Top officials coordinate messaging, help groups gather petitions
Lachlan Markay
The Washington Free Beacon
1/15/2014
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…
…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.
Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power, said the emails suggest that the EPA is straying from its mission by working hand-in-hand with hardline green groups…
…A Sierra Club employee also sent a list of their preferred locations for public hearings. The list was forwarded to EPA staff.
The emissions rule on which EPA held those hearings—one of which ended up taking place in Denver—is expected to effectively block the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
The EPA has denied that that was the purpose of the rule, or that it will have that effect. However, other emails obtained by EELI show that top EPA officials were aware that it would devastate the industry.
These newly released emails show that officials also used events surrounding the rule to help environmentalist groups gather public comments on the rulemaking process that supported the EPA’s position…
Read the complete article at The Washington Free Beacon.
Related: Shock: EPA Head Unable to Defend President’s Warming Claims While Imposing Job-Crushing Climate Regs (Video)
…“Do I not have the right to ask the Director of EPA a simple question that is relevant to the dispute that is before us? Is the temperature around the globe increasing faster than was predicted, even 10 years ago [as the President claimed]?” Seesioned asked.
McCarthy responded, “I can’t answer that question.”Sessions pressed, “You are asking us to impose billions of dollars of cost on this economy and you won’t answer the simple question of whether [temperature around the globe is increasing faster than predicted] is an accurate statement or not?”
“I just look at what the climate scientists tell me… ” McCarthy answered.
Sessions retorted, “climate scientists are telling you it’s not warming to the degree predicted, in fact, it hasn’t really warmed at all in the past 15 years.”…
Read the whole thing.
Is Obama a Liar? EPA Administrator Can’t Say (video and graphics)
…President Obama, as usual, appeals to those who don’t pay attention. He has asserted repeatedly that “the
climate is warming faster than anybody anticipated five or ten years ago.” This is simply false; in fact, there has
been no net global warming for the last 17 years. So this morning, Senator Jeff Sessions asked Gina McCarthy a
simple question: Is the claim that President Obama has made repeatedly, that the Earth has warmed more than
predicted by the models over the last ten years, true? McCarthy hemmed and hawed, but refused to answer the
question, because the only possible answer is “No.” …
‘Watermelon’ Environmentalists Cause Global Warming
…You see there are two types of environmental activists. Honest ones believe that the government should assume greater powers in order to prevent environmental pollution from doing terrible things to people and places they care about. Dishonest environmental activists (AKA Watermelons*) just believe the government should get more power over the lives and wallets of the citizenry. The environment provides an excellent vehicle to usurp power and control the property of other citizens…
From April 2013, EPA acknowledges releasing personal details on farmers, senator slams agency
The Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Tuesday that it released personal information on potentially thousands of farmers and ranchers to environmental groups, following concerns from congressional Republicans and agriculture groups that the release could endanger their safety…
