes to explain why Google had aligned itself with ALEC:</div><div>
</div><div>“Any qualms about privacy, commercialism, avoiding taxes, or paying low wages to Third World factory workers were quickly forgotten,” McChesney writes. “It is not that the managers are particularly bad and greedy people — indeed their individual moral makeup is mostly irrelevant — but rather that the system sharply rewards some types of behavior and penalizes other types of behavior so that people either get with the program and internalize the necessary values or they fail.”</div><div>
</div><div>Solomon believed Google joined ALEC so it could remain in a position of power, which would allow the company to impact — or at least know about — future changes to national policies and legislation.</div><div>
</div><div>“Google’s involvement in ALEC is consistent with the company’s mega-business model that relentlessly exploits rigorous data-mining of emails, online searches and so much more,” Solomon writes.</div><div>
</div><div>Another theory from Todd O’Boyle, director of Common Cause: “[Google] might be concerned about right-of-way and video franchising related to Google Fiber, or maybe they want to work on state tax issues.” </div><div>
</div><div>It’s unclear why Google initially joined ALEC — there are theories, but the company offered no official statement. That said, it’s pretty clear why Google decided to back out of its deal with ALEC on Monday.</div><div>
</div><div>On Sept. 3, more than 50 different labor, watchdog and advocacy groups wrote a letter to Google asking to cut its ties with ALEC. A Google spokesperson initially told Ars Technica, “We aren’t going to be commenting on this letter.” However, with Microsoft cutting its ties with ALEC just weeks prior, Google may have foreseen a bigger controversy stirring, and severed ties in an attempt to save face.</div><div>
</div><div>We’ve reached out to Google for an official explanation for its change of heart — besides the statement produced today by Schmidt — and we’ll update this story when we learn more.</div><div>
</div><div>Update: We received the following statement from ALEC CEO Lisa B. Nelson: “It is unfortunate to learn Google has ended its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council as a result of public pressure from left-leaning individuals and organizations who intentionally confuse free market policy perspectives for climate change denial.”</div></div><div>
</div><div>=</div>no lnxBritish Petroleum (BP) is working to clean up its climate image. In the two months since environmental law nonprofit Client Earth filed a complaint against the UK oil giant with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) alleging its ads were misleading, BP has announced intentions to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050,  stop all “corporate reputation” advertising and, now, withdraw from trade associations with approaches on climate that are out of step with its values.The company announced this week it will resign its membership in the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and will not renew its membership with the Western Energy Alliance (WEA).The decision came after BP conducted a review comparing the climate-related policies of several trade associations to its own. The company found its policies are not aligned with those of the AFPM, WSPA and WEA.BP cited WEA’s opposition of federal methane regulation as a main area of misalignment. BP said “recent and developing differences in the area of carbon pricing” have contributed to its decision to leave the WSPA, as has its current focus on stopping a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) initiative in Washington state. But while proclaiming to support a tax on carbon, BP contributed nearly $13 million to a campaign by the WSPA to help defeat a Washington state carbon emissions fee initiative in 2018.BP listed disagreements over carbon pricing as the main reason for leaving the AFPM.However, BP will remain a member of the American Petroleum Institute (AP), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), despite finding that its policies are only partially aligned with those groups. According to its review, BP disagrees with the API’s opposition to the federal regulation of methane, disagrees with NAM over its opposition to carbon pricing and differs from the Chamber’s approach to climate science and emissions reduction efforts.Yet for now, BP will remain a member of these groups, despite the fact that the API, U.S. Chamber and NAM are well-known architects of climate science denial.“A company like BP that engages with trade associations is doing a constant cost-benefit calculation--to what extent does this group represent BP's interest and its policy advocacy versus pose a reputational risk for the company with its own investors, and with the public," said Kathryn Mulvey, climate accountability campaign manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Clearly the fact that the company is staying with the American Petroleum Institute, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers, despite finding only partial alignment indicates that there's a calculation being made on its part.”BP is not the first oil major to call it quits with the AFPM. Shell withdrew its membership last year in response to pressure from investors. It continued its membership with the WSPA despite finding “some misalignment” between its own policies and those of the WSPA. Shell appears to have discontinued its WEA membership in 2016.AFPM president and chief executive officer Chet Thompson said the association is disappointed."As a member of our executive committee they know that AFPM is and has been committed to supporting policies that address climate change. Because of that, it leads us to assume that this decision was made based on factors other than our actual positions on the issues,” Thompson said in a statement without specifying what those factors are.The split could ratchet up the pressure on ExxonMobil and Chevron, along with other oil companies to examine their trade association membership, Mulvey said."We would expect it would make it a good deal harder for major oil and gas companies to hide behind third-party lobby groups,” she said.  “We're starting to see a real new norm in terms of transparency, regarding climate policy positions and also action to address misalignment and inconsistency of trade group positions with stated company positions.”BP said it will conduct its next review in two years and plans to provide periodic, internal updates to its board of directors and stakeholders. It did not rule out potentially withdrawing from more trade associations in the future.“BP will pursue opportunities to work with organizations who share our ambitious and progressive approach to the energy transition. And when differences arise we will be transparent. But if our views cannot be reconciled, we will be prepared to part company,” said BP chief executive officer Bernard Looney in a statement, adding that the industry has long demonstrated it can collaborate effectively through trade associations.“My hope is that in the coming years we can add climate to the long list of areas where, as an industry, we work together for a greater good,” Looney added.Catherine Rheis-Boyd, president of the WSPA resident said her group and its members will continue to talk with BP and other stakeholders regarding the creation of a sustainable energy future.“Our members know the way the world produces, distributes and consumes energy is evolving, and our industry will remain leaders in investing in and developing the diverse energy sources and technologies we need for the future,” Reheis-Boyd said. “Working together as an industry, we will rise to the challenge of a changing climate.”The WEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Mulvey said while BP is clearly concerned about its reputation and has pledged to be at net zero, whether the company will take the necessary steps remains to be seen. The company has so far only mentioned carbon capture technology and carbon offsets as methods to achieving net zero, promising to provide more details in September, nine months after its announcement.Meanwhile, the company has pulled its “Possibilities Everywhere” campaign (the source of the Client Earth OECD complaint), but has been advertising its net zero commitment quite a bit on social media and in search engines.BP’s withdrawal from the three associations does make one thing clear, Mulvey said."It lays down a gauntlet for ExxonMobil and Chevron to really step up or they may be understood, by the investor community in particular, to be falling behind their competitors."<div class="3sZWk blog-post-title-font igE5v 2lmPI Qz_XW" data-hook="post-title" style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 740px;"><h2 class="2MNte post-title post-titletext blog-post-title-color blog-hover-container-element-color" data-hook="post-title" style="margin: 1px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; display: -webkit-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 2;">BP Calls It Quits with 3 Trade Associations, but Continues Membership in NAM, API, US Chamber</div></h2></div><a class="1NTXA igE5v _2lmPI" href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/bp-calls-it-quits-with-3-trade-associations-but-continues-membership-in-nam-api-us-chamber" target="top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="-RDEl igE5v blog-post-description-font Qz_XW" data-hook="post-description" style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 23px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="1Uunh post-excerpt" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 0.8; word-break: break-word; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; display: -webkit-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 2;"><div class="AB7h6" data-hook="post-description" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="1NTXA igE5v 2lmPI" href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/bp-calls-it-quits-with-3-trade-associations-but-continues-membership-in-nam-api-us-chamber" target="top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></a><a class="1NTXA igE5v _2lmPI" href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/bp-calls-it-quits-with-3-trade-associations-but-continues-membership-in-nam-api-us-chamber" target="top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a class="1NTXA igE5v _2lmPI" href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/bp-calls-it-quits-with-3-trade-associations-but-continues-membership-in-nam-api-us-chamber" target="top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a class="1NTXA igE5v _2lmPI" href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/bp-calls-it-quits-with-3-trade-associations-but-continues-membership-in-nam-api-us-chamber" target="top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a class="1NTXA igE5v _2lmPI" href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/bp-calls-it-quits-with-3-trade-associations-but-continues-membership-in-nam-api-us-chamber" target="top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On the heels of its net zero announcement and commitment to stop corporate reputation ads, BP withdraws from three trade groups over climate</a></div></div></div></div><a class="1NTXA igE5v _2lmPI" href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/bp-calls-it-quits-with-3-trade-associations-but-continues-membership-in-nam-api-us-chamber" target="top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"></a>new<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ucs 2018?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</div><div style=""><div class="textwidget custom-html-widget" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="article-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 866px; clear: both;"><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em;">American Legislative Exchange Council: Fossil fuel industry ‘bill mill’</h3>On July 12, ExxonMobil <a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/12/stories/1060088919" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">announced</a> it had ended its longtime membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council after a disagreement over the corporate lobby group’s climate policy. From 1998 through last year — when Exxon Mobil reported it gave the group $60,000 — ALEC received $1.93 million from the oil company.Over the last two decades, ALEC has routinely featured climate science deniers at its conferences and supplied state lawmakers with a range of fossil fuel industry-drafted sample legislation, including bills that would restrict investment in renewables, eliminate incentives for electric vehicles, and hamper the solar industry from selling electricity directly to residential and business customers.Since 2012, more than 100 corporations, including BP, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and electric utilities Entergy, Pacific Gas & Electric and Xcel Energy, have <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">severed ties</a> with ALEC, in many cases because of its regressive policy positions.ExxonMobil’s exit from ALEC came just months after the company fought to defeat a <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/363389-exxon-opposes-alecs-attempt-to-fight-epa-climate-policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">draft resolution</a> sponsored by the Heartland Institute — an ExxonMobil grantee from 1998 through 2006 — calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to “reopen and review” its “flawed” conclusion that climate change poses a threat to human health. The EPA’s “endangerment finding” requires the agency to regulate carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions as hazardous pollutants under the Clean Air Act.After ExxonMobil and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a utility trade group, objected to the resolution, the Heartland Institute withdrew it and accused the two of being in league with the likes of Greenpeace and the Sierra Club.“Big corporations like ExxonMobil and trade groups like EEI have long been members of the discredited and anti-energy global warming movement,” Heartland’s president, Tim Huelskamp, said in a December 7 <a href="https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/heartland-institute-statement-on-alec-endangerment-finding-resolution" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">press release</a>. “They’ve put their profits and ‘green’ virtue signaling above sound science and the interests of their customers.”Huelskamp’s ludicrous assertion notwithstanding, some might construe ExxonMobil’s exit from ALEC as a welcome change in direction. The company’s money trail, however, clearly shows that it is still financing climate science denier groups that denigrate any and all climate policy options and <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/exxonmobils-climate-disinformation-campaign-is-still-alive-and-well" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">provide cover</a> for Congress and the current administration to do nothing. Until ExxonMobil stops funding these groups, its avowed support for a carbon tax, the Paris agreement and other climate initiatives can’t be seen as anything more than a cynical PR ploy.Posted in: <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/category/energy" rel="category tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Energy</a>, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/category/global-warming" rel="category tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Global Warming</a> Tags: <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/tag/carbon-tax" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">carbon tax</a>, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/tag/climate-denier" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Climate Denier</a>, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/tag/climate-science" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Climate Science</a>, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/tag/exxonmobil" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">ExxonMobil</a>, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/tag/fossil-fuel" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">fossil fuel</a>, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/tag/global-warming-2" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Global warming</a></div></div></div>newprivate prisons, child detention facility & weapons profiteers
As we reported in our last newsletter, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan announced they would stop financing <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h32/IGbuxRGxf-2FM66JIJ8i1XmlKpM4f-2FAtZ3n7NY22ycLYkjiiNgXmn06rbkwJbnkuH4UaqeowOv448HrHoMPX7IzviG3Ls69kgWzJf-2B2SM1R-2FjgjBRnQn0IS8jlRMGkRjBDOGzZkvN2-2FR-2FVFzQ1z4k-2B-2BOYyaBYyvUWDoIvj7XxmuEPsdBx6wA0S5p8MdN5TbTaLqdPMcd5BEjvDF3EoWdRQn7wu8K1WzSU-2BcVilbm4XGcUPrzfuXMRvP-2BZDdW2O9g-2BJObMEc5y7yYyIV-2Bx2shBovgw5GZHgqoFiI2T0F6Ie9osDTX-2BAU-2FM9R6wYYYDPrqgX-2FTUbRHgfnROXV3pLEoG3SGAG1BPjs-2FmrSNIdh-2B9-2BaQhXj1ZQmViNuH7YJa-2B9I0GgWF7mpXmUx306PKL91ntwbOlYCSZEMPnEzOXJp7VWqP02VXvYYJmhZv6wAmPVZzPs9FRnODXbF2IUUfD3yKCZdetjm2CDNXZy-2FqYjuLlHjyFNey8opKZ3wOlKEe95Z96Pt0tuaEh8KKpspt2x5BODojquTJxeHrwf5OAglhYHLy1dZBxTki0lyXFxOA6-2BDJBf5GWxKev9wMQ-2BXyJa5Omslw-3D-3D" style="">private prisons</a>, in a big win for the #FamiliesBelongTogether coalition and #BackersOfHate campaign. But we’re not stopping the work to expose and hold to account private prison profiteers. In April, along with our friends In the Public Interest and the Center for Popular Democracy, we published a new report “<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h33/Rc-2BtVMay6OkVmMzgB09IkkVKx-2BNUB2TW7N4-2B4rXsgClpjdQFvZqYdFdYBeghRZ2Ws8U9idqMgK6-2B1luKtsLC9F5L-2B0fTekMCnudxQdgzR3b-2BHK2GgB0qCSDDfxVdiw7Fjs7hEQMYA6HJU2AkGLR1VXjjWr03vQoj-2FfWunxlaui2LE-2BNF0MDggkV8fTWEBfZCRewEzWn9GzDqOdila89bmSC8ta-2BltUkXKoqeGjQgLcfA2oG3nfpbCsC2gKy3TMNMTLSYM6eRHtdnClPXU3mB9CsGxu6N-2B2jk95t0XRgBG-2BvnLzc7bFyc9SJU-2FbC4B-2FmmHW6fu5PLb0vGak1FH22FcVBG7ZCY3KEq-2ByRmE6xEOSMJp1T1Mt-2FQU3JZqc670iXpRbPU7rGHnA4L0BtyCIoviZ1TZzpAGKz0WL9tlVIM5vhPHH-2BXgxnLOJmc5qsSauhq7vOQ08diCkDCJK6YKTKp3kufMfWrOrd1tKVDKyxAUuMPT9mg7YS5YfBFVfI9pigOgsfTsk4TWIMHrdqJJgzupkpzjajb4Rsful7em892L-2Bs-3D" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Wall Street Banks Still Financing Private Prisons</a>.” We also participated in a <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h34/VE2atosPJwyp5yA4oN-2FSakXjq0Ozs-2FXTZXlVjRImDfzqU-2FBxl1h20vcihRwUdgGDOeQ7h86uMsR3-2BxEG5uxvg7URiWfSOcsAZwGmM-2Bqd1YGk-2BMQnnUfbndvHFcKSPVn9Ydvow1VI4KlbYo8G4w3X-2BusigPsqa9qd0kZA1nMhXfJHEpFBWnLWj2nMrMpfSMF6P52uzcbRmp54ritcT-2FGRohSzzLaVDAeUB2BvfOqOR8JSwvJmRZHpFErGmj0qhXSPXHhoJ9gqgjhgVHWvJ6ha7nX7E1RT3oZgS5yfPhjMnQhhZi8i-2BpR0N7AHnG-2F0h94GdjXCvI94MvDP-2F2jNDK00q4oQQuNm6BhT9bOZfB097d2JCDxcGXyuldiQ2jYJpyakosAX3Blc1SlYb92oGnpeahke7C1Qc5y5fpTEW-2FznJTmcbvGZURRYy9-2FBNk-2Fw-2BTplkHDIecC-2B8bGdCocsJMG6dUAMsZacwWXxsrybvc9kswPpK2-2B4DL2NqRfFcMvkJqsu" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Twitter Chat</a> hosted by our coalition partners <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h35/7A7g9NwEtemfRP88CjPj8NDf3SEfWM7zK8ZcYbQeXaLNztKFYEganAZVNhS9i6q0UmKK4TTWT-2B-2FJUZ4EaAfF7F0SHWua-2BgT4U1MTF01a8-2FUTF2g8oCGOurjopbOAux-2BfdGHCZAXfeHMdiEs103D0CHeNsQxZq2qtqtqebscA-2FQqb2-2BvYqNNorQ6c3HNzvIl3iFIAWk-2F6DmjFrhyYn5Us191xILnwpXwcT0zoZs4esN6iDisZNFwFxGqepIcZH-2FNxOGJKVB4OnuY2YclofJV9ayD0g3z-2FR9x5L1kdz8P5WFwOdylis-2BdYyr7Zb4CHlFh0-2F7Qdgk9f4hwXq7ARdT7aqPxzHd-2FPw-2Fcwn9S34U25mjxpr-2FwFIUXx4JUqrOZ2Wf5GrCfuG5FmMMEdkBv7ZWlwikA0uQ665UMpgfBTEmxviEiq8tbvB-2BOgDl6NowWzw51xP-2BNG7p6SxJTr34CMCDtrwQ-3D-3D" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Moms Rising</a> to explain the research on private prisons and the banks financing them.Read the report, "<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h37/Rc-2BtVMay6OkVmMzgB09IkkVKx-2BNUB2TW7N4-2B4rXsgClpjdQFvZqYdFdYBeghRZ2Ws8U9idqMgK6-2B1luKtsLC9F5L-2B0fTekMCnudxQdgzR3b-2BHK2GgB0qCSDDfxVdiw7F12c8zyahaGpc8rkAbhK4GzvcDWJkg-2B975Mr69nqJR0K9pqlJzrhBKOny-2FKLzE-2BiY7N2fP-2BqfjREwCmMUyH4ZkQ0l9Ge3eGwJ7IcGZasYvfQuxGEM8rOuHH6NkdqKte-2FAKZ2hWLUffQ3ObZ8Z5mnZW2VfE3ub09rBzjPXj-2Fpnf38xzx-2BBMqy6o55tGlUh376be8xq-2Fy8Z3tFxMlp-2Fgpq-2BD5E-2FsCegkbBzzhxnSPgIhc1dyqYpy20HCdCIZ8boyqLQvEXQGCMkero6NEDULwZ-2BzlSTpZ5VAIo0WUocQVe1naZwNH9EsvqIoD-2FUm8MOpsPqy305RfiFXixr4-2FsnfOTD05IZeuj6mbvi73BkELOAWdgU-2FFZu1BA0W1-2BY-2F5Z4iBBfNKC-2F1kikEsKvN8zxMGeyRtXX0UnVJR8vuPR49VRf4tE-3D">The Wall Street Banks Still Financing Private Prisons</a>"
