The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming has expanded its investigation into the lobbying activities of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
The New York Times reports that an Oct. 21 letter from committee chairman Ed Markey to the ACCCE asked whether its lobbying disclosures for 2008 and the first half of 2009 should have included work conducted by the Hawthorn Group, a firm contracted by the ACCCE to coordinate so-called grass-roots lobbying efforts.
Specifically, Markey asked the ACCCE how much of the $10 million it paid Hawthorn Group during the 18-month period went toward opposing climate legislation.
From the Times:
Markey's letter also asks ACCCE to explain why it has twice this year corrected lobbying reports it filed with Congress. ACCCE in its disclosure covering the second quarter of 2009 initially reported $11.3 million in lobbying expenses. It then submitted an amended report changing the total to $544,853 for the same period. ACCCE at the time in a statement said "an administrative error resulted in the previously incorrect data being provided."
The committee has been investigating the ACCCE and its contracted lobbying firms, Hawthorn Group and Bonner and Associates, after 14 forged letters were sent to lawmakers on the eve of the House vote on the Waxman-Markey climate change bill.
The letters, which were traced to Bonner and Associates, were sent to several members of Congress and were purported to be from senior citizens and civil rights activists in opposition to the climate bill.
The Associated Press reported earlier this month that the coal coalition new that letter sent to lawmakers were forged prior to the vote on climate legislation, but Bonner and Associates failed to notify Congress before the vote took place.