ALEC making false claims about NRDC?
October 2, 2014 | By
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is not happy with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). In fact, NRDC is demanding that ALEC immediately cease misrepresenting NRDC's position on renewable energy on the ALEC website -- calling it an "erroneous reference" -- and stop making other false claims.
ALEC, the force behind dozens of bills introduced into state legislatures to block clean energy development and action on climate change, has been in the news a lot lately as internet technology giants like Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp have unceremoniously cut ties with the organization, in no small part, for denying climate change reality.
In response, ALEC posted a statement claiming that not only it does not promote climate denial but NRDC supports a position similar to an ALEC proposal to saddle rooftop solar customers with extra fixed charges on their electric bills. ALEC's position statement, asserts that NRDC holds a position similar to ALEC's "Updating Net Metering Policies" proposal, which Beinecke calls a "gross mischaracterization" of NRDC's view and says NRDC opposes 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 President Frances Beinecke said in a letter to ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson. "NRDC believes that more solar, not less, is needed for a safe, reliable and cost-effective grid," adding that ALEC can choose how it portrays its own positions, "but it does not have the right to mischaracterize the positions of others." The letter goes on to say: "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." In addition, the NRDC recommends that ALEC "clarify its own positions" in relation to climate change denial and says it has obtained slides from a presentation at a July ALEC conference that provide evidence of this denial, including assertions inconsistent with an overwhelming body of scientific evidence. These statements, which are communicated to state legislators as truth, include: "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;" and "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." NRDC also contends that ALEC's position statement falsely claims the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not review the costs and benefits of its recently proposed Clean Power Plan, which seeks to place limits on carbon pollution from power plants, even though documentation reveals 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. For more: © 2014 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/alec-making-false-claims-about-nrdc/2014-10-02 |