In our last newsletter, we noted that PAI director Kevin Connor was featured on NPR’s <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h38/37cExdmQgvw1fajrcfZN4smLXC67z0RcLYbultGYdozCPmaxHPVfn5byz6QOUahUtkbrn33-2FLdTHi60UnRLteC9UmiCHP0Yc4A9L-2B-2FZVFmH0uWof8zMDsbwjAA66CKwkkopmlPmkUGADpHL0rdrDP07zfte99i4E5UNCn3wxgJ9Rsllr4WDL6Y-2FdGtBJ2iVjvRDLaO28l4WusC6Mmtzycaj0FkGP-2Fu6I6gh4ml77jktLDtIAt3FziOjK-2FIynjRNO-2FBtn6qGi6YwNlglFY18nx4EcKNjHYXp6h2fZGr7LScjzMiv9sn96rNEhSIub2dSS8JXArZBUI-2B-2FTA-2F7nDGKTgdWW8-2F45hcop2qNba3VUIrV7ZCicUZGmREOUahwY2yRTKVWIV9AiN5YAptA61v-2B0W2M8G7lUnhurPEnzNO6LMWAi55uFQadOzmDlEpTN-2FS8NnfAALBhO3gRlqt-2Fkg9KNXv7VnIIqtdYszpTCi6pfr7TRMt-2Butt27HGLiD18j5ZniUvSZwUNSp793dH-2BWV-2Fw4RWuBzqscdOMOuH5SVK1s0IMxPJtuB301C9nfByYlV7tj">Morning Edition</a> discussing the financial profiteers behind the Homestead detention center, a South Florida facility that is holding migrant children. (For more information, read our <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h39/IGbuxRGxf-2FM66JIJ8i1XmlKpM4f-2FAtZ3n7NY22ycLYnUhlAMpor9U7JVkjjqTojnxQqu7ImWHhjzA6EkUnJw-2BMiOOT-2B8leWfN2lWpj2fXFVb7eQhqIXBLhx7nkYjqr0p8VyBCFrTdUTJWafHDY43RwMqjL323Rlz-2BNkmJLNNCyzj3jd-2FI9OjWA4aT5hhx6zkJ0duTQQbSohYsHOv8AXQmXWUqlCIkXboLjDsxGYcdAMMwH19YjZqcbXcIWbIFEoDSTySSg03ukJOJyAd1InuLndbkWSLLosaNC-2FciJganK3Z5wdmpMAz8NTgQvCrgsCgVrWytQzKqkpZ2Aki6sh9eHwK095vqzXNrRQn-2Fx-2FbRyNrZ0ZSRr4leWnioJhtzZPwcOvN4Nm1cBE57KCBMhsHkJpDtavRg3-2BlrhnLFRoOKmlQq-2Bj3OiGfvxylU39UEfE5UE1eh9hrUSih39CpHM2IYcHl0Fcwm7V3jWDc-2FVoK-2B9gcvRIFn-2FiccZfDH0mejU82-2F7J6fr4Kzk1nHOxyr-2BdwnUt7pRshDq4cyyDjhFGQ3hZ5-2FmR-2BkOSPwgq5NFzs5MjND1R1VtHQmk1yfB4nYARiVQ-3D-3D">post</a> on it)Here’s a new May 27 <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h40/1FhOqgXf-2FrszR51D-2Bt0tlS4tcExWIAsX1TqoUmhXC5OfFyBcwNf8CTjjWfA0VhuJrrT-2BjXD45jEOoa7pnni8VMoNBFiAA-2BORd9-2FndKJUCXPFruHGSuO8nVwH0zqPz-2F1PD1cWOE2PgjiGdwxbEX4E8zPKdlQdU4jlMKJ1EYZwxSdcpIY8Y2n46QSZaYKKknBx1gsU3OOZkGXc4dWvrxwBL5-2BMPwiMzDXnEVjAi1INrLOY2A42ej3ZMI4FGUJSaAqTGMkVr8ediIljuf4ZlWK6ntkYxurLH22aKrWhxsICEDJjJxORoQoBd6IC9wN-2BqdGwNQ9KvEW6nhCmuBZjAApk5SL9bGng0iFMaeV1cYJPJPOBW3JoxBQO5GfsuBSXL3ZQZujkpFhb3oXPgU1fVtH4xYgdc4OU1xt9S-2FbUOQSOUwAUfyskoM2F6NT8OtoO2vrpQhiqGWYG-2F8xaSY3gvzPS8ZvnrG2MT8Wj1C0coQhlIpV56c69j6MKnZIzBgWN4-2FV6WOboM-2BzWUuVPtHtUScAq3w-3D-3D">Miami Herald article</a> - also citing PAI - on resistance to the detention center and the power and financing behind it. Because of the growing scrutiny of its role in the Homestead child detention center, Caliburn, the detention center’s parent company, <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/mpss/c/gA/ni0YAA/t.2s6/CoFMKH9bToGzDiMXCOX_cQ/h41/1FhOqgXf-2FrszR51D-2Bt0tla7RTdEEwn941t2dCQRvWON8ulv8YnoYUHCwb2u7n6k2tKvXBfQ3jXJGUh5dD-2FBkCNZrRjg-2Fpe87Gh0EfHDrwh4NiBtxIdTVjJ7QMLcCjQAdI64-2Fs8r-2BcP6apwujIxmHITyW4nfqRzAu2UhUG3mW4uNleoDRZsU3Bjhq8vmSpZOw1XWoILUE4mP3jYuD7FRIW0GB7inOYgwHNKGVuEt1Mq9C1LpCXNxGVPJdim4GqmajpXF6e0y6OL-2FPkVfgG3W9S7-2BTtJSeI-2BUFp-2Bwpdn50fA4djMeQOHPtInJOB5JMCFE9Gt0Yqb7dM2Fe8MNhwqybqt2Vlyhv387MAC-2Fw3H1rcFzVOao0zCfNI0FKMXc-2FoQQEzL3hecpDJdKTp1NZ-2FR8RiuQ5Dm-2FoYPZlO6EMVxLfWKy-2Bp5A7bN7nMvCgPYYVNr-2Fms1Hpum743WJ68oaWwkHNT-2Bov87wFLdgrtf4TQQbY0cUg2zeJ8MqcNhImFs-2B-2BwcEUzfgtviaFO-2BSd1lSHXQohjQx0iOpNq1nuxIYVUDobIFEbEJY58gKti423IvyrmWgf8e2dwRP2onNwBtNfr0YqeQ-3D-3D">canceled its plans</a> to go public.   =519Comcast Is Latest Telecommunications Company to Drop ALECBy <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://default.salsalabs.org/T1c5bac30-000f-4131-956e-808fad6cc58b/ac94ac0d-31ce-11e7-960b-0a8abee05f34" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">David Armiak</a> — The news of Comcast’s departure was made public in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing calling for increased lobbying disclosure by Comcast.<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://default.salsalabs.org/Tac9cacb0-f7b8-4a3b-a612-542ce9d9fea4/ac94ac0d-31ce-11e7-960b-0a8abee05f34" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Read more >></a><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/tucker-carlson-losing-advertisers-fox-news-response">https://www.alternet.org/tucker-carlson-losing-advertisers-fox-news-response</a></div><div>
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</div><div>Fox News host Tucker Carlson is facing an advertiser boycott in response to his racist attacks on immigrants. As of Tuesday afternoon, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/advertisers-tucker-carlson-show-immigration" style="text-decoration-line: none;">11 companies</a> have pulled advertising from Carlson's program, including Pacific Life, Indeed, SmileDirectClub, Minted, IHOP, Ancestry.com, ScotteVest, Nerdwallet, Zenni, TD Ameritrade, and Nautilus.[many just switch show? kpfa]But the response from Fox News [lnx lost] is not to take any responsibility for his hateful rhetoric. Rather, they are attacking Sleeping Giants and Media Matters for America, two of the groups spearheading the boycott on social media: ... Fox News is referring to an incident in November in which protestors surrounded Carlson's house, called him a racist, and spray-painted his driveway. The event drew condemnation from both sides of the aisle, although some reports now suggest the unruliness of the demonstrators was <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/i-was-at-the-protest-outside-tucker-carlsons-house-heres-what-actually-happened-665c2dc0cb67/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">somewhat exaggerated</a>. Ironically, given they now claim they "do not advocate boycotts," Fox News responded to that incident by <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/fox-news-twitter-boycott-tucker-carlson-second-week/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">boycotting Twitter</a>.<interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />In recent months, Carlson has been engaging in increasingly racist bile on his show, with his rhetoric sometimes bordering on outright white nationalism to the point where neo-Nazi Richard Spencer and KKK grand wizard David Duke have <a href="https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/7/21/16008190/strikethrough-white-supremacists-love-tucker-carlson" style="text-decoration-line: none;">praised</a> him for mainstreaming their beliefs. Carlson has claimed that white people aren't "<a href="https://www.theroot.com/tucker-carlson-explains-why-white-people-arent-designed-1823973839" style="text-decoration-line: none;">designed</a>" to live around immigrants, that the original motto of the United States <a href="https://www.alternet.org/tucker-carlson-e-pluribus-unum-diversity" style="text-decoration-line: none;">proves diversity is bad</a>, and promoted a <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-gets-basic-fact-wrong-about-south-africas-white-land" style="text-decoration-line: none;">white nationalist conspiracy theory</a> that South Africa is trying to push white farmers off their land and kill them (which President Donald Trump then tweeted about and <a href="https://www.alternet.org/south-africa-condemns-trumps-tweet-racist-farm-attack-conspiracy-theory" style="text-decoration-line: none;">caused an international incident</a>).But the remark that prompted the advertiser boycott was a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/17/18144620/tucker-carlson-immigration-dirtier-advertiser-pacific-life" style="text-decoration-line: none;">segment</a> on Thursday in which Carlson openly disdained immigrants as unclean. "Our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor, they tell us, even if it makes our country poorer and dirtier and more divided," he said. On Monday, he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/18/were-not-intimidated-tucker-carlson-doubles-down-claims-that-immigrants-make-us-dirtier/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">doubled down</a> on this attack.Fox News has reason to be jittery about advertiser boycotts. In April 2017, Bill O'Reilly, the longtime right-wing host who previously held Carlson's time slot, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/business/media/bill-oreilly-fox-news-allegations.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">forced out</a> after revelations about his <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twenty-firstfox-oreilly-idUSKBN1733W8" style="text-decoration-line: none;">multimillion-dollar settlements</a> to female colleagues he sexually harassed prompted advertisers to flee. Another boycott this March <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/03/29/why-a-laura-ingraham-boycott-will-probably-fail/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">targeted</a> Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham after she <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/fox-news-laura-ingraham-mocked-david-hogg-over-college-rejections-hes-having-none-of-it-8637997" style="text-decoration-line: none;">mocked</a> Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg for not getting into his top choice of college, although she managed to weather the firestorm.If Fox News wants to prevent advertiser boycotts, they should stop giving legitimacy on air to morally reprehensible people.</div> capt 218<div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy</a></div><div>
</div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy%e2%80%8b/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy%e2%80%8b/</a>
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</div><div>also mary b</div><div>july 2018</div><div>ExxonMobil, the largest oil and gas company in the world, will not renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) after a split within the corporate lobbying group over how to address climate change, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-12/exxon-quits-koch-backed-business-group-after-climate-change-row" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">reported</a> earlier today.Exxon’s exit follows a disagreement <a href="https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/heartland-institute-statement-on-alec-endangerment-finding-resolution" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">over a resolution</a> introduced in December by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank that denies climate change, that would have asked the federal government to reconsider its findings that greenhouse gasses are harmful to human health.The EPA did its spadework and laid out the scientific foundation of the endangerment findings in over <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents/endangerment_tsd.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">200 pages</a> of technical documentation in 2009. Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt failed to reconsider those findings, much to the disappointment of the Koch crowd.Although large companies like Ford, Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and many others have <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">cut ties</a> with ALEC, few have given and supported ALEC as much as Exxon has. Exxon was listed as a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4597750-ALEC-Letter-to-Philip-Morris-1981.html" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">“major contributor”</a> to ALEC as far back as 1981 and has given ALEC <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/01/11/letter-to-senate-committee-on-rex-tillersons-exxon-funding-for-alec/" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">millions</a> over the years to promote its corporate agenda. Exxon has also consistently served on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-spacing: 3.6px;">Reaction to the Announcement</h2>“This is a major loss for ALEC. It’s not just the financial support that Exxon provides, which has been significant over the years. This also represents a growing split between oil and gas majors that are increasingly concerned about their public image, and groups like ALEC that still regularly promote debates about climate science on their agenda,” said Nick Surgey, co-director of Documented.“Exxon’s departure should send a strong message to ALEC that it’s extreme agenda and undemocratic, secretive operations have no place in American politics,” said Jay Riestenberg, campaigns & media strategist at Common Cause.“It’s very significant when a giant of the fossil fuels world thinks that ALEC ‘s denial of the existence of climate change is intolerable. I hope that other responsible corporations that are still members of ALEC will follow suit,” said Wisconsin State Rep. Chris Taylor, who has attended ALEC events and <a href="https://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/rep-chris-taylor-alec-abandoned-tech-giants-call-it-quits/article_82d5d70c-4e34-5549-9ac4-adcf0c272379.html" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">written</a> about its climate denial positions.With regard to ALEC and the Koch brothers’ hostility to renewable energy and public transportation, Taylor said, “Their positions belong in the dinosaur age. We need to be investing in transit and renewables, and they just keep throwing up road block after road block.”“Other major oil companies, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, left ALEC years ago. It’s about time ExxonMobil finally did, too,” said Kathy Mulvey, fossil fuel accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/press/2018/exxonmobil-departure-climate-denying-alec-long-overdue#.W0fYHdhKjOR" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">formal statement</a>. “But the company has a lot more to do to set things straight.” Exxon continues to fund the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, both of which continue to do battle with groups and regulators attempting to address climate change, Mulvey said.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-spacing: 3.6px;">Exxon Used ALEC to Promote Climate Change Denial for Decades</h2>In October 2016, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2016/10/06/exxon-alec-running-illegal-lobbying-scheme-irs-complaint/" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">filed additional evidence</a> for their 2012 IRS whistleblower complaint against ALEC detailing how Exxon had pumped $1.7 million into the front group “to promote the oil giant’s climate denial policies and legislative agenda, in gross violation of ALEC’s 501(c)(3) charitable status.”ALEC claims to spend zero dollars on lobbying but the complaint showed that Exxon had deliberately used ALEC over two decades as its lobbying arm to advance its position on cap-and-trade policies, the Keystone Pipeline, the Obama Clean Power Plan, and fracking.CMD <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/01/13199/exxon-illegally-funded-alec-under-tillersons-tenure-cmd-tells-committee" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; 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 0s;">brought</a> this concern to the attention of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in January 2017 when ExxonMobil’s former CEO, Rex Tillerson, was nominated to be President Trump’s Secretary of State.“For years, Exxon used ALEC as a key asset in a fossil fuel industry campaign to sow uncertainty about climate science, undermine international climate treaties and block legislation to reduce emissions,” said Arn Pearson, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, who drafted the 2016 IRS complaint. “And New York and other states have been investigating Exxon for its role in hiding evidence of its climate impact from shareholders and the public. So it is ironic that ALEC’s anti-science stance has apparently become too extreme even for Exxon.”Exxon did not respond to CMD requests for comment.</div><div></div></div></div><div>
</div><div></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/george-lieutenant-governor-casey-cagle-threatens-delta-over-nra">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/george-lieutenant-governor-casey-cagle-threatens-delta-over-nra</a></div><div>
</div><div>Conservatives are growing increasingly furious over companies like Delta Air Lines distancing themselves from the National Rifle Association. On Monday, one particular Republican official vowed to "kill" any legislation that would benefit Delta as far as tax breaks are concerned. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/27/589047224/georgias-lt-gov-threatens-to-kill-tax-break-for-delta-airlines-amid-nra-spat" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia's lieutenant governor Casey Cagle threatened Delta</a> by saying he would nix a tax break for the airline company for its position on the NRA. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, such a <a href="https://www.aviationpros.com/news/12398107/delta-ceo-defends-georgia-jet-fuel-tax-cut-proposal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">fuel tax exemption could save Delta at least $40 million</a>.</div>Shortly after the horrific school shooting that hit Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Valentine's Day, Delta said that it was "reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program." The company declared this decision on Twitter on Saturday and added that it would request the association to "<a href="https://news.delta.com/update-delta-ends-nra-discount-annual-meeting" style="text-decoration-line: none;">remove our information from their website</a>." In the wake of the <a href="https://time.com/5158678/what-to-know-about-the-active-shooter-situation-at-florida-high-school/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">shooting that claimed the lives of 17 people</a>, the Los Angeles Times reported that Delta had received significant pressure from gun control activists who <a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-delta-nra-20180226-story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">demanded the company reconsider</a> its discount contract with NRA members.<a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyCagle/status/968199605803454465" style="text-decoration-line: none;">On Monday, Cagle tweeted</a> that he “will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA. Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back." In a previous tweet, Cagle called for more <a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyCagle/status/967560442305548289" style="text-decoration-line: none;">focus on mental health programs</a> in the country as opposed to ending discount programs with NRA members. "I'm a lifelong member of the NRA and a strong supporter of the law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights,” the Georgian legislator said.“Like all Americans, I'm horrified by the mass shootings we've witnessed,” the conservative lawmaker went on. “If corporate America wants to make a positive difference on gun violence, it should donate a portion of its profits to mental health treatments and school safety initiatives. They should put their money where their mouth is instead of engaging in viewpoint discrimination against conservatives and law-abiding gun owners." Ironically enough, Cagle failed to realize that Delta was indeed putting its money where its mouth was by striking out its discount program with NRA members.Delta isn’t alone in cutting corporate cords with the NRA. The company is joined by other massive business entities like MetLife, Symantec, United Airlines, Allied, and others in stepping away from affiliate and discount programs with the NRA. <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/02/25/news/companies/companies-abandoning-nra-list/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">A list created by CNN Money</a> actually shows how, at this moment, at least 15 companies have disassociated themselves with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nra-power-lobbying-statistics-gun-control-2017-10" style="text-decoration-line: none;">America’s most potent gun lobby</a>.<div>
</div><div>=</div>surprising defection: greenwash?<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bhp-climate-change-2518910663.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/bhp-climate-change-2518910663.html</a>
