[Occupymendocino] Koch Brothers Fruitlessly Spreading Misinformation on Renewable Energy

Sat May 17 22:30:19 PDT 2014

Koch Brothers Fruitlessly Spreading Misinformation on Renewable Energy
By Sam Gomberg, Union of Concerned Scientists
17 May 14

espite relentless legislative attacks funded by the Koch Brothers and other fossil fuel special interest groups, state renewable electricity standards are holding their own and continue to drive investments in clean energy resources. And as long as legislators remain committed to well-informed policies that represent the will of the people instead of a few powerful special interests, renewable energy can continue to look forward to a bright future in the U.S.

Most Americans support emphasizing development of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, over production of more fossil fuels, and that’s especially true among the younger generations who will guide our nation through much of the 21st Century. But a new study by researchers at Princeton University has the blogosphere and social media abuzz with concern that our nation is heading in a different direction. One where policy decisions are made not in the best interests of the people, but rather for the benefit of powerful industries and the special interest groups they fund.

It is no secret that fossil fuel interests, particularly the Koch Brothers and the advocacy groups they fund, have used misleading claims and bogus studies to try and discredit the overwhelming scientific consensus around climate change and roll back the policies that support the development of our nation’s vast wind and solar resources. But as the Washington Post reports, the Koch Brothers have “run into a surprising roadblock: the growing political clout of renewable energy…”

Science and facts are still winning in the debates over clean energy

A total of 29 states, plus the District of Columbia, currently have a renewable electricity standard (RES) that requires utilities to meet a percentage of their electricity demand with renewable energy. These policies have enjoyed a long history of bipartisan support among state legislators and governors, and no state, once it has enacted a RES, has ever repealed one.

The reason is quite simple. Ample evidence shows RES policies are an effective way to achieve the ramp up of renewable energy that Americans desire, and the real-world experience with meeting renewable electricity standards is proving how these policies are a good deal for consumers, and are affordably delivering real economic, environmental, and public health benefits.

The Union of Concerned Scientists works with a broad range of allies – business and industry, environmental and consumer advocates, and engaged citizens and experts to make sure decision makers have the facts to see through the disinformation campaigns led by the Koch Brothers and their cohorts and make well-informed decisions about the role of renewable energy in meeting energy demand. We were among the first to expose the Koch Brothers’ pending attack on RES policies in 2012 and to highlight the misleading claims, and often downright lies, spread by the fossil fuel lobby.

Campaigns of disinformation attracting attention and eroding the public’s trust

Fortunately, the media is also taking note. The New York Times just dubbed the Koch’s efforts to politicize renewable energy “deliberately misleading” in a recent editorial. Attack ads targeting Kansas’s 20 percent by 2020 RES aired by the Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity have been characterized by the local media as “nothing short of a lie,” “misleading,” and “laughable.” TheAssociated Press called out Americans for Prosperity for citing “misleading figures” in its failed bid to block Georgia’s new solar requirement. UCS has also joined reporters at the Washington Post and The Guardian in shedding light on the flawed and biased analyses of the Koch-funded Beacon Hill Institute, which has rolled out cut-and-paste reports attacking RES policies in nearly 20 states.

Meanwhile, the Koch Brothers’ misguided attacks on RES policies continue to erode the public’s trust in the fossil fuel industry. Oil companies sit just above Big Tobacco among the industries that Americans trust the least. It’s a rank earned by employing many of the same tactics and special interest groups that Big Tobacco used to mislead the public about the health impacts of smoking, only this time to manufacture doubt about climate change and renewable energy. And the Koch Brothers sit at the center of this web of disinformation.

Policymakers and citizens in states where RES policies have come under fire have chosen clean energy facts over the fossil fuel funded fiction. To date, not a single RES has been repealed. Unfortunately, the Koch Brothers and their army of lobbyists show no signs of letting up. But with legislators and the public focused on the facts and doing what’s best for this nation, we will achieve the affordable, reliable and sustainable energy future that we deserve.

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+1# NOMINAE 2014-05-17 20:34
And, of course, the Koch Bros. and other fossil fuel fools likewise see absolutely *no* need for subtlety here. 

They are, in broad daylight, employing the exact same PR Firms that were so famous for placing Tobacco Company CEOs in front of Congress, right hands raised, *swearing* that nicotine is not an addictive substance.

You know, like the sky is not blue. 

That was one of the earliest indicators that these people had *no* need to fear Congress. Like James Clapper, the Tobacco CEOs stood there lying like Pinocchio and suffering not so much as a sneering look.

It should be shocking that these slime-bag mind control firms are even still in business following the failure that *was* the "Tobacco Science" circus, but they have not even the shame to change the names of their useless firms. 

(Take a note from Blackwater, big fellas - notice that most people, myself included, refuse to call you by your new, improved, "ink cloud" names anyway.) 

Like Blackwater, Reynolds Tobacco is really *not* "Altria", they are still just plain old Reynolds Tobacco thinking they are fooling everyone with their spiffy, new, poorly made toupee. 

BTW - Take note Politically Correct people, the very idea of training you to be the new thought police is *not* an idea that originated on the Left. 

The Left, and the ACLU used to be the protector of all free speech - the Right knows how to "control the message." They began subtly ("Death Tax", etc.) they will not remain so.

+2# bingers 2014-05-17 21:13
They wasted $400 million lying about "Obamacare" to no profitable end. Now let them spend billions more trying to keep their right to pollute the world, hopefully to an even bigger defeat.

Scum rises (or sinks) to it's own level.

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