Brad Johnson:

The West Virginia coal industry has become a virulent opponent of President Barack Obama’s reform agenda, while the state’s political leaders cheered. In June, West Virginia declared coal the state rock. In September, the coal industry sponsored a rock concert and rally to demonize “environmental extremists.” In October, coal companies organized mobs to attack the Environmental Protection Agency’s halting steps to enforce Clean Water Act limits on mountaintop removal mining. In November, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce told Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to hold health care reform hostage until climate legislation is killed.

Today, Sen. Byrd had enough. In a stunning rebuke, Byrd told his state to admit that change is coming, and that the coal industry has to clean up its act.

Listen:

Here is Senator Byrd’s stunning Op-Ed:

FutureofCoal1109 –

Brad Johnson reports:

Lt. Col. Oliver North (Ret.) has launched a new war against the “cap and tax” plans of President Barack Obama and the “socialists in Congress.” North — when not serving as a Fox News correspondent — runs the Freedom Alliance, an organization supposedly dedicated to “defending the sovereignty of the United States and promoting a strong national defense.” In a mailing acquired by ThinkProgress, North pleads for “your most-special and generous donation” to fight the “‘cap and tax’ scheme and the myth of global warming.” North warns that if “Barack Obama and the socialists in Congress” establish a system to limit global warm

Here is the letter:

He continues:

North goes on to attack windmill farms as “virtual bird eating machines.” The attached “petition to President Barack Obama” claims that the “dirty little secret” of global warming “is that it is a scam designed at increasing the wealth of frauds like Al Gore and nations like Red China at America’s expense.”

Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones adds:

Climate change would appear to have little connection to Freedom Alliance’s stated mission, which is “to advance the American heritage of freedom by honoring and encouraging military service, defending the sovereignty of the United States and promoting a strong national defense.” And it’s not clear which roles on North’s resume—his past notoriety in the Iran-Contra scandal or his current gig as a Fox News host and commentator—best qualify him to weigh in on climate science.

Not cool, funny man, not cool:

On last night’s Daily Show, host Jon Stewart heaped praise on the contrarian approach to global warming taken by SuperFreakonomics author Steve Levitt, a University of Chicago economist. Stewart was dismissive of the widespread criticism of Levitt and co-author Stephen Dubner, asking, “Have you stepped on a secular religion?” Stewart, often a tough interviewer, coddled Levitt, saying, “I’m sorry you’ve taken so much s**t for it.” He blamed the uproar over SuperFreakonomics on people who “feel you are betraying environmentalism.”

Here is the clip:

Stewart rightly concluded, “I really don’t know what I’m talking about, do I?” However, he failed to understand his mistake when he added that he had “apparently frightened our audience by suggesting that conservation isn’t the only way out of any of our problems.”

Stewart has excoriated other media darlings for their laissez-faire approach to serious issues, from Tucker Carlson to Jim Cramer, and just last week skewered CNN for its failure to do even basic fact-checking of its guests. Unfortunately, in this instance, there was nothing funny about Stewart’s inaccuracy.

This was honestly the worst interview I’ve ever seen Jon Stewart conduct. Very disappointing.

In honor of Blog Action Day, EnviroKnow will be highlighting some of our favorite climate blogs throughout the day.

The Wonk Room at Think Progress

Brad Johnson meticulously covers climate change and energy policy both at The Wonk Room and Think Progress. Brad’s sharp eye for detail leaves no stone unturned as he continuously makes the strong case for job-creating clean energy legislation.

Here are some of Brad’s recent pieces:

PG&E CEO: We Left The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Because They Lied To Us About Climate Policy

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: ‘We’ve Never Questioned The Science Behind Global Warming’

FLASHBACK: In Bush Era, Inhofe Decried ‘Chilling Effect’ Of Probing White House ‘Regardless Of Administration’

Think Progress:

Despite Frist’s acknowledgment that he used reconciliation for the Bush tax cuts, Malzberg sat silently an hour later on his show as Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) told him that if Democrats passed clean energy legislation similar to the Waxman-Markey bill through reconciliation, it “would be the first time on a major tax bill that that’s been done in our nation’s history”:

MALZBERG: Could they do reconciliation on this like they’re going to do with health care?