<div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">World's Largest Mining Company Breaks With Global Trade Groups That Deny Climate Change</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px;"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2518910663" data-authors="Climate Nexus" data-headline="World's Largest Mining Company Breaks With Global Trade Groups That Deny Climate Change" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description">One of the world's largest <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">coal</a> companies is making plans to quit the World Coal Association over a disagreement on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate</a> policies.British-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton noted in a <a href="https://www.bhp.com/-/media/documents/ourapproach/operatingwithintegrity/industryassociations/171219_bhpindustryassociationreview.pdf?la=en" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">review</a> of the company's industry associations issued Tuesday that it may end its membership in the international lobbying group and will reconsider its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce due in part to the U.S. planned withdrawal from the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Paris agreement</a>.BHP's review comes on the heels of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/19/bhp-agrees-to-rethink-its-links-to-minerals-council-of-australia" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">mounting shareholder pressure</a> to reconsider its memberships with groups that espouse views contrary to the company's stated values. The report affirmed that BHP believes "the warming of the climate is unequivocal, the human influence is clear and physical impacts are unavoidable" and reasserted the company's support for the Paris agreement.As reported by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/business/energy-environment/australia-mining-company-climate-change.html?r=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</a>:The move highlights the delicate considerations huge mining companies must contend with as they seek to balance profit with social and environmental awareness.It represents the latest example of a business that is largely built around traditional fossil fuels responding to investor and government concern over climate change. Last week, the oil and gas giant BP <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/business/energy-environment/bp-lightsource-solar.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">said it would spend $200 million</a> to acquire a large stake in a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar" style="text-decoration-line: none;">solar</a> power developer, while Norway's Statoil and France's Total have also made investments in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">renewables</a>.Though carefully worded, B.H.P.'s report also takes issue with the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> administration's unilateral exit from the Paris agreement."While we won't always agree with our industry associations, we will continue to call out material differences where they exist and we will take action where necessary, as we have done today," Geoff Healy, the company's chief external affairs officer, said in a statement.For a deeper dive:<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/business/energy-environment/australia-mining-company-climate-change.html?r=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/us-bhp-coal-climatechange/bhp-says-likely-to-quit-global-coal-lobby-group-idINKBN1ED073" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/19/bhp-could-end-2m-membership-of-minerals-council-over-policy-differences" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6e17e770-e46d-11e7-97e2-916d4fbac0da" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">FT</a>, <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/bhp-to-exit-coal-alliance-over-climate-change-policy/a-41853899" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Deutsche Welle</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-climate-for-coal-just-got-even-chillier-1513678383?mg=prod/accounts-wsj" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">WSJ</a>, <a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/12/19/bhp-billiton-threatens-to-leave-world-coal-association-over-climate-policy.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Fox Business</a>For more <a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a> and <a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">clean energy</a> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Facebook</a>, and sign up for daily <a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Hot News</a>.<div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.bhp.com/environment/climate-change" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">BHP Billiton | Climate change ›</a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/carbon-emissions-2456647136.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">These 100 Companies Are to Blame for 71% of Greenhouse Gas ... ›</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div>"When it comes to the policies of the organization, ALEC does have strong positions on issues that are consistent with the free market," Blair said. "The issue is if they are planning to upend those principles to fundraise in the future."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">They worry that ALEC is trying to plug a funding gap following the high-profile exits of Google, BP PLC, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and others, all of which blamed the organization's stance on climate change for their departure. Those companies left largely over pressure from shareholders who were spurred into action after activist groups harped on ALEC funding streams. The conservative billionaire industrialist Koch brothers are big donors; Exxon Mobil Corp., a member of the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, is also a major funder.=817Leading the fight is an anonymous group called Sleeping Giants. Using the Twitter handle <a data-link="" href="https://twitter.com/slpng_giants" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">@slpng_giants</a> and a Facebook page, for the past eight months Sleeping Giants has targeted companies whose ads have appeared on Breitbart.Harnessing the power of its 106,000 followers, they have persuaded almost 2,600 advertisers to pull their ads, including Audi, Avis, BMW, Easyjet, Nestlé and the <a data-link="" href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/breitbart-therebel-google-advertising-hate-websites-porn-federal-government-blacklist-1.4257463" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Canadian government.</a>...“We want to take the profit out of bigotry,” said the spokesman.Kellogg’s was the first big name to react, pulling its ads last November. Breitbart hit back with a <a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/30/breitbart-news-kelloggs-advertising-boycott-alt-right" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">campaign to boycott Kellogg’s</a>. “That was the dumbest move they could have made,” said the Sleeping Giants spokesman. “When you’re an advertiser, the last thing you want is some crazy blog threatening to send people after you if you decide not to do business with them.”The time has come for these purportedly pro-climate companies to put up or shut up. If they care about the climate, then they must stop funding the anti-climate Chamber and its bogus studies. This is not a radical step to take. Many blue-chip companies have already left the Chamber – some publicly, like Apple, CVS and Pacific Gas & Electric, and others <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/24/disney-the-gap-and-pepsi-urged-to-quit-us-chamber-of-commerce?CMP%3Dshare_btn_tw&source=gmail&ust=1497042118621000&usg=AFQjCNFYIcO1I0B9mGTHIOyIuvqijYKHuA" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/24/disney-the-gap-and-pepsi-urged-to-quit-us-chamber-of-commerce?CMP=share_btn_tw" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none;">privately</a>, such as Costco, eBay, Hewlett-Packard, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft Heinz, Mars, Mattel, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Starbucks, Unilever and Walgreens Boots Alliance. Many of these companies quit the Chamber because of the Chamber’s anti-climate work.=HOPE<div>
</div><div>divest/shareholder/defector combine? trimtab?</div><div>
</div><div><div>A global coalition of 25 institutional investors with over forty five billion pounds in assets under management is calling on nine major publicly listed companies to review their membership of lobbying groups that seek to undermine EU climate policy.</div><div>
</div><div>The investors have written to BHP Billiton, BP, EDF, Glencore, Johnson Matthey, Proctor and Gamble, Rio Tinto, Statoil and Total expressing concern that the companies declared climate policies are undermined by membership of lobby groups with a track record of obstructive lobbying on climate change policy. The move comes as companies have come under increasing pressure to withdraw from regressive lobbying groups, with Unilever leaving Business Europe and BP and Shell exiting ALEC over climate policy.</div><div>
</div><div>http://www.alternet.org/environment/ftse-100-firms-pressured-leave-anti-climate-lobbying-groups</div><div></div></div>It’s been behind such bills as <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/08/alec-renewable-energy-ohio/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Ohio’s freeze of its clean energy standards</a> last year and the <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/02/06/war-on-renewables-west-virginia/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">repeal of West Virginia’s standards</a> in February, and it’s promoting similar legislation around the country. It’s been <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/27/solar-under-attack-koch-brothers/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">fighting against the growth of solar power</a> across the country working to block rooftop installations that might undercut big utility companies. In Florida, where a <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/237969-florida-utilities-work-to-stop-rooftop-solar" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">battle over making such installations legal</a> is going on right now, former state legislator Jimmy Patronis, now sitting on the Florida Public Service Commission, <a href="http://fcir.org/2015/04/03/in-sunshine-state-big-energy-blocks-solar-power/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">has been listed as ALEC’s state chair</a>.But the efforts of nonprofit advocacy groups like <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/press/press-releases/alec-tries-to-silence-critics.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Common Cause</a>, the <a href="http://www.lcv.org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">League of Conservation Voters</a> (LCV) and <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Greenpeace</a> have cost it a growing list of high-profile corporate members. Over 100 have departed, as public pressure has mounted. Just in the past year, ALEC lost Facebook, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/21/alec-microsoft/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Microsoft</a>, AOL, eBay, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/23/alec-google-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Google</a> and Yelp. Pepsi, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Amazon, Best Buy and WalMart were already gone. Even BP, formerly a high-level ALEC sponsor, announced in March <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/24/museums-urged-to-drop-climate-denier-donors-bp-dumps-alec/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">it was cutting its ties with the group</a>. Greenpeace, for its part, <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2015/04/06/alec-denies-alec-denies-climate-change/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">has announced</a> the launch of a new <a href="http://alecclimatechangedenial.org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">website</a> to highlight the extent of ALEC’s climate denial campaign.With so much attrition, ALEC has decided to fight back, and the tactic it’s chosen is intimidation. It sent <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/issues/more-democracy-reforms/alec/alec-cease-and-desist-letter.pdf" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s;">cease-and-desist letters</a> to Common Cause and the League of Conservation Voters, threatening to sue them unless they retract statements saying ALEC is denying <a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s;">climate change</a>.The letter said it was “clear” that ALEC did not deny that climate change was happening and was human-caused. It claims that ALEC adopted the “model policy” that “human activity has and will continue to alter that atmosphere of the planet” in 1998.The letter also does some fancy footwork to claim that <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/23/alec-google-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s comment last fall</a>, in response to a question from an NRP listener about whether Google was still funding ALEC, wasn’t referring to ALEC at all. Addressing specifically Google’s departure from ALEC, Schmidt said, “Everyone understands climate change is occurring, and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people—they’re just literally lying.”“If you listen to the  entire exchange on the Diane Rehm show, Mr. Schmidt does not say ALEC is lying about the facts of climate change,” sad ALEC’s attorneys, apparently preferring the narrative that Schmidt was referring to “people” in general....“Common Cause’s statements concerning ALEC’s position and activities on climate change are statements of opinion, are neither false nor defamatory, and as such are not legally actionable,” said Common Cause’s attorney Vinita Ferrera in responding to ALEC’s attorneys. “For these reasons, Common Cause declines ALEC’s request to retract or alter any statements appearing on Common Cause’s website or in other Common Cause materials.”“We don’t appreciate the attempt to silence LCV just because we disagree with ALEC’s positions,” LCV’s senior vice president for communications David Willett <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/05/this-conservative-group-is-tired-of-being-accused-of-climate-denial-and-is-fighting-back/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">told the Washington Post</a>. “Usually if someone wants to get serious about tackling climate change, they ask about working with us, they don’t threaten to sue us.”The Washington Post pointed out that the increasing amount of negative publicity ALEC has gotten as it’s emerged in the past several years from the shadows where it preferred to reside seemed to have had an impact on the group.“The legal spat is an escalation of the conflict and suggests ALEC is feeling the heat of the activist groups’ efforts,” <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/05/this-conservative-group-is-tired-of-being-accused-of-climate-denial-and-is-fighting-back/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">it said</a>. “It also suggests a new risk to organizations that rely on the donations from companies that do not want to be associated with organizations accused of denying that human activity is warming the atmosphere at an alarming rate.”YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/13/whitehouse-calls-out-alec-climate-deniers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Sen. Whitehouse Calls Out ALEC for Role in Funding Climate Deniers</a><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/12/03/alec-anti-environmental-agenda/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">ALEC Gives Congressional Climate Deniers Their 2015 Marching Orders</a><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/30/dumping-alec-not-enough-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Dumping ALEC Is Not Enough to Combat Climate Change</a>defectors:In September 2009, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/09/28/out-the-door-exelon-leaves-chamber-of-commerce-over-climate-policy/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; transition: background-color 0.2s ease 0s, border 0.2s ease 0s, color 0.2s ease 0s, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">three major energy companies</a> – PG&E, PNM and Exelon, the largest electric utility company in the country – <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2009/09/28/174442/exelon-ditches-chamber/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; transition: background-color 0.2s ease 0s, border 0.2s ease 0s, color 0.2s ease 0s, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">left the Chamber</a> over its opposition to climate change legislation (though Exelon has since made at least one donation to the Chamber). Apple <a href="http://chamber.350.org/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; transition: background-color 0.2s ease, border 0.2s ease, color 0.2s ease, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; line-height: 18px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">also left over climate change</a>; “Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s frustrating to find the Chamber at odds with us in that effort,” Apple said in a statement. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/09/30/62203/nike-chamber/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; transition: background-color 0.2s ease, border 0.2s ease, color 0.2s ease, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; line-height: 18px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Nike left</a> the Chamber’s board of directors the same month, prompting the New York Times editorial board <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/opinion/30wed3.html?r=0" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; transition: background-color 0.2s ease, border 0.2s ease, color 0.2s ease, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; line-height: 18px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">to write</a>, “The United States Chamber of Commerce’s web site says the group supports ‘a comprehensive legislative solution’ to global warming. Yet no organization in this country has done more to undermine such legislation.”   InJuly 2013, Skanska USA, an arm of Swedish construction giant Skanska, left the U.S. Chamber, <a href="http://blog.usa.skanska.com/why-skanska-dropped-its-membership-in-the-u-s-chamber-of-commerce-to-protest-proposed-changes-to-leed-in-government-buildings/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; transition: background-color 0.2s ease, border 0.2s ease, color 0.2s ease, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; line-height: 18px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">saying</a>, “Sustainability is one of Skanska’s core values. And we will not be a part of an organization that supports the American High-Performance Building Coalition (AHPBC), which harbors the American Chemistry Council and opposes the implementation of a new, stronger LEED certification program (LEEDv4).” Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards are the worldwide gold standard for sustainable building, but chemical companies at the U.S. Chamber pushed it to oppose strengthening the program. 3/15Large institutional museums have a history of receiving funding from those who might have an interest in slanting how they cover climate issues. Oil company BP, for instance, is a corporate sponsor at Chicago’s venerable Museum of Science and Industry, whose exhibits have long promoted a cheerful upbeat “better living through science” approach and whose interactive coal mine exhibit has been one of its major attractions since 1933.But BP is doing a little image scrubbing of its own. It announced Monday that it has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/23/usa-alec-bp-idUSL2N0WP21Y20150323" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">dropped its membership</a> in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the rightwing <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/25/alec-climate-change-deniers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">climate denying group</a> that is heavily funded by—you guessed it!—the Koch brothers. BP gave no reason for dropping its membership, but it follows in the footsteps of Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola Co., Best Buy, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/23/alec-google-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Google</a>, Microsoft, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/24/facebook-alec-climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Facebook</a>, eBay, Wells-Fargo and dozens of others that have dropped their ALEC membership in response to pressure from activist groups. cmd 10/14Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Occidental Petroleum, International Paper, and Overstock.com are the latest corporations to say they have left the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) after a wave of technology companies led by Google and Facebook announced their departures last week.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/News_Corporation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">News Corp</a>., the <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=NWSA" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">$8 billion-a-year</a> global media company run by media mogul <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rupert_Murdoch" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 20.8px;">Rupert Murdoch</a> that owns the Wall Street Journal, had been a member of ALEC's <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2012/05/news%20corp_wireless_alec.html" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Education Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/issues/more-democracy-reforms/alec/whistleblower-complaint/original-complaint/National_ALEC_Exhibit_4_TaIT_2010_Annual_Meeting.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Communications and Technology Task Force</a>. A spokesperson told Media Matters in response to an article published Friday that the company is <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/09/26/wsjs-misleading-defense-of-alec-doesnt-disclose/200914" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">no longer a member of ALEC</a>. Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Ashley Huston told the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that News Corp. has not been a member of ALEC since its split from 21st Century Fox in July 2013.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Occidental" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Occidental Petroleum</a>, at <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=OXY" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">$24.5 billion in annual revenue</a>, is one of the largest global oil and gas exploration and production companies based in the United States. It had been a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/issues/more-democracy-reforms/alec/whistleblower-complaint/original-complaint/National_ALEC_Exhibit_4_EEA_2011_STFS.