Harless

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Coal baron “Buck” Harless, who rallied his industry to win West Virginia for George Bush in the 2000 election, ensuring that destructive mining practices would continue unabated for eight years. hope bk

===

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

James H. Harless, also known as James "Buck" Harless (born in Logan County, West Virginia on October 14, 1919) is a main operator in the coal and timber businesses.

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<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>] </div>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Companies">1 Companies</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Coal_organizations">2 Coal organizations</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Political_action">3 Political action</a>

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<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#State">3.1 State</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Federal">3.2 Federal</a>

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<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Senate">3.2.1 Senate</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Administration">3.2.2 Administration</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Resources">4 Resources</a>

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<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#References">4.1 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#Related_SourceWatch_articles">4.2 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#External_resources">4.3 External resources</a></li>

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<h2>Companies</h2>

After graduation from high school, he worked as a miner for several years at Red Jacket Coal Co. In 1947 he gave up mining to become a part-owner and manager of a Gilbert saw-mill.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-0">[1]</a>

He grew the Gilbert Lumber Company <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-wve-1">[2]</a> into the <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Industries" title="International Industries">International Industries</a> Inc. conglomerate, founded in 1947, where he served as President and CEO. Company revenues repeatedly exceeded $700 million a year<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-wve-1">[2]</a>. International Industries, Inc. included coal mining and timber, as well as manufacturing, hotel, and real estate operations.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-2">[3]</a> It conducted business from three divisions: International Resources, Inc. (coal mining and marketing company L&K Coal), Gilco Lumber, Inc. (lumber production and distribution), and Benson International, Inc. (manufacturing of trailers and truck bodies), and had operations in five states serving domestic and international customers.

In 1986 Harless's International Industries purchased Logan & Kanawha Coal Company (L&K). L&K operates the Camden complex (Mingo County, West Virginia) and the Rockhouse mine (Mingo and Logan counties, West Virginia).<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-3">[4</a>

In May 2007, CNN reported that two companies, International Resources Inc. and the <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kanawha_Eagle_mine" title="Kanawha Eagle mine" class="mw-redirect">Kanawha Eagle mine</a> have a contract to supply a combined 40,000 tons of coal to the <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Capitol_Power_Plant" title="Capitol Power Plant">Capitol Power Plant</a> in Washington, D.C., over the next two years. Senators from coal mining states blocked a proposal in 2000 to use cleaner fuel for the plant. Senators <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mitch_McConnell" title="Mitch McConnell">Mitch McConnell</a> (Republican, Kentucky) and <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Robert_Byrd" title="Robert Byrd" class="mw-redirect">Robert Byrd</a> (Democrat, West Virginia), both from coal mining states, used their influence as two of the Senate's most senior members to block this proposal. The companies have given a combined $26,300 to the McConnell and Byrd campaigns for the 2006 election. <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-cnn_effort_complicated-4">[5]</a>

In 2007, Harless sold his International Resources, Inc. to <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Resource_Partners_LP" title="International Resource Partners LP">International Resource Partners LP</a>, a partnership owned by Lightfoot Capital Partners.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-LRP-5">[6]</a> He retained a 25% share in the new business.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-LRP-5">[6]</a><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-6">[7]</a><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-7">[8]</a>

Harless was also involved in the coal industry through his position as a director of <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Massey_Energy" title="Massey Energy">Massey Energy</a> from 2001 to 2005.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-app-8">[9]</a> On the Massey board, he served as Chairman of the Public and Environmental Policy Committee.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-app-8">[9]</a>

<h2>Coal organizations</h2>

Harless has been a major contributor to West Virginia’s coal mining industry and was inducted into the West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame. The <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=West_Virginia_Mining_and_Reclamation_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="West Virginia Mining and Reclamation Association (page does not exist)">West Virginia Mining and Reclamation Association</a> named him Coal Man of the Year in 1976.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-wve-1">[2]</a>

<h2>Political action</h2>

<h3>State</h3>

Harless made contributions to West Virginia State Senate candidates.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-9">[10]</a>

