From The Washington Free Beacon, Lachlan Markay. Press release follows.
Internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emails show extensive collaboration between top agency officials and leading environmentalist groups, including overt efforts to coordinate messaging and pressure the fossil fuel industry.
The emails, obtained by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (EELI) through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, could fuel an ongoing controversy over EPA policies that critics say are biased against traditional sources of energy.
Emails show EPA used official events to help environmentalist groups gather signatures for petitions on agency rulemaking, incorporated advance copies of letters drafted by those groups into official statements, and worked with environmentalists to publicly pressure executives of at least one energy company.
Nancy Grantham, director of public affairs for EPA Region 1, which covers New England, asked an organizer for the Sierra Club’s New Hampshire chapter to share the group’s agenda so EPA could adjust its messaging accordingly in an email dated March 12, 2012.
“If you could, it would great [sic] if you can send me an email describing what you would like to do in early April in NH–that way I can coordinate messaging with our air offices here and at HQ,” Grantham wrote.
Critics of the agency and its nonprofit allies were surprised by the cooperation.
“The level of coordination in these documents is shocking,” EELI said in a statement.
http://freebeacon.com/emails-show-extensive-collaboration-between-epa-environmentalist-orgs/
=============================================================
For Immediate Release:
January 14, 2014
Contact:
Craig Richardson
703-981-5553
Plans by EPA and Sierra Club to cripple coal industry exposed by FOIA Documents Obtained as a Result of E&E Legal FOIA Request
Washington, D.C. — A 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal), under its former name, the American Tradition Institute, has produced several hundred documents affirming the uncomfortably close working relationship between the current U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) and activist left-wing environmental groups in their effort to make abundant energy resources, particularly coal, much more scarce in America.
These records come in a series of productions in litigation spawned by two specific FOIA requests — a lawsuit filed after an EPA FOIA specialist admitted she and her colleague were instructed to do no work on the requests, as EELI counsel Chris Horner attested in a sworn affidavit. Mostly e-mails between EPA top officials and the Sierra Club, the records illustrate how certain EPA employees with backgrounds working for green pressure groups serve as liaisons to those groups in advancing a shared agenda. Other documents affirm the close advisory role the pressure groups play in key EPA actions, like EPA’s recently published New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for new coal-fired plants.
This collaboration takes place in many forms: emails providing, e.g., a list of coal plants the green groups insist any EPA standards block from coming or staying on-line, meetings at EPA and at the green groups’ offices where EPA comes to brief them, frequent conference calls, and at the Starbucks at Washington’s J.W. Marriott, across the street from EPA.
The latter is reminiscent of the Caribou Coffee revelations about this most transparent, White House, in history arranging off-site meetings with other lobbyists to avoid signing them in to the building (see, e.g., New York Times reportage of this subterfuge, here.)
The level of coordination in these documents is shocking, showing, for example, Sierra Club strategizing with EPA’s former green group activists, and other senior Obama appointees, about killing the coal and coal-fired electricity industries, even sharing a joke in one particular email saying EPA administrator Gina McCarthy had her “pants on fire” when assuring those parties they would remain viable under EPA’s regulations.
The e-mails show the central players to be two EPA officials who worked in the agency’s policy office at the time of the e-mails, Michael Goo (former legislative director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) who left EPA for a senior Department of Energy post), Alex Baron, and EPA senior counsel Joe Goffman (a former EDF lawyer). They all work closely with John Coequyt, who heads the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign.
In one e-mail Coequyt sent to Goo and Barron, he said,
“Attached is a list of plants that companies said were shelved because of uncertainty around GHG [greenhouse gas] regulations. If a standard is set that these plants could meet, there is a small chance that they [sic] company could decide to revive the proposal.”
Coequyt is clearly signaling that that if the EPA sets achievable standards, proposed power plants on hold as the new standards are developed could ultimately be built, which is contrary to his group’s agenda.
Last week, the EPA finally released their New Source Performance Standards, four months after first announcing them.. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE), which plans to take the EPA to court over the new regulations, questioned what EPA was up to during those four months that it took the agency to post its NSPS.
Numerous other emails show close collaboration on EPA public hearings to generate support for the rule.
“ACCCE asks a very relevant question, if one that EPA’s own mail answers,” added Horner, the lawyer handling the lawsuit. “After reviewing the e-mails between one of the chief outside organizations in the war on coal, and their allies in the EPA, it’s clear that this process was one of trying to develop standards to kill the future of coal in America. And being less than honest about it, even according to their own allies in candid moments.”