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force</a>. Linda Peterson, Associate General Counsel at Occidental, said in a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/241351061/Occidental-Petroleum-letter-discussing-ALEC-membership" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">letter</a> to Timothy Smith of Walden Asset Management, who is involved in leadership of shareholder campaigns, that "there are no plans to continue Occidental's membership in, or make further payments to ALEC." She said the company had paid $12,500 to ALEC in 2014. She also referenced the concern that the company could be "presumed to share the positions" on climate change and air pollution regulations held by ALEC, as <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/large-oil-company-bolts-from-alec-20140929" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">National Journal reported</a>.Tim Smith said of Occidental's decision, "This is very welcome news. It's one of the first major oil companies to acknowledge cutting ties to ALEC. It did so in response to ongoing and sustained investor pressure in relationship to ALEC and especially because of ALEC's opposition to renewable energy at the state level. We hope there'll be other companies following."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Paper" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">International Paper</a>, the <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=IP" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">$29 billion-a-year</a> global paper and packaging company headquartered in Tennessee, had been a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/issues/more-democracy-reforms/alec/whistleblower-complaint/original-complaint/National_ALEC_Exhibit_4_EEA_2011_STFS.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force</a> and had <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations#I" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">sponsored</a> ALEC's 2011 annual meeting. Company spokesperson Tom Ryan <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/democracy-wire/international-paper-leaves.html" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">told Common Cause</a> on September 26 that "we no longer have a membership with ALEC" and confirmed that the company no longer funds ALEC.Overstock.com, the <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=OSTK" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 20.8px;">$1.3 billion-a-year</a> online retailer, had joined ALEC to push a state sales tax legislative issue. A company spokesperson told CMD on September 26 that the company had determined not to renew its membership after a year of funding the group.<h2 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">"Climate deniers are the new tobacco executives"</h2><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Corporations that have publicly cut ties to ALEC</a> since CMD launched <a href="http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">ALECexposed.org</a> in July 2011 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">include</a> Fortune 500 firms such as General Motors, General Electric, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Kraft Foods, Coke, and Pepsi. ALEC spent years pushing controverisal <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/12181/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">Stand Your Ground</a> gun laws and bills to make it <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/10/12270/officials-arizona-and-kansas-rig-ballots-implement-alec-voter-suppression-scheme" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">harder for Americans to vote</a> before trying to distance itself from that legacy.More recently, ALEC has been criticized for its bills on energy. The group has worked to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/08/state-renewable-energy-laws-turn-out-to-be-really-hard-to-repeal/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">repeal renewable energy laws</a> and is working to get state attorneys general to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/10/12273/supreme-court-rule-greenhouse-gas-regulation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">regulate greenhouse gases</a>.Last week, a number of tech companies left ALEC after sustained campaigning by environmental, labor, and community groups. This prompted Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune to say:<blockquote http="http" www.prwatch.org="www.prwatch.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" tb_nex="tb_nex" images="images" blockquote-quote.png="blockquote-quote.png" px="px" no-repeat="no-repeat" scroll="scroll" rgb="rgb" style="border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(122, 122, 122); margin: 10px 0px; padding: 10px 30px; line-height: 22.4px; background-image: url(" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">"Climate deniers are the new tobacco executives -- nobody wants to be seen with them. With Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Microsoft all dumping ALEC, it’s increasingly obvious that you cannot run a successful 21st century company while associating with ideologues from the stone age. Fossil fuel-backed groups like ALEC are on the wrong side of nearly every effort to tackle the climate crisis and on the wrong side of history."</blockquote>Interestingly, tobacco giants <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Altria_Group" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Altria/Phillip Morris</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Reynolds_American" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Reynolds American</a> remain stalwart ALEC- See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/node/12612#sthash.E1NQPvKh.dpuf=<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/23/1331951/-BREAKING-Facebook-to-leave-ALEC">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/23/1331951/-BREAKING-Facebook-to-leave-ALEC</a> On the heels of Microsoft, and then Google, leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Facebook-to-cut-ties-with-conservative-policy-5776055.php" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a Facebook spokesperson now says that they will leave</a> the corporatist front group in 2015, as well:  <blockquote style="margin: 1.2em 0px; padding: 20px; line-height: 18.2px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(226, 226, 225); border-top: 1px solid rgb(226, 226, 225); background: rgb(246, 243, 236);">Google’s departure, “really puts Facebook and Yahoo in an uncomfortable position,” said Jay Riestenberg, a research analyst with Common Cause who follows ALEC.Facebook may be next out the ALEC door, a company spokesperson told The Chronicle on Tuesday.“We re-evaluate our memberships on an annual basis and are in that process now,” a company representative wrote in an e-mail to the newspaper. “While we have tried to work within ALEC to bring that organization closer to our view on some key issues, it seems unlikely that we will make sufficient progress so we are not likely to renew our membership in 2015.”</blockquote>  8/14 The American Legislative Exchange Council—the now infamous ALEC—has lost yet another member.Microsoft announced this week that it’s severing its relationship with the group, which writes and pushes so-called “<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/07/18/dangerous-model-laws-alec/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background: transparent;">model legislation</a>” that’s very conservative, pro-big business and anti-environment. Microsoft was a member of ALEC’s Communications and Technology Task Force, but said it is no longer participating in this group....<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/21/alec-microsoft"> </a><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/21/alec-microsoft">http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/21/alec-microsoft</a><div class="section field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 22.4px;"><div class="field-items" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-item odd" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Microsoft" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Microsoft</a>, the $86.8 billion-a-year technology company, is no longer a member of the <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC) and has stopped funding the group.The company confirmed that "in 2014 Microsoft decided to no longer participate in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Communications and Technology Task Force, which had been our only previous involvement with ALEC. With this decision, we no longer contribute any dues to ALEC." The confirmation was sent by email to The Sustainability Group of Loring, Wolcott and Coolidge and Walden Asset Management, which had engaged Microsoft over its affiliation with ALEC.Microsoft has left ALEC, but big technology companies Google, eBay, Facebook, and Yahoo reportedly still fund and remain engaged with ALEC.The $25.7 billion-a-year pharmaceutical British and Swiss company <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AstraZeneca" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">AstraZeneca</a> and the energy companies <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ameren" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Ameren</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations#M" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company</a> (MEHC) -- now known as Berkshire Hathaway Energy -- <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations#P" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">PacifiCorp</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/NV_Energy" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">NV Energy</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alliant_Energy" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Alliant Energy</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/PG%26E" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">PG&E</a> have also confirmed that they have cut ties to ALEC. This brings the number of corporations that have left the controversial group to at least 80, along with 19 non-profits, for a total of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">99 private sector members</a> that have publicly announced leaving ALEC. (Three of those corporations have <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#Corporations_that_Claimed_They_Were_Cutting_Ties_but_Returned_to_ALEC" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">subsequently returned to ALEC</a>, and many of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#Trade_Associations_and_Non-Profits" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">non-profits</a> listed by ALEC as "lapsed" in August 2013 share an ideological agenda with and noted their desire to return to ALEC.)<h2 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Companies' Involvement with ALEC</h2><h3 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Microsoft</h3>The Sustainability Group noted in a statement released in July that it believed Microsoft's "affiliation with ALEC, which is actively fighting policies that promote renewable energy, was incongruous. In addition, there were numerous other ALEC actions that conflicted directly with Microsoft’s values."As a member of ALEC, Microsoft has gained access to and influence over state legislators from all 50 states and has underwritten <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/08/12559/how-alec-fronts-fossil-fuels" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC's agenda</a> to resist U.S. Environmental Protection Agency attempts to limit carbon dioxide pollution from coal plants at the state level, to penalize people who generate solar power on their rooftops, to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/06/11617/partisan-motivation-behind-voter-id-laid-bare" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">restrict citizens' ability</a> to vote for reportedly partisan reasons, and to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/02/11995/anniversary-trayvon-martins-death-alec-backed-stand-your-ground-laws-remain-books" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">push "Stand Your Ground" laws</a> around the country.As a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Telecommunications_and_Information_Technology_Task_Force" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Communications and Technology Task Force</a>, Microsoft has helped big telecom change state laws for corporate gain and has helped limit access to broadband, as the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/02/12385/how-alec-helps-big-telecom-change-state-laws-corporate-gain" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">has reported</a>.The Sustainability Group said, "We commend Microsoft on its commitment to open dialogue with shareholders, and for making this important decision."<h3 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AstraZeneca</h3><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AstraZeneca#Ties_to_the_American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">AstraZeneca</a> has been a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a> as well as state corporate co-chair of Delaware. The company confirmed, in response to an April 2013 shareholder question, that it decided <a href="http://shareaction.org/lobbying_agms#astrazeneca" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">not to renew its membership in ALEC's task force</a>.As a member of ALEC's Health and Human Services Task Force, AstraZeneca has funded <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Health,Pharmaceuticals,and_Safety_Net_Programs" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC's agenda</a> to oppose health insurance reforms, eliminate mandated benefits intended to ensure minimal care for American workers, to cap damages for pain and suffering and for the loss of companionship of a loved one who is killed due to medical negligence or incompetence, to amend Medicaid to replace the current funding program -- in which the federal government matches a percentage of state costs -- with block grants, and to erode the safety net for older Americans or Americans living in poverty.<h3 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ameren</h3><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ameren" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Ameren</a> has a long history of involvement with ALEC, having <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xlw76d00/pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">sponsored ALEC's 1998 annual meeting</a>. More recently, it <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_a7c08603-30c0-58df-9b19-0942328a2257.html" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">sponsored</a> "Missouri Night" at Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans during the 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting.An Ameren spokesperson <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ameren-fends-off-activist-shareholder-proposals/article_b299b042-b43a-52d9-8779-cbadbbc897c8.html" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a> that the company is not a member of ALEC in April 2014.<h3 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25;">Berkshire Hathaway Energy</h3>Greenpeace <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/02/20/greenpeace-asks-electric-utilities-to-dump-alec-and-embrace-clean-energy/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">sent letters</a> to nine utility companies that have supported ALEC's anti-science environmental attack campaign in early 2014, asking them to cut ties. The environmental activist organization confirmed in May that MidAmerian Energy Holdings Company, PacifiCorp, NV Energy, Alliant Energy, PG&E, and Ameren had <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/05/01/greenpeace-confirms-six-utilities-quietly-dumped-alec/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">quietly dumped ALEC</a>.Formerly known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, Berkshire Hathaway Energy is a holding company owned almost entirely by Warren Buffett's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Berkshire_Hathaway" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Berkshire Hathaway</a>, which has owned a controlling stake <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/26/business/berkshire-hathaway-and-others-plan-to-buy-midamerican-energy.html" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">since 1999</a>. It also has a long history of involvement with ALEC, having<a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xlw76d00/pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">sponsored ALEC's 1998 annual meeting</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/PacifiCorp" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">PacifiCorp</a> is now a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. It has been a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140405002736/http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/eea_35daymailing%20dc.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">member of ALEC</a> individually, as part of its <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/NV_Energy" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">NV Energy</a> is also a Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary. It has been a member of ALEC's energy task force, as well as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_State_Chairmen" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC corporate co-chair of Nevada</a>.<h3 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Alliant Energy</h3><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alliant_Energy" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Alliant Energy</a>, which is based in Madison, Wisconsin near CMD, is another long-time ALEC member, having <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xlw76d00/pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">sponsored ALEC's 1998 annual meeting</a>.Alliant confirmed to Greenpeace in May 2014 that it had <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/05/01/greenpeace-confirms-six-utilities-quietly-dumped-alec/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">cut ties to ALEC</a>.<h3 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PG&E</h3>The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/PG%26E" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Pacific Gas and Electric Company</a> (PG&E) was also a long-time ALEC member, having funded ALEC in at least <a href="https://www.pge.com/regulation/GO_77M/GO_77M-2010-Redacted.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">2010</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131202221558/http://www.alecwatch.org/chapterfour.html" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">earlier</a>.PG&E confirmed to Greenpeace in May 2014 that it had <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/05/01/greenpeace-confirms-six-utilities-quietly-dumped-alec/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">cut ties to ALEC</a>.<h2 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Rush to Cut Ties to ALEC</h2><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Corporations that have publicly cut ties to ALEC</a> since CMD launched <a href="http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">ALECexposed.org</a> in July 2011 and highlighted Coca Cola's role in the group include Coca Cola, Wells Fargo, General Electric, Western Union, Sprint, General Motors, Walgreens, Best Buy, Hewlett-Packard, MillerCoors, John Deere, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Wendy's, McDonald's, Kraft Foods, and PepsiCo. The addition of these eight companies brings the total to at least 80 corporations. These and 19 non-profits that have cut ties brings the total number of private-sector ALEC members who have cut ties to at least 99.At least <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Legislators_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">78 state legislators</a> have also cut ties with ALEC.Public interest groups including Sierra Club, Forecast the Facts, Sum of Us, CMD and others have been actively <a href="http://org.salsalabs.com/o/632/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14651" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">urging Google to uphold its motto "don't be evil" by cutting ties to ALEC</a>, which spent years peddling <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/12181/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">Stand Your Ground</a> gun laws and bills to make it <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/10/12270/officials-arizona-and-kansas-rig-ballots-implement-alec-voter-suppression-scheme" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">harder for Americans to vote</a> before trying to distance itself from that legacy. It has also worked to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/08/state-renewable-energy-laws-turn-out-to-be-really-hard-to-repeal/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">repeal renewable energy laws</a> and the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/10/12273/supreme-court-rule-greenhouse-gas-regulation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.6em;">regulate greenhouse gases</a>. Despite Google's stated commitment to efforts to address global climate change, ALEC has routinely worked to indoctrinate legislators against the near consensus (97 percent) in the scientific community that global climate changes are underway and has sought to undermine the power of the EPA and other agencies to address climate change.