Coal Front Group ACCCE Launches Ad Campaign Ahead of Presidential Debates

Twenty four hours before the first presidential debate, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), a front group for the coal industry, launched a new ad as part of a $35 million dollar PR campaign.

And given that Romney's "war on coal" ads are a mirror to the coal industry's , it's hardly surprising that Romney proudly announced early in last night's debate "I like coal!"

The new ad, already playing on television stations around the country, is typical of coal industry propaganda.

A Greenpeace investigation that looked in to the history of coal funded advertising has revealed that the coal industry has been using the same scare tactics designed to limit regulation of the coal industry since the 1970s, when the Clean Air Act and Acid Rain legislation forced the industry to invest in a modicum of environmental protection, like scrubbers for smokestacks.

In this new campaign, Big Coal’s PR flaks at ACCCE have recycled the same tactics of attacking the EPA, promoting the myth of clean coal, threatening economic catastrophe, and stoking nationalist fears that the industry has used for decades.

ACCCE’s newest ad, released October, 2:

With emotive piano riffs and sweeping shots of baseball diamonds for backdrop, the narrator in ACCCE’s latest creation praises the “proven clean coal technologies that have resulted from a can do attitude,” with all the sappy sincerity of a political ad. The ad continues with a stern warning that “heavy handed EPA regulation” and “fads” like renewable energy are “giving those countries who are wisely increasing their reliance on coal an economic advantage,” while pictures of the great Wall of China scroll over the screen.

ACCCE’s brand new $35 million dollar ad campaign relies on the myth of clean coal, attacks on EPA, and an appeal to xenophobia…sound familiar?  It should.

Take this other recent ad by the coal front group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) attacking the EPA:

In this 2012 ad a narrator warns that EPA regulations designed to reduce the amount of mercury released by coal fired power plants will “throw even more of us out of work.” The ad makes no mention of the dangers of mercury, a pervasive toxin that causes serious mental and physical issues, especially in children and pregnant women. However it does make one of the most common coal industry threats -- that people must choose between the environment and a healthy economy.

Compare the bull riding bombast in the ad above to this 1974 ad, attacking the Clean Air Act:

The ad claims that the Clean Air Act, a seminal piece of legislation that has drastically reduced air pollution and saved countless lives, will cause “galloping unemployment.” Regulate coal -- lose your job.  

As you can see from these similar ads, using economic threats to scare people away from pollution regulation has been a tactic of the coal industry for a long, long time. (FYI -- Gross Domestic Product has tripled since the Clean Air Act was passed.)

Are you scared yet?

No?

Well how bout some good old fashioned xenophobia: 

This 2007 ad reminds us that regulating coal makes dictators smile, because coal regulations force America to buy natural gas from unfriendly foreigners. Yep, having clean air and water plays right in to Hugo Chavez’s hand. Who knew?

 

But making autocrats grin seems trivial compared to the threats outlined in this 1974 ad:

According to American Electric Power, (which is now a major funder of ACCCE) legislation to stop acid rain will result in middle-eastern petro-princes buying all of America’s coal. The ad says “The middle east oil companies are fast capturing the world’s money. There isn’t much they’re incapable of buying. So it could happen.” Almost as chauvinist as it is logically incongruous, this ad underscores the coal industry’s reliance on completely baseless claims designed to scare legislators and the public into inaction. 

Next they will be telling us that attempts to measure air pollution will make the lights go out and we won’t be able to watch TV!

 

 

 

Which they did in 1974:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This ad (right) warns us that the EPA’s plan to measure pollution at the top of coal smoke stacks would shut down power generation, causing blackouts. Terrifying!  Except the EPA went ahead and measured pollution from the top of the coal stacks, and there were no blackouts due to EPA regulation in 1975, or since.

So what does that tell us about claims by pro-coal politicians that EPA regulations will cause blackouts this year in 2012? Senate republicans claim that “EPA’s train wreck of new regulations on energy providers will destroy jobs, raise electricity prices, threaten the reliability of the electric grid, and increase the chance of blackouts.” Should we believe them? Or is this just one more lie from a fear mongering industry that has been making the same idle threats for almost four decades?

 

Comments

[wildbill654]

10:02 AM on 10/07/2012

I think that is pretty amazing that the U.S. public is not aware that China has an EP:A and their petro based usage and emissions are down over 15% from 2010. They went up about 2% on coal usage but power generatopn went up 10%. While there is presently no way to achieve "clean coal" there certainly are methods to reduce it's adverse emissions. The blog is a bit biased in the nat.gas area, which we also have in supplies to meet our needs with plenty over to exoprt. The coal ad push is more in the bottom line of money. The power producers don't want the regulation as it make antiquated plants to costly to run and they in turn will have to invest in improvements or new construction. In the case of the latter it's usually to nat gas. The power grid itself is in shakey condition and that alone should tell all how well your elec. bill payments are utilized.

[truthinesshurts]

08:21 PM on 10/06/2012

There is no such thing as CLEAN COAL.

[Alan Holyoak]

12:36 PM on 10/05/2012

There is no such thing as clean coal. There are technologies that allow us to wash it before burning it, there are technologies that help us burn it more efficiently, and there are technologies that allow us to recapture many of the pollutants produced by burning coal as they go up smoke stacks, but coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel there is no matter what you do to it.

Did you know that USA carbon emissions are down 20% so far this year? That's back to 1992 levels!

Why is that?

We didn't generate less energy. We just switched several power plants from using coal to using natural gas. Natural gas is not the end all be all answer, but it's WAY better than burning coal.

This isn't a matter of what anyone else (e.g., China) does...we are not accountable for that. This is about what we CHOOSE to do. It's time for the United States to hold itself accountable.

[CharleyX]

09:47 AM on 10/05/2012

Coal...We have lots of it....Lets use it. You want to crack down on dirty pollutors? Look at China.
COAL IS GOOD.

[Kringle]

09:34 AM on 10/05/2012

Remember the TVA Coal Ash Spill?: http://youtu.be/crY9fRdrkto

How about Mountaintop Removal?: http://youtu.be/RPixjCneseE

Clean?