Released documents as a result of E&E Legal’s FOIA request include:
· CCS PERMIT NEED, SO2 ROLLOUT.pdf
· COLLABORATION ON PUBLIC HEARINGS.pdf
· DOING EACH OTHERS HOMEWORK.pdf
· EPA COMING TO GREENS TO BRIEF.pdf
· GENERAL RE CLOSENESS: ALIGNMENT.pdf
· GREEN GROUPS AS PRIORITY PARTNERS.pdf
· MUST KILL COAL PRODUCTIONS.pdf
· PARTNERS ON CAIR: TRANSPORT.pdf
The Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) is a 501(c)(3) organization engaged in strategic litigation, policy research, and public education on important energy and environmental issues. Primarily through its petition litigation and transparency practice areas, E&E Legal seeks to correct onerous federal and state policies that hinder the economy, increase the cost of energy, eliminate jobs, and do little or nothing to improve the environment.
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“From The Washington Free Beacon”
Ok, off topic, but every time I see that title, I misread it as ‘Free Bacon’
There needs to be some punitive damages for taxpayer funded organizations, like the EPA, that fight FOIA requests and lose in court — something like treble the plaintiffs legal fees for the initial offense, doubling with each additional ruling against them, and a poison pill (permanent loss of funding) for any organization that loses three lawsuits during a four year period.
BTW does anyone know If Lisa Jackson, AKA Richard Windsor, ever released all of her secret emails?
United States Climate Action Partnership
This is an umbrella organization whose members include:
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Environmental [Defense] Fund
[Natural] Resources [Defense] Council
The Nature Conservancy
World Resources Institute
http://www.us-cap.org
World Resources Institute
Board includes:
Frances Beinecke
Al Gore
Kathleen McGinty
Michael Polsky
Bill Richardson
http://www.wri.org/about/board
take less than 2 minutes time- out to get a laugh when bbc talks to two typical Melbourne women at the Aussie Open Tennis, looking for a CAGW angle (the preamble to this included several days over 40 degress has raised questions as to how climate change has impacted Australia):
two Melbournians put the BBC straight (under two minutes):
15 Jan: BBC: Australia heatwave prompts fire alerts
(SCROLL DOWN) VIDEO: The BBC’s Russell Fuller discusses the high temperatures with tennis fans in Melbourne Park
paraphrasing:
Margaret: Melbourne’s like that in January, it can be extremely hot. but last week it was cool; next week it will be cooler.
Russell: Eleanor, have u had problems with electricity running short, or fires?
Eleanor: No, i live in the City. there have been some fires out further. i know there’s some people without aircon, which makes it hard.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25723867
The phrase “carbon pollution” is an abomination, to any one, with any intellectual integrity. If I filled a leaf-blower with graphite powder and tuned it on, I would be guilty of carbon pollution. If they are not refering to that activity, (which I am tempted to do outside the EPA headquarters) than we are not talking about a compound that needs regulation.
Show me one person harmed by a miniscule increase in a life-sustaining molecule. That should be required, to prove standing. An actual injury, that can be linked to the substance in question.
I fear our nation, that was “conceived in liberty”, is now dedicated to the destruction of that liberty.
Ah, corruption and malfeasance in the Obama administration – why am I not surprised (again)
Dave in Canmore,
Take a look at what’s happening in Ontario with the wind turbines.
Cronyism, possible corruption, rural people fighting the government. It’s just as bad as in the States. Even have some of the same parties as are involved in the States.But you would never know this from reading the papers or watching TV.
Rural Ontario could be on the verge of revolt.
Google/Bing: Ontario Wind Resistance. org
The EPA’s internal slogan:
Two score and three years ago, our father “Tricky Dick” Nixon brought forth on this nation, a new bureaucratic agency, conceived in cronyism, and dedicated to the proposition that we know what is best for you. So give us your money and shut up, while we take care of a little “green business”.
RS says:
January 15, 2014 at 5:42 pm
This collusion is why progressives always ASSUME their “enemies” are doing the same thing.
They assume everyone is as corrupt (for a cause of course) as they are.
It’s why they believe others can’t be trusted with guns, because they know THEY can’t be trusted.
——————————————————-
Bang on.
I would add that their enemies are usually caught by surprise since they assume that environmental groups operate under the same ethical and legal constraints as business usually does. Not so.
A resort in Cuba has some empty beds!
It’s like EPA government employees just sit around all day plotting ways to steal money from the American taxpayer. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Anybody surprised ?
Never think that Nazi germany lost the war. The complete Gestapo moved to the US. We all know that metastasis kill .