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-13 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden clearfix" http="http" www.prwatch.org="www.prwatch.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" tb_nex="tb_nex" images="images" bg-ico-categories.png="bg-ico-categories.png" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; clear: both; line-height: 20px; background-image: url(" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip"><ul class="field-items" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="field-item even" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/special" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Special</a></li><li style="list-style: none;"> </li><li class="field-item odd" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/alec-exposed" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC Exposed</a></li><li style="list-style: none;"> </li><li class="field-item even" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Corporations</a></li></ul></div>=To see a list of corporations and other groups known to be connected with ALEC now or in the past, please see <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations" title="ALEC Corporations" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC Corporations</a>.As of August 2014, at least 80 corporations and 19 non-profits -- for a total of 99 private sector members -- have publicly announced that they cut ties with the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC) (three of those corporations have <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#Corporations_that_Claimed_They_Were_Cutting_Ties_but_Returned_to_ALEC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">subsequently returned to ALEC</a>, and many of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#Trade_Associations_and_Non-Profits" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">non-profits</a> listed by ALEC as "lapsed" in August 2013 share an ideological agenda with and noted their desire to return to ALEC):<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Corporations</h2><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii=");" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Coca-Cola_Company" title="Coca-Cola Company" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Coca-Cola Company</a>: Gave a statement to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Washington_Examiner" title="Washington Examiner" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Washington Examiner</a> on April 4th stating that it had "elected to discontinue its membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council" <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[1]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pepsi" title="Pepsi" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Pepsi</a>: Informed Color of Change in a letter dated January 25th that they would not renew their membership in ALEC in 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[2]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kraft" title="Kraft" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Kraft</a>: Announced in an email on April 6th that "Our membership in ALEC expires this spring and for a number of reasons...we have made the decision not to renew." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[3]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Intuit" title="Intuit" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Intuit</a>: Told the Center for Media and Democracy on April 6th that they did not renew their membership when it expired in 2011. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/McDonald%27s" title="McDonald's" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">McDonald's</a>: Initially defended its membership in ALEC <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a> Announced on April 10th that they had made the decision to withdraw from ALEC at the end of March. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wendy%27s" title="Wendy's" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Wendy's</a>: Sent an email to the Center for Media and Democracy on April 11th confirming that it is no longer a member of ALEC <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mars" title="Mars" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mars</a>: Sent an email to Color of Change on April 12th, stating that they had ended their membership with ALEC <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[8]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Reed_Elsevier" title="Reed Elsevier" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Reed Elsevier</a>: Told Reuters on April 12th that they had withdrawn "after considering the broad range of criticism being leveled at ALEC," <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[9]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Traffic_Solutions" title="American Traffic Solutions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Traffic Solutions</a>: Told the Arizona Capitol Times on April 13th that they would not renew their ALEC membership. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[10]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Blue_Cross_and_Blue_Shield_Association" title="Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Blue Cross Blue Shield</a>: Announced on April 19th that it had not renewed its membership in February 2012,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[11]</a> but according to an ALEC document, "left after losing on exchanges workshop" and didn't terminate until April 4, 2013.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-ALECboard-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/YUM!Brands" title="YUM! Brands" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">YUM! Brands</a>: Told Color of Change that they would not renew their membership on April 19th. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[13]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Procter%26_Gamble" title="Procter & Gamble" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Procter & Gamble</a>: Told <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Color_of_Change" title="Color of Change" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Color of Change</a> that it would not renew its membership on April 20th.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kaplan: Wrote Republic Report on April 26th, 2012 to confirm that they were no longer a member of ALEC<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[15]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Scantron Corporation: Told CMD in May 2012 that it was no longer a member of ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[16]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Amazon" title="Amazon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Amazon.com</a>: Announced at a shareholder meeting on May 24, 2012 that it had decided not to renew its membership in ALEC this year.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[17]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Medtronic: Medtronic did not renew its ALEC membership in 2011 or 2012, according to a spokesperson.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wal-Mart" title="Wal-Mart" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Wal-Mart</a>: Wal-Mart told Reuters on May 30 that it is suspending its ALEC membership because "we feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide," according to Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Boards_and_Task_Forces#.22Private_Enterprise.22_Board_of_Directors" title="ALEC Boards and Task Forces" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">ALEC corporate board secretary</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Maggie_Sans" title="Maggie Sans" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Maggie Sans</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[19]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Johnson%26_Johnson" title="Johnson & Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Johnson & Johnson</a>: A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson told CMD on June 12, "We have been in dialogue with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for some time, and while we acknowledge ALEC’s recent decision to focus only on innovation and growth-supporting policies, we have decided to suspend our participation and membership.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[20]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dell" title="Dell" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dell</a> Computers: Dell confirmed on June 21, 2012, that it would not be renewing its ALEC membership.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[21]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Deere" title="John Deere" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Deere</a> & Company told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it is leaving ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-COCrelease-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/CVS_Caremark" title="CVS Caremark" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">CVS Caremark</a> told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it had discontinued its ALEC membership.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-COCrelease-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/MillerCoors" title="MillerCoors" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">MillerCoors</a> told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it had not renewed its ALEC membership in 2012, nor does it plan to.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-COCrelease-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Hewlett-Packard" title="Hewlett-Packard" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hewlett-Packard</a> (HP) told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it is not currently an ALEC member.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-COCrelease-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Best_Buy" title="Best Buy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Best Buy</a> told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it had not renewed its ALEC membership in 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-COCrelease-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Express Scripts/<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Medco" title="Medco" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Medco</a> (two ALEC members that merged in April 2012) told the Center for Media and Democracy and ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it had dropped its ALEC membership.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[23]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[24]</a> An August 2013 ALEC board document later suggested that it had not terminated its ALEC membership until January 14, 2013, "b/c of PBM issue."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-ALECboard-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Connections_Academy" title="Connections Academy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Connections Academy</a>, which had been co-chair of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Education Task Force</a>, told CMD in July 2012 that it withdrew from ALEC's Education Task Force in mid-May 2012 in order to align "our affiliations with organizations whose central focus is education."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-27.2F28-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[25]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/General_Motors" title="General Motors" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">General Motors</a> (GM), which had been a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commerce,Insurance_and_Economic_Development_Task_Force" title="Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force</a> and its <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a>, told CMD in July 2012 that it had "decided to discontinue relations with ALEC at this time."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-29.2F30-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[26]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Walgreens" title="Walgreens" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Walgreens</a>, which had been a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>, told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it "will not be renewing its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-29.2F30-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[26]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Louis Dreyfus, which sponsored ALEC's 2012 annual meeting, told CMD it had decided not to fund ALEC this year.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[27]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Amgen" title="Amgen" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Amgen</a>, which was a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>, announced its determination not to renew its ALEC membership on August 3 in response to a letter from a group of concerned shareholders and advocates led by Walden Asset Management and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[28]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/General_Electric" title="General Electric" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">General Electric</a> (GE), which was a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a> as of March 2011,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[29]</a> told ColorOfChange.org (CoC) that it decided not to renew its ALEC membership in July 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-33-38-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Western Union, which was a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commerce,Insurance_and_Economic_Development_Task_Force" title="Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force</a> as of June 2011,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-CIEDNOLA-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[31]</a> told CoC that the company was only an ALEC member in 2011 and chose not to renew in May 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-33-38-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sprint_Nextel" title="Sprint Nextel" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sprint Nextel</a>, which was a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Communications_and_Technology_Task_Force" title="Communications and Technology Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Communications and Technology Task Force</a> in July 2011, told CoC in August 2012 that it did not renew its ALEC membership in 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-33-38-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Symantec" title="Symantec" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Symantec</a>, which was a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Communications_and_Technology_Task_Force" title="Communications and Technology Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Communications and Technology Task Force</a>, told CoC in August 2012 that the company's membership expired June 2010 and was not renewed.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-33-38-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Reckitt_Benckiser_Group" title="Reckitt Benckiser Group" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Reckitt Benckiser Group</a>, which was a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a> as of June 2011,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-HHSNOLA-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[32]</a> told CoC in August 2012 that it is no longer an ALEC member.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-33-38-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Entergy" title="Entergy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Entergy</a>, which was a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Civil_Justice_Task_Force" title="Civil Justice Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Civil Justice Task Force</a> as of June 2011, told Walden Asset Management in August 2012 that it did not renew its ALEC membership in 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-33-38-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Merck" title="Merck" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Merck</a>, which told the New Jersey Star-Ledger in September 2012 that it would not renew its ALEC membership after 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-39-40-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[33]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sanofi" title="Sanofi" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sanofi</a>, which confirmed to CMD that it was cutting ties to ALEC in October 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[34]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bank_of_America" title="Bank of America" class="mw-redirect" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Bank of America</a>, which told Walden Asset Management that it was cutting ties to ALEC in November 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[35]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/WellPoint" title="WellPoint" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">WellPoint</a>, which announced on March 1, 2013 that it had not attended an ALEC meeting nor supported ALEC financially since the summer of 2011 and has "no current plans to support ALEC or attend any of their meetings,"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[36]</a> but according to an August 2013 ALEC board document, terminated April 22, 2013 and was then "considering giving funds outside of membership."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-ALECboard-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bristol-Myers_Squibb" title="Bristol-Myers Squibb" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bristol-Myers Squibb</a>, which confirmed in March 2013 that it had not renewed its ALEC membership at the end of 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[37]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brown-Forman Company, which confirmed in April 2013 that the company declined to renew its ALEC membership in 2012<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[38]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Publix Super Markets, which announced on June 24, 2013, via social media that it had "not been a member of ALEC since 2011."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[39]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/GlaxoSmithKline" title="GlaxoSmithKline" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">GlaxoSmithKline</a>, whose CEO, Sir Andrew Witty, said in a response to a shareholder's question at the company's annual meeting in May 2013 that the company had decided to sever its relationship with ALEC<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-shareholders-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[40]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Unilever" title="Unilever" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Unilever</a>, whose president, Kees Kruythoff, stated in a letter to shareholders sent earlier this year, "Unilever is not a member of ALEC following a review undertaken at the end of 2011. We took the decision that ALEC's agenda did not align with our business objectives and values focused on social, economic, and environmental sustainability, and withdrew as a member."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-shareholders-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[40]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ConocoPhillips" title="ConocoPhillips" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ConocoPhillips</a> spokesperson Daren Beaudo confirmed to CMD in June 2013 that the company is no longer a member of ALEC, did not fund ALEC in 2012, and has no plans to do so in 2013.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-shareholders-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[40]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sallie_Mae" title="Sallie Mae" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sallie Mae</a> announced quietly in September 2013 that it had cut ties with ALEC, after a student-led campaign demanded its exit, gathering nearly 15,000 petition signatures in August.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[41]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Visa" title="Visa" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Visa</a> told Boston Common Asset Management, which had been engaging with the company over the past year on lobbying disclosure, that it had dropped its ALEC membership in December 2013.