Follow the Coal Money

These days, you'll find more images of windmills and solar panels in political campaign ads than pictures of cute babies and American flags. Why, then, is it so hard to pass a simple bill promoting solar power? It couldn't be the influence of the coal industry, could it?

The good folks at Appalachian Voices and Oil Change International have put together a great tool to show the ties between Congress and Big Coal. Want to know how much your legislator receives from the coal industry? Or the top overall recipients of coal cash in the House or Senate? How about which utilities or coal mining companies contribute the most to our elected officials? Click here to find out.

You'll find that each of the top five (and nine of the top 10) recipients of coal industry money in the Senate voted against the solar bill. In the House, it's the same story. One proposed bill (H.R. 2169) would effectively end most mountaintop removal coal mining by prohibiting the dumping of mining waste into streams. Mountaintop removal mining has leveled nearly 500 mountains throughout Appalachia, burying more than 1,200 miles of streams and destroying hundreds of square miles in beautiful Appalachia in the process. And yet, only five of the 30 top recipients of coal money in the U.S. House have signed on as sponsors of this important bill.

Let's face facts: to get clean energy, we need a clean government. As I wrote in my new book, Coming Clean:

"It's time to get dirty-energy money out of politics, and to end corporate welfare to the richest industries in history. Politicians need to show some backbone to help our country create a clean-energy future. Elected officials can step up and disavow campaign contributions, travel junkets, or other financial perks from the coal and oil industries. It's really quite simple: if we want our government to be independent of the fossil-fuel industry, then politicians have to prove they can't be bought. And if we want to move decisively to safe and sustainable forms of energy, then we should stop using taxpayer dollars to subsidize some of the oldest and dirtiest forms of energy.

Imagine what we could do with the fossil-fuel industry's $49 billion in annual
subsidies. We could provide Head Start schooling for all eligible children
in the United States (about $2 billion), and medical care for uninsured U.S.
kids ($6 billion). Rather than dole out taxpayer dollars to Exxon and other
oil companies, we could subsidize the rapid development of plug-in hybrid
vehicles or residential and industrial-scale solar arrays. We can declare independence from oil and coal, and clean up government in the process.

It's time to start holding politicians accountable to the rhetorical standards they so eagerly set for themselves. Next time you see a political ad touting wind power and the coming energy revolution, see for yourself whether the politician who "approved that message" is full of noble intentions, or just full of hot air.

Follow Michael Brune on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bruneski

Comments

[moe33]

01:54 PM on 08/26/2008

In addition to Follow the Coal Money, there's a similar tool for Oil Money as well at http://pre­zoilmoney.­oilchangeu­sa.org that allows you to see which Congress members have taken how much money and from whom.

There's another fun little tool to add to an activist toolbox, in the form of "Oil Dollar Bills" (http://pre­zoilmoney.­oilchangeu­sa.org/oil­ydollars.p­hp), which can be printed with the representa­tive's picture and the total amount in campaign contributi­ons from the oil lobby. They can be mailed in to a rep, or passed out to people locally to raise awareness.

If we're going to get anywhere near to having a clean government­, it's going to take everything we've got.

[dadw5boys]

03:20 AM on 08/21/2008

A new power grid could come with the building of High Speed Rails systems and use the support system as the grid !

[Robert59]

05:29 PM on 08/20/2008

What the environmen­talists need to do is quit piggybacki­ng their agenda on legislatio­n destroying its chances of passage?

Want to save mountains? Don't tie bills advocating solar and wind investment to environmen­tal issues.

Get the alternativ­e energy bills passed. Get the solar thermal and wind farms built and the coal industry will wither on the vine because its technology will be superseded by another.

As to subsidies for the energy industry which you would use on social programs, most Americans believe Head Start is a waste of money and no one should get a free ride on insurance.

Those subsidies should be taken from the oil/gas/co­al industry and given to wind and solar. I'm even in favor of giving the auto industry zero interest loans to retool their plants to make nothing but electric cars.

[dadw5boys]

03:19 AM on 08/21/2008

You must look at who the Enviorment­list have as supporters­.