In the year 2100, when economic historians look back, the EPA, green groups along with other factors will be seen as instrumental in the genteel decline of the United States of America. The US economy will probably resemble Mexico’s today. There could also be massive emigration on an unprecedented scale as impoverished Americans head off to Cambodia, India, Vietnam, etc.
*Net migration between the USA and Mexico is now ZERO and may have reversed. Fertility rates in Mexico are in a nosedive as well as in many other Latin American countries. These kinds of changes can take place slowly and largely unnoticed.
http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21566781-worlds-biggest-migration-has-gone-reverse-ebbing-mexican-wave
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/26/opinion/passel-cohn-mexican-immigration/
I hope I’m wrong.
JeffL says:
“Alternate idea – lets downscale the EPA to a size proportional the real new environmental issues that need to be addressed”
Better: let’s get back to the original Constitution, which left such matters to the States.
People forget that we are the United States. As defined by the 10th Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Robertvd says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:04 am
Never think that Nazi germany lost the war. The complete Gestapo moved to the US. We all know that metastasis kill .
———————————————-
Not quite as OT as it at first might appear:
It seems that contrary to the cliche that there was an evil Gestapo officer on every corner which kept everyone in line: a) compared to the population their numbers were very small and many large areas had a relative handful. b) most Gestapo were former police officers who just needed a job after the purge of the regular police and not fanatical Nazis.
The main reason they were able to stifle dissent was because of neighbours informing on neighbours, often for the most trivial and despicable reasons (such as just thinking someone was odd). The Gestapo spent most of their time sorting and acting on denunciations and almost none lingering on street corners. The average German had far more to fear from randomly upsetting a neighbour than carelessly attracting the attention of a leather-coated Himmler clone.
And back to the topic at hand: I’d expect that if environmental legislation ever becomes draconian there will be more to fear from the fanatical, or merely vindictive, neighbour or indoctrinated child who might denounce you rather than uniformed enforcement goons patrolling the streets. I think that’s a much more depressing thought.
F.A.H. Says
“You don’t want the truth. Deep down, in places you don’t talk about when your are sleeping alone late at night after those Georgetown cocktail parties after chowing down on limp quiche and swilling a third rate California Chardonnay devoid of pretension, ”
Individuals and organizations alike are mostly looking for the easiest ways to satisfy human needs and instincts, both conscious or unconscious.
Truth that is not conform is not welcome and labelled denier, etc..
Who cares about prevention as long as you get drunk at the cheapest rates?
There is more here about EPA and CRU, funding for IPCC climate models etc, endangerment finding and the EPA “experts”.
The United (Nations) States Environmental Protection Agency
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/the_un_states_epa.html
Also how Lisa Jackson continued the long term UN agenda:
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/lisa_p_jackson_epa_administrator_fulfilling_the_un_mission.html
The administration of President Obama and President Obama himself appear to be the most corrupt in all American history. This distortion of science and history in pursuit of a political agenda is frightening and there appears to be no will to remove it, amongst the general population.
Keith @ur momisugly January 15, 2014 at 3:57 pm “Wow. Think this will run and run – best get the ‘sticky’ tape out”
It’s what’s repeated. Outside blogs and such, Search the internet for this report over the next week of so. It’s likely not even to be reported – as in not newsworthy.
Tim Walker says:
January 15, 2014 at 4:06 pm
Why am I not surprised and this was supposed to be the transparent administration? Why am I reminded of the wizard in the Wizard of Oz? “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” What is frustrating is how many are following that advice and ignoring the man behind the screen….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not really. That same paper, The Washington Free Beacon, has another article Poll: Government Itself is Top U.S. Problem This is a Jan. 5-8 Gallup poll. where Americans are pointing at D.C. as the cause of US problems.
The Rasmussen poll is even more blunt: 37% Say Zombies Would Do Better Job Than Federal Gov’t
Talk about a vote of no confidence!
A third article from The Washington Free Beacon had information on a Report Criticizes Hillary Clinton’s State Dept. Over Benghazi with lots of nasty points detailed.
dp says: @ur momisugly January 15, 2014 at 4:49 pm
….If you like your dishonest government, you can keep your dishonest government.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“He who casts a vote decides nothing. He who counts the vote decides everything .” -Joseph Stalin
From Dr. Paul Craig Roberts who was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Reagan.
He goes on to detail various rigged elections. This one is especially interesting.
Time to kick out all the voting machines and volunteer to count votes at public elections.
So, now we have confirmatory evidence that the EPA and enviro’s are bending the system. Do we plan to sue to overturn regulations based on this collusion, or do we plan to just get the vapors? Without direct legal action, this will not stop the collusion and it is impossible to get the Administration to change.