Environmental

NRDC President Demands Climate Denier Group Erase Erroneous Claims

American Legislative Exchange Council also should come clean on clean energy and opposing action on climate

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–October 1, 2014 – Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, today demanded that the American Legislative Exchange Council immediately stop misrepresenting NRDC’s position on renewable energy, and urged the group to clear up other false claims, such as its insistence that it doesn’t deny the reality of climate change.

ALEC—the beleaguered, polluter-funded group behind dozens of bills introduced in state legislatures to block clean energy development and action on climate change—has been rocked recently by Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp, cutting ties with the organization over its stance on climate change.

In response, ALEC posted a position statement online, claiming it does not promote climate denial and that NRDC supports a position similar to an ALEC proposal to saddle rooftop solar customers with extra fixed charges on their electric bills. NRDC firmly opposes this ALEC proposal.

“In the wake of recent corporate announcements, ALEC suddenly seems embarrassed by its positions on climate change and renewable energy,” NRDC President Frances Beinecke said in a pointed letter today to ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson. “That does not mean they can simply be wished away, or hidden.  If ALEC wants to stop denying the reality of climate change and start supporting clean energy, then it needs to change its statements and model policies to reflect that.

“In the meantime, please immediately remove the reference to NRDC from ALEC’s Position Statement on Renewables and Climate change,” Beinecke wrote.

In the position statement, ALEC asserts that NRDC holds a position similar to ALEC’s “Updating Net Metering Policies” proposal. Beinecke called that a “gross mischaracterization” of the environmental group’s view. NRDC opposes ALEC’s proposal because it does not acknowledge benefits solar provides to the grid and would result in higher fixed charges on rooftop solar customers. “We have long opposed higher fixed charges and ALEC’s approach would slow and possibly stop customers from choosing solar. NRDC believes that more solar, not less, is needed for a safe, reliable and cost-effective grid,” Beinecke wrote.

She added that ALEC can choose how it portrays its own positions, “but it does not have the right to mischaracterize the positions of others.”

The text of the letter follows:

October 1, 2014

Dear Lisa Nelson:

In response to the withdrawal of business support, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has recently released statements that misrepresent the position of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and has also mischaracterized its own positions on both climate change and renewable electricity.

I ask you to immediately delete the erroneous reference to NRDC from ALEC’s “Position Statement on Renewables and Climate Change,” posted last week on your organization’s website.

In addition, ALEC may want to clarify its own positions.  ALEC is now claiming that it does not promote climate denial.  Yet, presentation slides obtained from the recent ALEC conference in Dallas on July 31, 2014, provide evidence that ALEC is still promoting extreme climate denialist views, including these assertions:

“There is no need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and no point in attempting to do so.”

“There is no scientific consensus on the human role in climate change.”

“Carbon dioxide has not caused weather to become more extreme, polar ice and sea ice to melt, or sea level rise to accelerate. These were all false alarms.”

Statements like these are wholly inconsistent with the overwhelming body of scientific evidence showing that climate change is real, is caused by carbon pollution from human activities, and endangers our health and well-being.  Yet ALEC continues to promote extreme climate science misinformation to state legislators entrusted with making important policy decisions in the public interest, and to the public. If you genuinely want to shed ALEC’s climate-denialist reputation, then ALEC should publicly disavow this July presentation in Dallas, and pledge never again to sponsor or spread misinformation on climate change.

The spread of misinformation does not stop there. ALEC’s position statement inaccurately asserts that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not review the costs and benefits of its recently proposed Clean Power Plan, which will place the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants. In reality, EPA’s proposal and extensive supporting documentation shows that the Clean Power Plan will yield an estimated $53 to $93 billion per year in public health and climate protection benefits by 2030 compared to annual costs of around $8 billion. In addition, the plan is projected to shrink electricity bills by roughly 8% in 2030 through increases in energy efficiency. By falsely asserting that EPA failed to consider the benefits and costs of its proposed standards, ALEC is promoting misinformation about EPA’s plan.

ALEC also makes claims that it supports renewable energy, while undermining the tools states have successfully used to increase solar and wind power generation. If ALEC were truly supportive of renewable energy, it would reconcile its free market ideology with the acknowledgment that a textbook “negative externalities” market failure holds back renewable energy development – energy markets do not account for the hidden health and climate costs of carbon pollution. ALEC opposes state standards for renewable energy and energy efficiency, but it has not put forward any other approach, market-based or otherwise, to account for the hidden costs of carbon pollution from fossil fuels. NRDC urges ALEC to amend its position statement on renewables to recognize the need for policies that remedy the above-described failures of a “free” electricity market.

ALEC can decide for itself how it wants to portray (or misportray) its own positions, but it does not have the right to mischaracterize the positions of others. In your position statement, you falsely claim that NRDC supports a position similar to that in ALEC’s “Updating Net Metering Policies Resolution.”  This is a gross mischaracterization of our position. NRDC does not support this policy, which fails to acknowledge any benefits solar provides to the grid and calls for higher fixed charges on rooftop solar customers. We have long opposed higher fixed charges, and ALEC’s approach would slow and possibly stop customers from choosing solar. NRDC believes that more solar, not less, is needed for a safe, reliable and cost-effective grid.

In the wake of recent corporate announcements, ALEC suddenly seems embarrassed by its positions on climate change and renewable energy. That does not mean they can simply be wished away, or hidden.  If ALEC wants to stop denying the reality of climate change and start supporting clean energy, then it needs to change its statements and model policies to reflect that. In the meantime, please immediately remove the reference to NRDC from ALEC’s Position Statement on Renewables and Climate change.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke

President, the Natural Resources Defense Council

For more information on the issues, these additional resources may be helpful.

An NRDC blog responding to ALEC’s “Position Statement on Climate and Renewables” — http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ahaq/alec_feigns_leap_off_faltering.html

An NRDC blog on Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Yelp leaving ALEC — http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ahaq/google_dumps_alec_over_climate.html

ALEC Exposed Fact sheet briefer on evidence of ALEC’s climate denial — http://forecastthefacts.org/alecdenial

An NRDC blog on ALEC activity against EPA standards — http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ahaq/three_months_before_they_see_e.html

Tracking done by the National Conference of State Legislatures showing states that have taken up ALEC bills on carbon pollution standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.ncsl.org/research/energy/states-reactions-to-proposed-epa-greenhouse-gas-emissions-standards635333237.aspx

ALEC’s letter to Google, with state legislator signers: http://www.alec.org/wp-content/uploads/Letter-to-Google.pdf   

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.

Source: http://www.nrdc.org

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