Want to know how much money your elected representative in Washington, D.C., received from the coal industry? A North Carolina environmental group is pledging to put that information right at your fingertips.
A new Web site tracks and lists the amount of donations that federal politicians receive from coal interests. Follow the Coal Money, at
www.followthecoalmoney.org, is the latest salvo in what is turning out to be an increasingly heated battle over the future of coal in the nation's energy policy.
"I'm not saying it is a big corporate conspiracy, but what (the money) is being spent for, it is being spent for a good reason," said Matt Wasson, director of programs for Appalachian Voices, which runs the site.
Coal is once again front and center as the nation's top leaders debate energy policy. Both presidential candidates have pledged to take actions to curb global warming, yet at the same time energy use is on the rise, thanks in part to new technology. For example, one Australian study found that a Playstation 3 uses five times the amount of energy as a five-foot high refrigerator.
Coal remains among the cheapest and most abundant energy-producing natural resource. Yet concerns over its environmental impacts have helped stop plans for new coal-burning power plants across the nation.
The coal industry is fighting back by ramping up its public relations efforts. Over the past year it has quadrupled its budget for its primary political campaign, called the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, according to news reports The campaign has run advertisements on TV touting the benefits of coal and maintains its own Web site at
www.americaspower.org.
Follow the Coal Money is partly a response to that campaign. Its mission is touted on the front page: "As Congress debates how to address two of coal's biggest problems -- mountaintop removal and global warming -- you can find out how polluters are influencing lawmakers with their dirty coal money."
Internet users can look up federal politicians by name or zip code. The site also is able to generate a branching map showing which elected leaders took money from energy companies. Many of the top recipients are Democrats.
That shouldn't be surprising, according to Wasson. Democrats are currently in control of Congress.
"As power shifts in Congress, there is a very clear shift in those donations," he said.
More often than not, it is Republicans who are the recipients of campaign contributions from the coal industry. According to data collected by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, viewable on OpenSecrets.org, coal-mining interests have donated $20 million to political campaigns and parties since 1990. More than $16 million of that went to Republicans, with the rest going to Democrats.
Coal-mining interests also are one of the top contributors at the state level, giving more than $788,000 during the 2004 election season, the last race for governor, according to FollowTheMoney.org, which is run by the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Still, lawyers and lobbyists and health professionals outspent the industry.
This time around the coal industry is taking its message directly to the public through the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
One TV commercial viewable on the Web site features a narrator who says that carbon dioxide emissions from power plants can be sequestered, showing an image of the proposed zero-emission FutureGen plant in Illinois. The commercial doesn't mention the U.S. Department of Energy recently pulled funding for the plant and it doesn't appear to be moving forward. Representatives from the organization could not be reached for comment.
At the state level, the coal industry has tried to get its message about clean coal out through advertisements on billboards and other media.
The West Virginia Coal Association wouldn't comment on the Follow the Coal Money site, but President Bill Raney said the national effort is being targeted at states that don't produce coal.
"What we are doing is continuing to bring attention to the importance of coal in West Virginia," he said.
Raney pointed out coal production has helped boost the state government budget at a time when other states are struggling with budget deficits. He also said the environmentalists that want to reduce coal consumption don't offer any energy alternatives, with coal still being relatively cheap and able to produce the large amounts of power the nation is consuming.
"I think West Virginia has enough sense to know that coal has to be part of the mix," he said.
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