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[42]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Xcel_Energy" title="Xcel Energy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Xcel Energy</a>, the ALEC corporate state chair of Wisconsin as of August 2011, told the Boulder Weekly in January 2014 that it was a member of ALEC until 2011<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[43]</a> and that it hadn't funded ALEC since 2010.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[44]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Endo Pharmaceuticals, a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a> as of April 2012, announced that it had cut ties with ALEC in January 2014 after engagement with Trillium Asset Management<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[45]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AstraZeneca" title="AstraZeneca" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">AstraZeneca</a>, a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a> as well as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_State_Chairs" title="ALEC State Chairs" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">state corporate co-chair of Delaware</a>, confirmed in response to an April 2013 shareholder question that it decided not to renew its membership in ALEC's task force.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-46" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[46]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ameren" title="Ameren" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ameren</a>, a sponsor of ALEC's 1998 annual meeting as well as of "Missouri Night" at Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans during the 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the company is not a member of ALEC in April 2014.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-47" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[47]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/MidAmerican_Energy" title="MidAmerican Energy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Berkshire Hathaway Energy</a> (formerly MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company), which had a long history of involvement with ALEC, having sponsored ALEC's 1998 annual meeting, confirmed to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greenpeace" title="Greenpeace" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Greenpeace</a> in May 2014 that it had cut ties to ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-Greenpeace-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[48]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/PacifiCorp" title="PacifiCorp" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">PacifiCorp</a>, a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a>, confirmed to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greenpeace" title="Greenpeace" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Greenpeace</a> in May 2014 that it had cut ties to ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-Greenpeace-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[48]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/NV_Energy" title="NV Energy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">NV Energy</a>, a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a> as well as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_State_Chairs" title="ALEC State Chairs" class="mw-redirect" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC corporate co-chair of Nevada</a>, confirmed to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greenpeace" title="Greenpeace" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Greenpeace</a> in May 2014 that it had cut ties to ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-Greenpeace-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[48]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alliant_Energy" title="Alliant Energy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Alliant Energy</a>, which sponsored ALEC's 1998 annual meeting, confirmed to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greenpeace" title="Greenpeace" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Greenpeace</a> in May 2014 that it had cut ties to ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-Greenpeace-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[48]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/PG%26E" title="PG&E" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Pacific Gas and Electric Company</a> (PG&E), which funded ALEC in at least 2010 and earlier, confirmed to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greenpeace" title="Greenpeace" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Greenpeace</a> in May 2014 that it had cut ties to ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-Greenpeace-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[48]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Microsoft" title="Microsoft" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Microsoft</a>, a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Communications_and_Technology_Task_Force" title="ALEC Communications and Technology Task Force" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">ALEC Communications and Technology Task Force</a>, confirmed that "in 2014 Microsoft decided to no longer participate in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Communications and Technology Task Force, which had been our only previous involvement with ALEC. With this decision, we no longer contribute any dues to ALEC" in an email to The Sustainability Group of Loring, Wolcott and Coolidge and Walden Asset Management, which had engaged Microsoft over its affiliation with ALEC.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[49]</a></li></ul>An August 2013 ALEC board document released by The Guardian in December 2013 listed the following additional corporations as "LAPSED Members" of ALEC, with the accompanying "termination date," and any notes added by ALEC:<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-ALECboard-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii=");" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freeport-McMoRan_Copper%26_Gold" title="Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold</a>, 1/14/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roche" title="Roche" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Roche</a> Diagnostics Corporation, 1/14/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ryan, Inc. (a tax services firm, member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a>), 1/14/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SICPA Product Security LLC (supplier of security inks for banknotes and other documents, such as cigarette excise stamps), member of ALEC's now-defunct [[Public Safety and Elections Task Force; terminated its membership on January 14, 2013 while "waiting to see what issues emerge in JPP [ALEC's Justice Performance Project, which replaced the Public Safety and Elections Task Force]; cigarette" (?).</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Taser International (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Public_Safety_and_Elections_Task_Force" title="Public Safety and Elections Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Public Safety and Elections Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Civil_Justice_Task_Force" title="Civil Justice Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Civil Justice Task Force</a>), 1/14/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Home Depot, Inc. (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a>, 1/14/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AGL Resources, Inc. (natural gas company, member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a>), "did not want to renew," 1/18/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Academic Partnerships (an online higher education company, member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Education Task Force</a>), 3/18/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Macquarie" title="Macquarie" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Macquarie</a> Capital USA (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commerce,Insurance_and_Economic_Development_Task_Force" title="Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force</a>), 3/17/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">LoanMax (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commerce,Insurance_and_Economic_Development_Task_Force" title="Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force</a>), "told us they do not want to renew" 3/19/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/McKenna_Long%26_Aldridge_LLP" title="McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP</a> (law firm), 3/19/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Coventry Health Care (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commerce,Insurance_and_Economic_Development_Task_Force" title="Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>), "joined for single issue," terminated 4/4/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bridgepoint Education (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Education Task Force</a>), 4/16/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cintra US (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commerce,Insurance_and_Economic_Development_Task_Force" title="Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force</a>), "will not renew" 4/16/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dr_Pepper_Snapple_Group" title="Dr Pepper Snapple Group" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dr Pepper Snapple Group</a>, 4/22/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">EMD Serono (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>), "budget cuts" 4/22/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Lowe's Companies, Inc. (home improvement chain, member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a>), 4/22/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>), "contact difficult to get a hold of; possibly did not renew because only interested in diabetes related issue" 4/22/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/UnitedHealth_Group" title="UnitedHealth Group" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">UnitedHealth Group</a> (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>), "left along with BCBS" 4/22/2013</li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trade Associations and Non-Profits</h2><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii=");" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Gates_Foundation" title="Gates Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none rgb(255, 255, 102);">Gates Foundation</a>: Gates spokesman Chris Williams, while careful to note that Gates has never been a formal ALEC member, told Roll Call on April 9, 2012 that it does not plan to renew its financial support for ALEC's education initiatives. "We have made a single grant, narrowly and specifically focused on providing information to ALEC-affiliated state legislators on teacher effectiveness and school finance," said Williams.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-50" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[50]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS): In an official statement sent to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) on May 1, 2012, NBPTS spokesperson Brian Lewis said, "Given recent events, the new NBPTS President and CEO decided to discontinue engagement with ALEC. As a result, NBPTS terminated its membership as an Education Task Force Member of ALEC effective April 18, 2012, and also withdrew from participating in the upcoming ALEC conference. . . . The decision to participate in ALEC had been made by previous NBPTS leadership."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-51" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[51]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Association_of_Charter_School_Authorizers" title="National Association of Charter School Authorizers" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">National Association of </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Association_of_Charter_School_Authorizers" title="National Association of Charter School Authorizers" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Charter School </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Association_of_Charter_School_Authorizers" title="National Association of Charter School Authorizers" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Authorizers</a> (NACSA): On May 14, 2012, NACSA issued a press release announcing that, "As part of our annual review processes, however, we determined that alternative strategies would be more effective in achieving these policy objectives. Thus we will not be renewing our membership in ALEC when it expires next month."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-52" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[52]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lumina_Foundation_for_Education" title="Lumina Foundation for Education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Lumina Foundation for Education</a>: A Lumina spokesperson told CMD on May 23, 2012, "Lumina Foundation last paid annual dues to ALEC on 10/08/10. No staff member was able to attend meetings in 2011. We decided not to renew our membership, because we were not participating."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-53" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[53]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA): In December 2012, SEIA said in an email to supporters that it had joined ALEC earlier in 2012 to promote bipartisan energy policies, but had decided not to renew its membership.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-54" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[54]</a> An August 2013 ALEC document noted that SEIA "left because their bill did not pas the task force."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-ALECboard-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">American Wind Energy Association (AWEA): In January 2013, AWEA dropped out of ALEC and warned state lawmakers not to be taken in by ALEC's message, one that AWEA spokesperson Peter Kelley told Greenwire is driven by fossil fuel companies.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[55]</a></li></ul>An August 2013 ALEC board document released by The Guardian in December 2013 listed the following additional trade groups and non-profits as "LAPSED Members" of ALEC, with the accompanying "termination date" listed in ALEC's spreadsheet, as well as any notes made by ALEC (NOTE: MANY OF THESE GROUPS SHARE IDEOLOGICAL AIMS WITH ALEC):<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-ALECboard-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">American Council of Trustees & Alumni (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Education Task Force</a>), 1/14/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Associated Builders and Contractors (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commerce,Insurance_and_Economic_Development_Task_Force" title="Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force</a>), 1/14/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/James_Madison_Institute" title="James Madison Institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">James Madison Institute</a> (a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Members" title="SPN Members" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">member of the State Policy Network (SPN)</a> and member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Education Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a>), "former SPN members- SPN did not renew membership," 2/13/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commonwealth_Institute" title="Commonwealth Institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Commonwealth Institute</a> (an <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_member" title="SPN member" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">SPN member</a> and member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a>), "former SPN members- would like to join again if can fit in budget," 3/9/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pioneer_Institute" title="Pioneer Institute" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Pioneer Institute</a> (an <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_member" title="SPN member" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">SPN member</a> and member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Education Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>), "kicked out of ALEC (?) because of education issue," 3/18/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Competitive_Politics" title="Center for Competitive Politics" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Center for Competitive Politics</a> (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Members" title="SPN Members" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">SPN associate member</a> and member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Public_Safety_and_Elections_Task_Force" title="Public Safety and Elections Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Public Safety and Elections Task Force</a>), "JPP no longer works on issue," 3/19/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_Against_Government_Waste" title="Citizens Against Government Waste" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Citizens Against Government Waste</a> (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Members" title="SPN Members" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">SPN associate member</a> and member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Communications_and_Technology_Task_Force" title="Communications and Technology Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Communications and Technology Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a>), 4/12/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AARP" title="AARP" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">AARP</a>, 4/16/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_of_Rights_Institute" title="Bill of Rights Institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Bill of Rights Institute</a> (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Education Task Force</a>), 4/16/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Center_for_Policy_Analysis" title="National Center for Policy Analysis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">National Center for Policy Analysis</a> (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Members" title="SPN Members" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">SPN associate member</a> and member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>), "Budget cutbacks," 4/16/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Doctor-Patient_Medical_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Doctor-Patient Medical Association (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Doctor-Patient Medical Association</a> (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_and_Human_Services_Task_Force" title="Health and Human Services Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Health and Human Services Task Force</a>), "unable to reach contact; history of being late on payments," 4/22/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Chamber_of_Commerce" title="U.S. Chamber of Commerce" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a> Campaign for Free Enterprise (member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Education Task Force</a>; NOTE: other U.S. Chamber of Commerce projects/subsidiaries remain members of ALEC), 4/22/2013</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">John Locke Foundation</a> (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_member" title="SPN member" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">SPN member</a>, member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_and_Fiscal_Policy_Task_Force" title="Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force" title="Education Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Education Task Force</a>), "Former SPN members- would like to join again if can fit in budget," 5/11/2013</li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Corporations that Claimed They Were Cutting Ties but Returned to ALEC</h2><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wells_Fargo" title="Wells Fargo" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Wells Fargo</a>, which was a member of ALEC in 2011, told CMD in September 2012 that it declined to renew its ALEC membership in 2012,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-39-40-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[33]</a> and then subsequently sponsored ALEC's 2013 Annual Meeting in Chicago.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-56" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[56]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Arizona_Public_Service" title="Arizona Public Service" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Arizona Public Service</a> told the Arizona Capitol Times on April 12th that its membership expired that summer and they would not renew it,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-57" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[57]</a> then rejoined ALEC in November 2012, paying "$7,000 in membership fees and an additional $3,000 to have a seat on ALEC’s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a>," again according to the Arizona Capitol Times.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[58]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/EnergySolutions" title="EnergySolutions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">EnergySolutions</a>, which had been a member of ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a>, told CMD in July 2012 that it had been an ALEC member but was no longer "in a position to contribute at this time,"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-27.2F28-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[25]</a> but still listed as member of host committee in July 25-29, 2012 meeting brochure and rejoined ALEC's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy,Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force" title="Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force</a> on June 12, 2013.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC#cite_note-ALECboard-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[12]</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Resources</h2><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Related SourceWatch Articles</h3><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations" title="ALEC Corporations" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">ALEC Corporations</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Non-Profits" title="ALEC Non-Profits" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">ALEC Non-Profits</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Trade_Groups" title="ALEC Trade Groups" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">ALEC Trade Groups</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Law_Firms" title="ALEC Law Firms" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">ALEC Law Firms</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Legislators_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" title="Legislators Who Have Cut Ties to ALEC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Legislators Who Have Cut Ties to ALEC</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Politicians" title="ALEC Politicians" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">ALEC Politicians</a></li></ul><div>