INHOFE: Well, they’re, I think they’re going to have a hard time doing reconciliation because that would be the first time on a major tax bill that that’s been done in our nation’s history. And I don’t think that Harry Reid really wants to do that. Yes he, they talk about it. I think that’s a threat.

MALZBERG: You mean for health care or for this bill?

INHOFE: I’m talking about this bill.

Listen to the clip:

A burst of developments Monday considerably raised the profile of the latest attempt by polluting industries to thwart environmental legislation. This story has been moving quickly, so here is a quick timeline of how things have unfolded over the past few days. If I missed anything major, please let me know:

Friday

• The Charlottesville Daily Progress reported on a series of forged letters from community organizations, fraudulently sent by lobbyists to Congressman Tom Perriello of Virginia. The letters, written in opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act, failed to dissuade Congressman Perriello, who voted for the legislation.
• Representative Ed Markey immediately announced his plans to launch an investigation, calling the letters an “appalling abuse.”
• Senator John Kerry posted a rapid response diary on Daily Kos.
• The lobbying firm responsible for sending the letters, Bonner and Associates, blamed the incident on a temporary employee and tried to downplay the situation.
• Think Progress outlined Bonner and Associates’ long history of shady tactics.
• Avaaz.org took to K Street in protest of the naked fraud.

Over the weekend, more traditional outlets took notice, with stories from NYT, WaPO, WSJ, Politico and AP.

Monday

• Sierra Club announced a major beltway ad buy, and fired off a letter to Attorney General Holder urging investigations.
• Move On launched a position asking the DOJ to conduct “an investigation into whether the firm, Bonner & Associates, committed fraud, and how often they’ve done this.”
• Credo Mobile sent an email to their list petitioning A.G. Holder to “investigate and prosecute” dirty coal’s fraudulent tactics.”
• The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a front group for the coal industry, was exposed as the client Bonner and Associates sent the letters for.
• ACCCE released a statement, feigning ‘outrage’ and the ‘deception’. A. Siegel is outraged too.
• Sierra Club continued ratcheting up the pressure, again urging the DOJ to act.
• Pete Altman at NRDC reminded us of the difficulty ACCCE had getting all of their lobbying expenditures right last quarter.
• Representative Markey sent a harshly worded letter to Jack Bonner with 14 poignant questions. TPM notes that Markey’s Subcommittee has subpoena powers.

An ACCCE-produced Bonner and Associates Background Document, obtained late Monday by EnviroKnow, sheds additional new light on the extent of the fraud (emphasis mine):

Due to reported misconduct by a Bonner and Associates employee (who the firm states was subsequently fired), it appears that a total of twelve falsified letters were sent by that firm to the offices of Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper, Congressman Christopher Carney and Congressman Tom Perriello.

Six forged letters, all sent to Congressman Perriello, had been acknowledged previously. While Congressman Perriello remained unswayed by the letters, and voted in support of the legislation, Reps. Dahlkemper and Carney both did not. This raises the very real possibility that Members of Congress were influenced by fraudulent letters paid for by the coal industry, and voted against environmental regulation as a result of this influence. Given the razor thin margin and last-minute negotiations surrounding the House vote, this was a clear attempt by both Bonner and Associates and ACCCE to subvert the Democratic process. Now, we can’t say for with 100% certainty that fraudulent letters persuaded any particular Member of Congress to oppose the legislation, but that was certainly the intent. To make matters worse, the background document includes ACCCE’s less-than-inspiring “belief” that the fraudulent letters were limited to the three congressional districts mentioned previously:

Due to assurances that Bonner and Associates provided to Hawthorn, and Hawthorn subsequently communicated to ACCCE, we believe this matter to be limited to the three congressional districts mentioned above. However, we are in the process of verifying all contacts made by Bonner and Associates with respect to this project.

The folks who lied their way into this mess are not going to get to the bottom of it on their own. Chairman Markey has generously given Mr. Bonner nine days to respond to his questions. The Department of Justice should move forward in the meantime with separate investigations.