Harless was one of Governor <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cecil_Underwood&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Cecil Underwood (page does not exist)">Cecil Underwood</a>’s biggest financial contributors. Underwood, who got 12 percent of his war chest from coal interests, borrowed a Harless executive to head his transition team in 1996. The ex-coal executive that Underwood named as Employment Programs Commissioner decided to halt any new suits against deadbeat coal interests in 1997.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-nomore-10">[11]</a>

In 2004, one of Harless's employees, <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stephen_L.Hall&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Stephen L. Hall (page does not exist)">Stephen L. Hall</a>, a Huntington Republican, ran against Senate Education Chairman <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_H.Plymale&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Robert H. Plymale (page does not exist)">Robert H. Plymale</a>, D-Cabell. <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-11">[12]</a>

<h3>Federal</h3>

<h4>Senate</h4>

Harless was one of the contributors to the campaign of <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hiram_Lewis&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Hiram Lewis (page does not exist)">Hiram Lewis</a>, who filed for Sen. <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Robert_C._Byrd" title="Robert C. Byrd">Robert C. Byrd</a>'s seat in 2006.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-12">[13]</a>

<h4>Administration</h4>

In 2000, Harless was a member of the Bush pioneers, a group of individuals credited with each raising at least $100,000 for the Bush campaign,<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-nomore-10">[11]</a> and was West Virginia State Finance Chair of the President George W. Bush Campaign Organization.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-13">[14]</a> Harless gave $5,000 to support the Bush campaign's expenses during the 2000 Florida recount fight, and contributed $100,000 to Bush’s inaugural fund. He organized other coal interests to help make Bush the first Republican since 1928 to win West Virginia’s electoral votes (the votes were crucial to Bush’s hair-thin victory).<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-nomore-10">[11]</a>

In 2004, Harless was a member of <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bush%27s_Rangers" title="Bush's Rangers">Bush's Rangers</a>, who each raised $200,000 for the Bush campaign through bundling donations.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-14">[15]</a>

Six months later, <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/West_Virginia_Coal_Association" title="West Virginia Coal Association">West Virginia Coal Association</a> Director <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_Raney&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="William Raney (page does not exist)">William Raney</a> praised members for their efforts and said, “You did everything you could to elect a Republican president. You are already seeing in his actions the payback, if you will, his gratitude for what we did.”<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-nomore-10">[11]</a> Bush nicknamed Harless “Big Buck” and invited James Harless´s grandson to join the <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush_Transition_Energy_Advisory_Team&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bush Transition Energy Advisory Team (page does not exist)">Bush Transition Energy Advisory Team</a>,<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-app-8">[9]</a> which shaped the administration’s supply-side energy policy administration and was a precursor to Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-globe-15">[16]</a>

According to the Charleston Gazette, Harless played a role in the appointment of <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Castle" title="Michael Castle" class="mw-redirect">Michael Castle</a> to a position created specially for him in the Philadelphia office of the Environmental Protection Agency. The territory of that regional office includes West Virginia.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-nomore-10">[11]</a> In 2002, the EPA adopted a rule promoting <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mountaintop_removal" title="Mountaintop removal">mountaintop removal mining</a><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-16">[17]</a> by changing clean water rules to allow the dumping of millions of tons of mining waste in Appalachian valleys and streams.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-17">[18]</a>

The Bush administration also reversed its campaign promise to reduce global warming by cutting carbon-dioxide emissions. "We were looking for friends, and we found one in George W. Bush,” Harless told the Wall Street Journal.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-nomore-10">[11]</a>

Harless was appointed by President Bush to the United States Air Force Academy Board of Visitors.

Harless, introduced Bush to the crowd at the West Virginia Coal Association annual meeting on July 31, 2008.<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_note-18">[19]</a> Harless had a private audience with the President at <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush%27s_ranch&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bush's ranch (page does not exist)">Bush's ranch</a>.