</div><div><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC</a></div><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/11/10/129239/pnc-mtr/" style="line-height: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">PNC Bank Will No Longer Fund Mountain Top Removal</a><div class="post" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; width: 641px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p class="timestamp" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">BY BRAD JOHNSON <span class="posted-on" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">NOVEMBER 10, 2010</div>PNC Bank, the top funder of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining, has announced that it will end its support for the ecologically devastating practice. “This move makes PNC <a href="http://understory.ran.org/2010/11/02/another-big-bank-turns-away-from-mountaintop-removal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">bank number seven</a> to issue a position on MTR,” the Rainforest Action Network’s Amanda Starbuck writes, “following in the footsteps of Bank of America, Citi, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Credit Suisse.” PNC’s decision leaves UBS and GE Capital the only major banks that support mountaintop removal. After the Bush administration <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/us/23coal.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">rewrote rules</a> to encourage the blowing up of mountains for their coal, the Appalachians were rapidly reshaped by rapacious coal companies. This year, the Obama administration once again<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/default/2010/03/27/88916/mountaintop-damage/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">began enforcing laws</a> against the total destruction of public waters and land, after scientists revealed the <a href="http://getenergysmartnow.com/2010/01/08/science-blows-the-top-off-mountaintop-removal-mining/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">full extent</a> of the immoral practice. Now, PNC Bank will <a href="https://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Requester?resource=/wps/wcm/connect/0336ca0043c8b165986f994737af402a/2010_1025_v4_PNCCR_rev.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=0336ca0043c8b165986f994737af402a" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">neither fund MTR projects</a> nor make loans to companies like Massey Energy that specialize in MTR:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 3em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 22.44px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MTR is the subject of increasing regulatory and legislative scrutiny, with a focus on the permitting of MTR mines. While this extraction method is permitted,PNC will not provide funding to individual MTR projects, nor will PNC provide credit to coal producers whose primary extraction method is MTR. PNC will continue to monitor this industry while various regulatory issues are addressed through legislation and public policy.</blockquote>Before this decision, PNC <a href="http://ran.org/sites/default/files/MTR_reportcard.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">provided financing</a> for six of the biggest MTR coal mining companies — Massey, Arch Coal, Patriot Coal, Alpha, International Coal Group, and CONSOL — who were responsible for nearly half of all mountaintop removal mining in 2009.http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/11/10/129239/pnc-mtr/=http://stoprush.net/rush_limbaugh_sponsor_list.php#current_a=<table class="table" border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><div align="left"><a target="Disney on Ice A" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/24/1225985/-Disney-on-Ice-Airing-Ads-on-Controversial-Rush-Limbaugh-Show">Disney on Ice Airing Ads on Controversial Rush Limbaugh Show (update: not any more!)</a>
</div> </td><td><div align="center">7/24/2013</div></td><td><div align="center">Sponsors</div></td></tr><tr><td><div align="left"><a target="Disney Removes " href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/24/1226230/-Disney-Removes-its-Ads-from-The-Rush-Limbaugh-Show">Disney Removes its Ads from The Rush Limbaugh Show</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <div>More Corporations Drop Off ALEC's Conference Brochure</div><div>
</div><div>by Lisa Graves [1] — August 15, 2013 </div><div>
</div><div>An examination of the promotional brochure for the Chicago meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council [5] (ALEC) reveals that the meeting -- where corporate lobbyists secretly vote as equals with legislators on model bills at ALEC task force meetings -- has fewer corporate sponsors willing to tell the public they bankroll ALEC's operations. This news comes in the aftermath of 48 corporations and six non-profits leaving ALEC after the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) connected the dots [6] between "Stand Your Ground" legislation and ALEC, and coalition of organizations pressed for corporations to stop funding ALEC.</div><div>
</div><div>Two years ago, shortly after ALECexposed [5] was launched by CMD to help the public and the press track ALEC's extreme legislative agenda, ALEC's annual convention featured three corporations underwriting the convention at the highest fee level. Last year, the number dropped to two. This year, however, ALEC's summer meeting brochure indicates that only one corporation, a tobacco company, was willing to pay the one hundred thousand dollar asking price to be listed as a top ALEC sponsor for the event at the Palmer House hotel in Chicago.</div><div>
</div><div>Reynolds Tobacco Is ALEC's Sole "President" Level Sponsor in Chicago</div><div>
</div><div>2013 ALEC Brochure lists Reynolds tobacco at the topOnly Reynolds American [7], the global purveyor of cancer-causing cigarettes, was willing to be listed as ALEC's top sponsor. According to an ALEC sponsorship guide, a $100,000 gift to ALEC buys a lot of access. Gold level sponsors get designated as "President" and receive: seven invitations to all of the ALEC VIP events (which are unnamed); seven complimentary registrations for corporate lobbyists, their spouses, or guests; VIP photo opportunities (plural) with lawmakers; advertising; and seating at the ALEC head table, of course.</div><div>
</div><div>ALEC's love fest with Big Tobacco goes back decades with numerous documents that show the close ties between ALEC and Reynolds and similar companies. For years, ALEC has been fronting efforts by tobacco companies to escape liability for their dangerous products. The corporation's subsidiaries sell Camel and Winston Salem cigarettes as well as snuff.</div><div>
</div><div>ALEC is not the only controversial group Reynolds American bankrolls. As noted in CMD's SourceWatch [7] profile of the company, the Center for Public Integrity has documented that Reynolds American gave $175,000 to Grover ("drown [the government] in a bathtub") Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform and also gave at least $50,000 to David Koch's "Americans for Prosperity" in 2012.</div><div>
</div><div>The total amount of money Reynolds American has given ALEC this year, beyond helping to underwrite the annual gathering of lobbyists and lawmakers at Chicago's posh Palmer House hotel, is unknown.</div><div>
</div><div>Downgrading its level of conference sponsorship from the highest level last year is Tracie Sharp's "State Policy Network," (SPN [8]), which includes [9] 59 affiliated think tanks that help peddle ALEC's corporate-fueled agenda as good policy. As CMD has documented, a number of SPN special interest groups are funded by the Koch family, other Big Oil companies, Big Tobacco, and/or Big Insurance.</div><div>
</div><div>Also gone from the presidential designation of ALEC from 2011 are Takeda [10] (the Japanese drug maker), even though it was named one of the two ALEC Private Sector Members of the Year, and BP (British Petroleum [11]). In fact, BP is no where to be found in ALEC's 40th Anniversary list of conference underwriters.</div><div>
</div><div>Controversial Peabody Energy Stands Firm as an ALEC "Chairman"</div><div>
</div><div>The next level of funding, dubbed "Chairman," comes with a $50,000 price tag. ALEC's funding brochure notes that giving this amount to ALEC for the conference gets four invitations to all VIP events, four conference registrations, a VIP photo opportunity, and advertising. At this fee level, donors can get the opportunity to have a "workshop" with legislators or the introduction to one of its luncheons.</div><div>
</div><div>The only repeat donor at this level from 2012 is Peabody Energy, more widely known as Peabody Coal, which was immortalized in song for its strip mining: "And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County down by the Green River where paradise lay? Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking... Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away."</div><div>
</div><div>Peabody is the world's largest privately held coal company.</div><div>
</div><div>It has mines in Wyoming and other states (Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona), and it is a major exporter of American coal to other countries.</div><div>
</div><div>One of the workshops for ALEC legislators at the conference was entitled "The Economic Benefits and Political Challenges to Coal Exports." That workshop touted the benefits of expanded export terminals on the West Coast for selling coal to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Peabody Energy has contracts to export at least 24 million tons of coal through the SSA Marine terminals in California. Other ALEC seminars and sessions in Chicago touted how to bust unions and push so-called "right-to-work" laws that undermine union organizing and the power of labor in the private sector.</div><div>
</div><div>Workers Rally to Expose Peabody's Efforts to Avoid Paying Their Pensions</div><div>
</div><div>Since January of this year, thousands of miners [12] and their families have protested Peabody spinning off its eastern United States coal mining operations -- where many workers were represented by the United Mine Workers of America -- in order to get rid of what its CEO Gregory Boyce called "legacy liabilities [13]," a fancy word for the earned retirement pensions and health care obligations of the men and women who toiled in underground mines for decades building Peabody's wealth. The operations that were spun off were dubbed "Patriot Coal," a corporation that has sought to escape its obligations to miners through federal bankruptcy proceedings.</div><div>
</div><div>At the first of several rallies near Peabody's headquarters and a federal courthouse in St. Louis that is considering the bankruptcy petition, numerous miners -- including the president of United Mine Workers of America, Cecil Roberts -- have been arrested for civil disobedience.</div><div>
</div><div>The UMWA's Roberts decried Peabody for its role in what he called a "scam" to deprive hardworking miners of their retirement futures and access to life-saving health care benefits, claiming that the corporations may "have $1,000 an hour lawyers, but they've got $1 an hour morals," according to a report on that rally. The local leader of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists called the effort to discharge the pension obligations "despicable and criminal."</div><div>
</div><div>Peabody Makes Billions; Peabody's CEO Paid Nearly $15,000 a Day in Total Compensation</div><div>
</div><div>According to Forbes magazine, Boyce (Peabody's CEO) is one of the top 25 highest paid CEOs in America this year, with a total annual compensation package of $30.7 million [14] (or the equivalent of $14,759 per day in total compensation). When Boyce created Patriot Coal, he boasted [13] that his maneuver would reduce Peabody's "legacy liabilities by roughly $1 billion," and his Chief Financial Officer bragged that Peabody's "retiree health care liability and related expense will be reduced by 40%..."</div><div>
</div><div>Peabody's revenue in 2012 was more than $7 billion. While the U.S. and global economies have staggered since the Wall Street meltdown in late 2008, Peabody's income has risen by nearly 33% in the past three years (which is roughly the same period since it loaded up Patriot Coal with its pension debt). Over the past decade, Peabody has spent millions on lobbying as well as more than a million on campaign contributions to politicians, in addition to untold sums on its legal and PR teams.</div><div>
</div><div>Peabody is one of nine private sector funders of ALEC's conference at the "Chairman" level, down from eleven last</div><div>year and down from the nineteen special interests funding ALEC at this level at its 2011 conference in New Orleans.</div><div>
</div><div>Peabody Joins Other Climate Change Deniers as Top Funders of ALEC</div><div>
</div><div>An industry front group, which Peabody has invested in, is also funding ALEC at the $50,000 silver rate for the conference: the "American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity" (ACCCE), which was previously known as the "Center for Energy and Economic Development" (CEED).</div><div>
</div><div>According to a memo leaked [15] to DeSmog Blog in 2009, CEED reported to its investor, Peabody, on the execution of ongoing plans to counter efforts to regulate coal and address climate change. That PR plan included opposing any government control of "greenhouse gases," orchestrating efforts to block the Environmental Protection Agency from new efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, opposing regional climate change agreements that mandate carbon trading rules, and blocking efforts to regulate mercury, the neurotoxin released from the burning of coal which has poisoned lakes and oceans restricting the level of safe consumption of seafood by pregnant women, children and others. One of the key parts of the coal industry strategy was to "sow discord."</div><div>
</div><div>These policies are echoed in the ALEC playbook, which includes numerous bills or resolutions that would make it harder to regulate carbon [16] or address global climate changes [17], as well as efforts to limit [18] regional climate change agreements and to block [19] the regulation of coal ash.</div><div>
</div><div>Industry Cash Reserves in the Billions</div><div>Industry Reserves Totalled $17 billion, as of 2010</div><div>As noted [20] by the Center for American Progress, ACCCE's own documents reveal that the industry it represents has at least $17 billion in cash reserves on their books that could be deployed to help address these problems, if they were required to do so. Meanwhile, ALEC's model legislation includes a measure to bar taxes on windfall profits of energy companies [21], like the corporate benefactors of ACCCE.</div><div>
</div><div>ACCCE was designated by ALEC as one of its Private Sector Members of the Year, like Peabody was the year before.</div><div>
</div><div>Also underwriting ALEC's Chicago meeting at the $50,000 level is ExxonMobil [22], whose long-time funding of climate change denial is extensively documented [23] by Greenpeace.</div><div>
</div><div>New ALEC "Chairmen" Emerge; Old Funders Drop Off or Fade Away</div><div>
</div><div>Others funders at the "Chairman" level include K12 [24] (the "virtual school" company largely funded by taxpayer dollars, which paid its CEO nearly $4 million in total compensation last year) and ALEC's allies at SPN [8], the network of state think tanks that have promoted ALEC's efforts to privatize America's public school system through vouchers and other legislative measures, as noted in CMD's special report on ALEC's education agenda.</div><div>
</div><div>Also paying ALEC at that level: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (which has fought [25] paid sick leave and worked to make it harder for Americans killed or injured by corporations to sue and win full damages) and the Cigar Association of America (a trade group funded by tobacco companies), which often co-hosts the cigar party at the ALEC convention.</div><div>
</div><div>Rounding out the list of Chairman-level funders are a group called "Citizens for Self Governance" (which was created by Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler) and a book called "How Money Walks," by Travis Brown, the founder of a lobbying firm called Pelopidas, LLC, who also spoke at one of the lunches at the ALEC meeting.</div><div>
</div><div>Here is the list of corporations, other than Peabody, which funded ALEC's summer convention at the Chairman level in 2012: Big Oil (Chevron), Big Tobacco (Altria), Big Drugs (PhRMA, Bayer, Alkermes, and GlaxoSmithKline), for-profit schools (Imagine Learning); two SPN special interest groups: the Heartland Institute and the Texas Public Policy Foundation; and the German global software company, SAP. None of these, besides Peabody, funded ALEC's summer convention at the same level as last year. In fact, only two (SAP and PhRMA) are listed in this year's brochure as sponsors.</div><div>
</div><div>Missing from this donor level from 2011 are: Mega Retail: Wal-Mart [26] and the Walton Family Foundation; Big Oil (Shell, American Electric Power, and AmericasPower.org): Big Drugs (Allergan); Big Insurance (UnitedHealthCare and State Farm [27]): and Big Telecomm (AT&T), as well as the Lumina Foundation and Big Credit (VISA and EZCorp, a huge payday loan company).</div><div>
</div><div>Some of these corporations left ALEC last year in the wake of the widespread outcry over ALEC's role in pushing "Stand Your Ground" legislation, including Wal-Mart, GlaxoSmithKline, and the Lumina Foundation. However, the family fortune behind Wal-Mart, the Walton Foundation, has not announced that it has stopped funding ALEC.</div><div>
</div><div>Fewer "Vice Chairman" Level Funders Publicized, Too</div><div>
</div><div>UPS as ALEC Sponsor 2013At this summer's ALEC meeting, five corporations funded ALEC at the "Vice Chairman" level -- which includes three VIP tickets and three conference registrations (but no special VIP photo ops) -- drugmaker Celgene [28], PhRMA [29], UPS, BNSF Railway, and the Illinois Policy Institute [30] (which is part of SPN).</div><div>
</div><div>Last year, eight corporations underwrote ALEC's Salt Lake City convention at this level of funding: State Farm [27], AT&T [31], UPS, American Electric Power, the Sutherland Institute (which is part of SPN), and two Utah companies Zions Bank and Micron; in addition to ExxonMobil [22], which increased its level of sponsorship this year -- to Chairman.</div><div>
