September 9, 2009
Contact:
Virginia Cramer, 804-225-9113 x 102
Coal Front Group Loses Another Member
Just a week after the nation’s third largest utility, Duke Energy announced it was of the terminating its membership in the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, French giant Alstom power today followed suit. The company, which makes pollution control technologies for coal plants, cited “questions that have been raised about ACCCE’s support for climate legislation” as the reason for leaving.
In response, Bruce Nilles, Director Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign issued the following statement.
“The coal industry has been actively fighting clean energy jobs legislation using any means necessary, including contracting with groups connected to admitted forgery scandals and ethically questionable astroturf campaigns. Today’s announcement by Alstom is just more confirmation that ACCCE has gone too far—that the thin veneer of concern about the future of our country has cracked to reveal only concern for preserving the dirty status quo for coal.
“We cannot let our clean energy economy be sacrificed to extreme coal interests that have only their bottom line, not the best interests of the American people, at heart. We need a clean energy jobs bill that benefits everyone, not just coal. We hope that other companies who consider the public interest part of their mission will resign from or at least condemn groups like ACCCE and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for their efforts to kill clean energy jobs.”
###