<h2>Resources</h2>

<h3>References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-0">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.harlessgenealogy.com/biographies/">Biographies,</a> Harless Geneology, accessed December 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-wve-1">↑ <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-wve_1-0">2.0</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-wve_1-1">2.1</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-wve_1-2">2.2</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wvexecutive.com/whoswho/94/James-%22Buck%22-Harless">James "Buck" Harless,</a> West Virginia Executive, accessed December 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-2">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.concord.edu/Pages/news/nr/2005/03/EnvironmentalGeoscie161350.html">"Energy Companies Support Environmental Geosciences Program at Concord,"</a> Concord University, March 10, 2005.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-3">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.landk.com/">Logan & Kanawha Coal Company website,</a> accessed December 2008</li>

<li id="cite_note-cnn_effort_complicated-4"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-cnn_effort_complicated_4-0">↑</a> Jim Spellman and Andrea Koppel, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/10/capitol.green/index.html">"Effort to 'green' U.S. Capitol complicated by coal,"</a> CNN.com, May 11, 2007</li>

<li id="cite_note-LRP-5">↑ <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-LRP_5-0">6.0</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-LRP_5-1">6.1</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.irplp.com/">Lightfoot Capital Partners, LP Announces the Acquisition ofInternational Resources, LLC,</a> press release, June 12, 2007</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-6">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.tortoiseadvisors.com/factsheets.cfm">Tortoise Capital Advisors fact sheets,</a> accessed December 2008</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-7">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.kaynefunds.com/KedNews.htm">"Kayne Anderson Energy Development Company, Lightfoot Capital Partners, LP and Tortoise Capital Resources Corporation announce formation of International Resource Partners LP,"</a> press release, June 12, 2007</li>

<li id="cite_note-app-8">↑ <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-app_8-0">9.0</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-app_8-1">9.1</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-app_8-2">9.2</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/frontporch/comments/outrageous_a_ceos_attempted_hostile_takeover_of_wv">"Outrageous! A CEO’s attempted hostile takeover of WV,"</a> Appalachian Voices, October 12, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-9">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wvoter-owned.org/news/2006/01_09.html">"Coal companies are big political donors,"</a> Citizens for Clean Elections, January 9, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-nomore-10">↑ <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-nomore_10-0">11.0</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-nomore_10-1">11.1</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-nomore_10-2">11.2</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-nomore_10-3">11.3</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-nomore_10-4">11.4</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-nomore_10-5">11.5</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nomoreapples.blogspot.com/2004/06/ties-that-bind-part-2-bush-and-buck_13.html">"The ties that bind part 2: Bush and "Buck" Harless,"</a> No More Apples, June 13, 2004.</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-11">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wvoter-owned.org/news/2004/10_15.html">"Brent Benjamin raking in heaviest contributions,"</a> Citizens for Clean Elections, October 15, 2004.</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-12">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.oweb.com/state/story/0711202005_sta01.asp">"Byrd Still in GOP Crosshairs for 2006,"</a> Associated Press, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-13">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eaction/2004/bush/bushorgwv.html">President George W. Bush-Campaign Organization, West Virginia,</a> George Washington University, April 2004.</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-14">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/bundler.cfm?Bundler=704">"Bundler: James Harless,"</a> White House for Sale, accessed December 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-globe-15"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-globe_15-0">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/04/energy_bill_a_special_interests?pg=2">"Energy bill a special-interests triumph,"</a> Boston Globe, October 4, 2004.</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-16">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.alternet.org/story/18285?page=entire">"Bought and Paid For,"</a> AlterNet, March 30, 2004.</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-17">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1611">"Bush’s Fundraising Juggernaut Adds 42 New Contributors to List of Rangers and Pioneers for 2004,"</a> Public Citizen, December 19, 2003.</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Harless#cite_ref-18">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=42225">"President Addresses West Virginia Coal Association,"</a> State Journal, August 7, 2008.</li>

</ol>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Asbestos" title="Asbestos">Asbestos</a></li>