</div><div>In 2011, 16 corporations were listed as Vice Chairmen. Not listed this year, but by no means gone are Koch Industries [32] (which sits on ALEC's corporate board) and the Franklin Center [33]. Also not listed at this level for 2013 and among the corporations that announced that they stopped funding ALEC: Johnson & Johnson [34], Intuit [35], and Louis Dreyfus Commodities. Also missing from this level of funding, compared with 2011, and not apparently underwriting this year's ALEC's convention: Pfizer [36], FedEx [37], Sanofi, and Together RX Access, plus three Louisiana companies that helped sponsor ALEC's New Orleans convention in 2011.</div><div>
</div><div>Fewer "Director" Level Funders of ALEC's Convention</div><div>
</div><div>At the "Director" level of sponsorship, for which corporations received two invitations to VIP events and two registrations plus discounted ads for paying $15,000 for general sponsorship (or for paying $15,000 to be listed on hotel room keys, $15,000 to have a logo on a tote bag, or $10,000 to sponsor internet in conventioneers' rooms), ALEC also had fewer companies listed.</div><div>
</div><div>This year, there were 12, which is down from 15 last year. This year's sponsors at the Director level include stalwart ALEC funders like Takeda and Crown [38] (which is pushing legislation to escape responsibility for people injured or dying from asbestos), plus TransCanada [39] (which has been pushing the controversial Keystone XL pipeline), Cloud Peak Energy, Century Link (formerly Qwest), U.S. Steel, Progressive Solutions, Boehringer Ingelheim, SAP, Uline, Monarch Beverage Company, and the Oklahoma-based Liberty Foundation of America.</div><div>
</div><div>More "Trustee" Level Underwriters of ALEC Refreshments, like David Koch's Americans for Prosperity</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>David Koch's Americans for Prosperity</div><div>ALEC's lowest level of convention underwriting, the "Trustee," is the only level of sponsorship that showed an increase in the number of funders this year over the last. This year, 14 companies or groups were willing to shell out the $5,000 per reception break sponsored to get one VIP invitation and one registration.</div><div>
</div><div>David Koch's Americans for Prosperity is listed in the ALEC brochure at this lowest level of donation, but Koch Industries remains on ALEC's board (through its lobbying arm, Koch Companies Public Sector). Others giving to ALEC at the lowest level for the Chicago meeting include: Betsy DeVos' American Federation of Children [40] (public school privatizers), drug company Lilly, Caterpillar, Norfolk Southern and also Union Pacific railways, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Opportunity Ohio, and five Illinois home-state entities: Ameren Illinois, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Credit Union League, Prairie State, and Exelon Generation.</div><div>
</div><div>Notably, one of the $5,000 level ALEC sponsors is Wells Fargo, one of the Wall Street banks that announced last year that it had declined to renew its membership in ALEC in 2012.</div><div>
</div><div>Missing from the lowest level of ALEC convention funding compared with 2011 are some of the companies that have publicly left ALEC, such as: Amazon, BlueCross BlueShield, Kraft, HP, and Walgreens.</div><div>
</div><div>Corporations Pay up for Other Sponsorship Opportunities, too</div><div>
</div><div>Five railway companies (BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, CSX, and Watco Companies) ponied up cash to sponsor ALEC's invitation-only "Leadership Dinner," which featured former British Member of Parliament Conor Burns (a long-time ally of ALEC hero Margaret Thatcher). Before that event, a software company called "Progressive Solutions," sponsored ALEC's "Leadership Reception." The price tag for these sponsorships is not known.</div><div>
</div><div>According to ALEC's sponsorship brochure, the price for sponsoring its reception for its incoming chairmen was $50,000. UPS was the sole sponsor of that event for the top leaders of ALEC.</div><div>
</div><div>There were also receptions for various ALEC task forces. The Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force reception, for example, was sponsored by Ameren Illinois, Commonwealth Edison, Dynergy, Inc., Exelon Generation, MidAmerican Energy, Midwest Generation, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, the Illinois Energy Association, and the Edison Electric Institute.</div><div>
</div><div>Similarly, the private sector entities listed as ALEC's host committee were: Reynolds American (tobacco), Peabody, ACCCE, Exxon Mobil, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, the Cigar Association of America, K12, the Illinois POlicy Institute, SPN, Citizens for Self-Governance, and the book "How Money Walks."</div><div>
</div><div>The National Rifle Association Is Still There</div><div>
</div><div>Despite ALEC's efforts to try to distance itself from its legacy of gun laws that it pushed for years alongside its long-time partner, the National Rifle Association, the NRA has not kept its distance from ALEC.</div><div>
</div><div>Like last year, the NRA was no longer listed on ALEC's brochure as a sponsor, but that did not stop the NRA from having a booth in the ALEC</div><div>convention hall and pushing its agenda with its buddies within ALEC. Curiously, ALEC's membership brochure with its map of booths omits any reference to the NRA while describing 40 of the other organizations with booths in the ALEC convention hall.</div><div>
</div><div>The NRA's rep was also observed at special VIP events, that were purportedly reserved for members of ALEC. No flyers were observed touting the NRA's annual event at a shooting range for ALEC legislators and lobbyists, however.</div>To date, <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=R42Oc02zPXOJgjyAI6kuBJ77jLWJVtaF" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;">49 major American corporations have dumped ALEC</a>, including some of the largest firms in the world. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZmucbiBeX5S41NCgV5XKUJ77jLWJVtaF" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;">Read the full report here.</a> ---Scores of investors working together through <a href="http://www.ceres.org/" target="blank">Ceres</a> and the <a href="http://www.iccr.org/" target="blank">Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility</a> are challenging companies that fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), reminding them that such support backs ALEC's anti-environmental agenda. In response, four corporations have confirmed that they have cut or are cutting ties with ALEC:<ul><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/GlaxoSmithKline" target="blank">GlaxoSmithKline</a> (GSK), a British pharmaceutical company with <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=GSK:LN" target="blank">£26.4 billion</a> in annual revenue;</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brown-Forman, a Louisville, Kentucky alcohol company with <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=BF/A" target="blank">$2.8 billion</a> in annual revenue;</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Unilever" target="blank">Unilever</a>, a food, home, and personal care products corporation based in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom with a combined <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=UN" target="blank">€51.3 billion</a> in annual revenue;</li><li>and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ConocoPhillips" target="blank">ConocoPhillips</a>, a Houston oil company with <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=COP" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">$58 billion</a> in annual revenue.</li></ul>In addition, Publix Super Markets <a href="https://twitter.com/Publix/status/349151279764889601" target="blank">announced</a> via social media in response to a customer challenge this week that it "has not been a member of ALEC since 2011."This brings the tally to at least <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank">49 corporations</a> that have cut ties to ALEC since 2011.mountaintop removal
 Of interest because effective against tall odds, divestment strategy?  Banks are being peeled off? each DEFECTOR win increases pressure on holdouts? THEY ARE EXPOSED AND NO LONGER HAVE BUFFER COVERWhy are they winning when other green efforts stalled or losing ground?alliance between poor (wht?) ppl/workers and greens?  Worst of worst: coal cooking the planet, coal vulnerable b/c BO and EPA GHG regs, fracking makes coal less economically viable.  Perfect storm is systemic? . The withdrawal of Apple from the Chamber’s membership roster was the result of a particularly clumsy campaign. It began last summer, when a senior vice president of the Chamber wrote a petition to the EPA calling for a public hearing on the science of climate change in order to present a “credible weighing” of the evidence. The author of the petition, William Kovacs, a vice president of the Chamber, told the Los Angeles Times that it “would be the science of climate change on trial” and referred it as “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century.” Not only did Apple drop its membership in response; so did the utilities Exelon, Pacific Gas and Electric, and PNM Resources. Among those who stayed in the fold, several companies, such as Nike and Johnson & Johnson, wrote stern letters of rebuke to Donohue. Donohue upbraided Kovacs but has done little else to address the concerns of the angered companies. “We may have gotten a phone call,” said Brian Herzog, director of government affairs for PG&E. “Within the universe of Chamber members some are more equal than others.”
 --pols defect: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Legislators_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Legislators_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC</a>
 --
 =Six more companies have indicated that they are cutting, or have cut, ties to ALEC: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=General_Electric" title="reference on General Electric" target="self">General Electric</a> (GE), Western Union, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sprint_Nextel" title="reference on Sprint Nextel" target="self">Sprint Nextel</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Symantec" title="reference on Symantec" target="self">Symantec</a> (maker of Norton antivirus software), <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reckitt_Benckiser_Group" title="reference on Reckitt Benckiser Group" target="self">Reckitt Benckiser Group</a> (a British consumer goods company that makes such brands as French's mustard, Woolite, Lysol, Clearasil, Durex, and D-Con), and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Entergy" title="reference on Entergy" target="self">Entergy</a> (a power plant company headquartered in New Orleans).=
 alec notes 8.1 <div class="content clearfix" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Last year, 16 corporations were listed as Vice Chairmen; this year it's eight. Not listed but by no means gone are <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries" title="reference on Koch Industries" target="self">Koch Industries</a> [13] and the Franklin Center. Not listed at this level and among the corporations that have dumped ALEC: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Johnson%26_Johnson" title="reference on Johnson & Johnson" target="self">Johnson & Johnson</a> [14] and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Intuit" title="reference on Intuit" target="self">Intuit</a> [15]. Missing from this level of funding, compared with last year, and not apparently underwriting ALEC's convention: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pfizer," title="reference on Pfizer," target="self">Pfizer,</a> [16] <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FedEx" title="reference on FedEx" target="self">FedEx</a> [17], Sanofi, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, and Together RX Access. Not unexpectedly, three Louisiana companies that helped sponsor ALEC's New Orleans convention last year are also not listed. A round of calls revealed that Louis Dreyfus is no longer a member, but FedEx is standing strong. Pfizer refused to respond to requests for clarification of their ALEC status. The next two levels of ALEC convention underwriting are similarly diminished, with 23 corporations at the lowest levels of sponsorship this year compared with 45 last year. Companies no longer listed that have publicly left ALEC include: Amazon, BlueCross BlueShield, Kraft, HP, and Walgreens.</div> =Kraft, kfc, taco bellMiller High Life, and buy sunscreen from CVS without fear that their consumer dollars will be used to fund policies like voter suppression and climate change denial, now that Deere & Co., MillerCoors, and CVS have dropped their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Also cutting ties with ALEC are top computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) and electronics retailer Best Buy.---still in Phrma, am bail coalition, anyone ~ epa=The Chamber of Commerce civil war continues: the latest news is discontent from another significant player, General Electric.GE spokesman Peter O’Toole <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=07BD264E-18FE-70B2-A8094AB18C2A87D3">told Politico</a> that the company remains a member—though one clearly unhappy about the group's climate position."We’re a member of the Chamber because a lot of our customers are there, a lot of our competitors, so we get a good perspective on issues of national import," he said. "The Chamber does not speak for us on climate legislation, but we are still a member." GE is the latest in a growing list of companies unhappy with the Chamber's position on climate. Yesterday, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/09/nike-resigns-chamber-board">Nike announced</a> that they are resigning from the board of directors, though they plan to maintain membership. The country's largest electric utility, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/09/largest-electric-utility-us-drops-out-chamber-commerce">Exelon</a>, announced on Monday that they are leaving the group, joining <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/09/pge-quits-chamber-commerce-over-its-extreme-position-climate-change">California utility PG&E</a> and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/09/new-mexico-utility-quits-chamber-commerce-over-climate-position">New Mexico utility PNM</a> in secession.</div>  The group's opposition to the legislation has caused a rift among its corporate members. A number of companies have announced they are leaving the organization as a result of its stance on climate change regulations. Energy companies <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Exelon" title="Exelon">Exelon</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PG%26E" title="PG&E">PG&E</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PNM_Resources" title="PNM Resources">PNM Resources</a> all announced in September 2009 that they were quitting the Chamber. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Chamber_of_Commerce#cite_note-20" title="">[21]</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Apple_Inc" title="Apple Inc">Apple Inc</a> also resigned from the Chamber, saying in a statement, "We would prefer that the chamber take a more progressive stance on this critical issue and play a constructive role in addressing the climate crisis"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Chamber_of_Commerce#cite_note-21" title="">[22]</a> Sportswear company <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nike" title="Nike">Nike</a> also criticized the Chamber's challenge of the U.S. EPA's authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions as air pollution.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Chamber_of_Commerce#cite_note-sciam-19" title="">[20]</a> Nike said it would resign from the Chambers's board of directors, but that it would retain its membership to the organization in order to work for climate change legislation from inside the organization.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Chamber_of_Commerce#cite_note-22" title="">[</a> === MT top Removal:  <h2>Banks move to restrict MTR financing</h2><a name="Bank_of_America_announces_phase_out_of_MTR_financing" id="Bank_of_America_announces_phase_out_of_MTR_financing"> </a><h3>Bank of America announces phase out of MTR financing</h3>In December 2008, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bank_of_America" title="Bank of America" class="mw-redirect">Bank of America</a> announced that it would "phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal. While we acknowledge that surface mining is economically efficient and creates jobs, it can be conducted in a way that minimizes environmental impacts in certain geographies."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mountaintop_removal#cite_note-26" title="">[27]</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rainforest_Action_Network" title="Rainforest Action Network">Rainforest Action Network</a>, which has pressed Bank of America to halt financing of mountaintop removal mining and coal-fired power plants, lauded the decision as a "giant leap forward...We hope that <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citigroup" title="Citigroup">Citi</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=JP_Morgan_Chase" title="JP Morgan Chase" class="mw-redirect">JP Morgan Chase</a>, and other banks follow Bank of America's lead."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mountaintop_removal#cite_note-27" title="">[28]</a><a name="PNC_ends_MTR_funding" id="PNC_ends_MTR_funding"> </a><h3>PNC ends MTR funding</h3>In the summer of 2010 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PNC_Financial_Services_Group,Inc." title="PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.">PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.</a> published a <a href="https://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Requester?resource=/wps/wcm/connect/0336ca0043c8b165986f994737af402a/2010_1025_v4_PNCCR_rev.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=0336ca0043c8b165986f994737af402a" class="external text" title="https://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Requester?resource=/wps/wcm/connect/0336ca0043c8b165986f994737af402a/2010_1025_v4_PNCCR_rev.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=0336ca0043c8b165986f994737af402a" rel="nofollow">2010 Corporate Responsibility Report</a> saying PNC would be moving away from funding MTR. The report read: "MTR is the subject of increasing regulatory and legislative scrutiny, with a focus on the permitting of MTR mines. While this extraction method is permitted, PNC will not provide funding to individual MTR projects, nor will PNC provide credit to coal producers whose primary extraction method is MTR. PNC will continue to monitor this industry while various regulatory issues are addressed through legislation and public policy" (p. 4).Then in November 2010 PNC announced that it would no longer fund projects associated with mountaintop removal coal mining. “This move makes PNC bank number seven to issue a position on MTR,” the Rainforest Action Network’s Amanda Starbuck wrote of the decision, “following in the footsteps of Bank of America, Citi, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Credit Suisse.”PNC’s decision leaves UBS and GE Capital the only major banks that support mountaintop removal.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mountaintop_removal#cite_note-28" title="">[29]</a><a name="MTR_policies_of_other_banks" id="MTR_policies_of_other_banks"> </a><h3>MTR policies of other banks</h3>The following banks have policies restricting financing for MTR:<ul><li><a href="http://environment.bankofamerica.com/assets/pdf/COAL_POLICY.pdf" class="external text" title="http://environment.bankofamerica.com/assets/pdf/COAL_POLICY.pdf" rel="nofollow">Bank of America policy statement</a></li><li><a href="http://citizenship.citigroup.com/citi/citizen/finance/environment/mrcm.htm" class="external text" title="http://citizenship.citigroup.com/citi/citizen/finance/environment/mrcm.htm" rel="nofollow">Citi policy statement</a></li><li><a href="http://ran.org/content/correspondence-banks-relating-rans-mtr-report-card" class="external text" title="http://ran.org/content/correspondence-banks-relating-rans-mtr-report-card" rel="nofollow">Credit Suisse policy statement</a></li><li><a href="http://www.msdw.org/global/Environmental_Policy.pdf" class="external text" title="http://www.msdw.org/global/Environmental_Policy.pdf" rel="nofollow">Morgan Stanley policy statement</a></li><li><a href="http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Corporate-Responsibility/document/cr_full_report_05-14_01_noblurb.pdf" class="external text" title="http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Corporate-Responsibility/document/cr_full_report_05-14_01_noblurb.pdf" rel="nofollow">JPMorgan Chase policy statement</a></li><li><a href="https://www.wellsfargo.com/downloads/pdf/about/csr/reports/environmental_lending_practices.pdf" class="external text" title="https://www.wellsfargo.com/downloads/pdf/about/csr/reports/environmental_lending_practices.pdf" rel="nofollow">Wells Fargo policy statement</a></li></ul>