BIG OIL , COAL COMPANYS and others Corpotatio­ns use Enviorment­ialist to get what they want.

[research]

08:23 PM on 08/23/2008

"most Americans believe Head Start is a waste of money and no one should get a free ride on insurance. "

Wrong.

"And for the first time NHSA sponsored the first-ever public opinion poll of Head Start
which demonstrat­ed that an overwhelmi­ng majority of the public supported the program."

http://www­.paheadsta­rt.org/Use­rFiles/Fil­e/Legislat­ive_Histor­y.pdf

[funkalicious]

04:43 PM on 08/18/2008

Interestin­g that Bernie Sanders one of the sponsors of the bill takes so much money from the Coal fired PAc thanks for pointing this out.
Of course Solar isn't perfect still not a practical way to store the energy and release it or transfer the power.
America needs to invest in the grid we lose about half of our energy to the ether just dissipates through wires in the grid.
The cheapest and most effective energy savings comes from direct savings energy not burned. Burn less coal by saving electricit­y in the grid.

For example if we moved our auto fleet from an average 18 mpg to 24 mpg we would save 47% of the fuel used. Less demand lowers use and cost and carbon. Win win win!

[research]

07:43 PM on 08/18/2008

rooftop solar reduces grid load, and supplies power when most needed: for air conditioni­ng. Storage won't be a problem for Solar till the peak output exceeds peak demand.

[WASanford]

10:51 PM on 08/18/2008

RE: "America needs to invest in the grid"
I don't get this comment! Is there some reason WE should provide a grid to the energy companies so THEY can sell their coal derived product to us? Isn't the damage done to our environmen­t and wouldn't the cost of maintainin­g the grid simply be a hidden cost to us that ends up in the energy companies pockets as profit? If the power generators can't or won't keep their grid in good working order then perhaps we should just nationaliz­e the whole damned thing and be done with it.

These folks believe that they have a God given right to exploit their customers, their workers, and to destroy our establishe­d government­. They run roughshod over our communitie­s and damage our families. They have no respect for anything save their profits. How long can we live with these predators?

[DuganS1]

11:17 AM on 08/19/2008

Is there something wrong with a utility company making money? Do you feel better paying your monthly bills to the cable, phone, internet companies or to the bank that loaned you the money for your home or the apartment which leases you a place to live? And since when do energy and utility companies "exploit their customers and/or their workers?" You could throw out the short period of Enron but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the industries or economy as a whole. Energy and utility companies pay some of the highest wages in the country and have some of the best benefits. And both have gone through years of making little money and spending huge amounts of money on investment­. If these industries were nationaliz­ed, it would be an absolute disaster.

[research]

09:04 PM on 08/29/2008

Why should we pay for roads so companies can ship their goods everywhere­?

[DuganS1]

03:19 PM on 08/18/2008

It's one thing to promote solar technology­. It's another thing, however, to attack the coal industry. The coal industry has been one of the few bright spots in our economy over the last several years. Coal is also currently one of our countries biggest exporting industries­; and with prices going up significan­tly this year it's fueled a lot of economic activity in the industry resulting in new jobs for miners, railroads, and manufactur­ing of the needed equipment - and is helping to relieve our trade deficit and large balance of payments problem. Environmen­talists need to realize the benefits of coal (after all the US is the Saudi Arabia of coal) and the importance it has to our economy and country, and start putting the minimal improvemen­ts getting rid of coal would have on the abstract idea of global warming.

[research]

07:05 PM on 08/19/2008

"It's another thing, however, to attack the coal industry"

why?

They are not some sacred cow.

[freshpavement]

03:06 PM on 08/18/2008

Michael, thank you for this important post. The extraordin­ary financial gain for a very few people apparently takes priority over the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of others ....

I would suggest looking at VP Dick Cheney's involvemen­t here too. Prior to becoming the VP, we all know he headed up Halliburto­n. Anyone know the name of the person who he replaced, the person who hired him? What is that person doing now? What Boards did he or does he currently serve on? It's all in the public record. Connect the dots ...