<li><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Capitol_Power_Plant" title="Capitol Power Plant">Capitol Power Plant</a></li>

<li><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Industries" title="International Industries">International Industries</a></li>

<li><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Massey_Energy" title="Massey Energy">Massey Energy</a></li>

<li><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mountaintop_removal" title="Mountaintop removal">Mountaintop removal</a></li>

<li><a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Shelley_Moore_Capito" title="Shelley Moore Capito">Shelley Moore Capito</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.intlind.com/">International Industries, Inc.</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://migration.kentucky.gov/newsroom/thinkkentucky/Benson+International.htm">Benson International, Inc. Announces New Facility in Cadiz</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://landk.com/">Logan & Kanawha Coal Company, LLC.</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=42225">President Addresses West Virginia Coal Association</a>.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/facts/steps.php">Valley fills</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ohvec.org/issues/mountaintop_removal/articles/2002_09_08.html">Mountaintop Removal Fact Sheet</a>, (<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ohio_Valley_Environmental_Coalition" title="Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition">Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition</a>)</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.irplp.com/">Lightfoot Capital Partners Announces the Acquisition from International Industries</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://wildforests.com/wildforests.asp?id2=8145">Big Buck Awards</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937058300">Buck: A Life Sketch of James H. Harless by Ruel E. Foster (Author), Robert B. Conner (Author),</a> <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ISBN-13&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="ISBN-13 (page does not exist)">ISBN-13</a>: 9780937058305, Publisher: <a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=West_Virginia_University&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="West Virginia University (page does not exist)">West Virginia University</a> Press - 1992-06, 166 Pages.</li>

<li>Thomas B. Edsall, Sarah Cohen and James V. Grimaldi, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29142-2004May15.html">"Pioneers fill war chests, then capitalize,"</a> Washington Post, May 16, 2004</li>

</ul>

<a href="http://ftp.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> also has an article on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harless">James Harless</a>. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFDL">GFDL</a>.

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==

massey

Bush's biggest supporters would profit handsomely from the bill. Sixty

of Bush's 400 Pioneers and Rangers -- those who have committed to

raising at least $100,000 and $200,000, respectively, for the

Bush-Cheney reelection effort -- would benefit from the tax breaks,

subsidies, and deregulation in the bill, according to an estimate by

the Sierra Club.

Massey Energy of West Virginia -- whose director, James H. " Buck "

Harless, is a major Bush fund-raiser --would get hundreds of millions

of dollars in loan guarantees for a coal gasification plant. Harless

served on President Bush's energy transition team, a precursor to Vice

President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force, which developed the

critical blueprint for the energy package on Capitol Hill.

" The problem is that this has just turned into more of a special

interests bill, " said Charlie Coon, an energy specialist with the

Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. " The bottom line is,

it's not going to provide the power that's needed for the economy so

people can turn on their lights. It's such a farce. "

Behind closed doors

The construction of the bill reflects the way business is done in

Washington in 2004: With Republicans enjoying control of both chambers

of Congress, plus the White House, GOP leaders in the House craft

giant bills behind closed doors, freezing out the minority party and

squelching dissent from moderate Republicans and lobbyists whose

agendas are unsympathetic to the GOP's goals, according to interviews

with members of both parties and former House members.

And while other bills have included their share of earmarked projects

or handouts to various industries or interest groups, the energy bill

is considered by consumer and environmental groups to be one of the

most extreme examples of excessive corporate giveaways.

" What's really amazing is how a combination of energy industry, oil

and gas industry, utility industry guys, coal industry guys, through a

whole host of policy decisions -- through the Environmental Protection

Agency or the energy bill -- literally got billions of dollars in

payback for millions of dollars " in contributions and lobbying

expenses, said Mark Longabaugh, senior vice president for

publicaffairs for the League of ConservationVoters.

Page 3 of 9 -- The bill first began to come together as an outgrowth

of Cheney's energy task force, a committee of Washington officials

that met in private to draft a sweeping national energy policy shortly

after Bush took office.

A study by the nonpartisan General Accounting Office last year found

that the energy task force received advice from private " energy

stakeholders, " mainly the petroleum, coal, nuclear, natural gas, and

electricity industries. The report said it was unable to determine the

extent of the influence these industries had on policy, because of the

limited information made available to the GAO.

But other records released under a court order show that 15

energy-related entities known to have had contact with the task force

ended up winning provisions in the energy policy that would benefit them.

The Edison Electric Institute, which had contact with the task force

14 times and spent $12 million lobbying Washington last year, secured

a historic deregulation of the electricity industry analysts believe

could be worth billions of dollars.

<a href="http://www.grist.org/article/gelbspan-boiling/">http://www.grist.org/article/gelbspan-boiling</a>/

For starters, many White House watchers have already documented this administration's strong ties to the fossil-fuel lobby. The president tops the list of past oil company executives, followed by Vice President Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton, the country's largest oil-field services firm. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice served on Chevron's board of directors, while Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans worked for a Denver oil and gas company, Tom Brown, Inc. Philip Cooney, chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was formerly head of the climate unit of the American Petroleum Institute, the main lobbying arm of the oil industry, and a group that is among the most rabid critics of climate science.

Bush's electoral success, moreover, was heavily funded by big coal and oil. His 2000 presidential win can in large measure be traced to his victory in West Virginia, a state no other Republican presidential candidate had ever won. That win resulted from the substantial support of the state's coal industry. One coal executive alone, James Harless, raised $275,000 for the Bush campaign in West Virginia, five times more than Al Gore raised there.

Five months after Bush's inauguration, a West Virginia Coal Association official told a meeting of the organization: "You did everything you could to elect a Republican president. Now you are already seeing in his actions the payback ... for what we did."

That "payback" came in the form of an about-face on a campaign promise Candidate Bush made in 1999 -- to repeat nationally what he had done as governor of Texas, imposing a carbon dioxide emissions cap on the state's coal-fired power plants. In a letter to four Republican senators, Bush said he was backing away from the cap because of the "incomplete state of scientific knowledge of the causes of, and solutions to, global climate change and the lack of commercially available technologies for removing and storing carbon dioxide."

Particularly pleased by Bush's flip-flop was Irl Englehardt, chair of the Peabody Group, the country's biggest coal company. Englehardt had donated $250,000 to the Republican National Committee, and served as an adviser to the Bush-Cheney Energy Transition Team. On May 17, 2001, when the Cheney task force unveiled its new energy plan, it not only called for an expanded role for nuclear power and the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, but for the construction of between 1,300 and 1,900 new power plants, most of them powered by coal. Within a week of the plan's unveiling, the Peabody Group -- a privately held entity for its entire 120-year life -- made an initial public offering (IPO) of shares and went public. Overnight, its stock jumped from $24 to $36.

<h3>Exxon, Exx Off</h3>

If the administration's energy plan was covered with the fingerprints of the country's biggest coal company, its climate policies appear to have been directly dictated by the planet's largest oil company.

Just weeks after Bush assumed office, ExxonMobil official Randy Randol sent a memo to the White House, which was subsequently obtained by the Natural Resources Defense Council through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests. The memo cited a quote from Robert Watson, chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: "The United States is way off meeting its targets. A country like China has done more, in my opinion, than a country like the United States to move forward in economic development while remaining environmentally sensitive." Clearly, Watson's assertion did not sit well with the memo's authors, who went on to ask: "Can Watson Be Replaced Now At the Request of the United States?"

ExxonMobil recommended that the Bush administration remove Watson, along with two officials instrumental in producing the U.S. National Assessment on Climate Change, an EPA document that the White House would seek to eviscerate in the spring of 2003. In their place, the oil giant recommended appointing longtime climate "skeptics" John Christy and Richard Lindzen.

Ultimately, the Bush administration did scuttle Watson's reappointment. But, apparently fearing a major backlash, it decided not to back such vocal contrarians as Christy and Lindzen.

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Harless

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