IRS disclosures show extent of oil and coal lobbying
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- JanforGore
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more from News:
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/11/18/18greenwire-irs-disclosures-s...
phttp://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/11/18/18greenwire-irs-disclosures-show-extent-...And people are protesting Al Gore who is actually using his proceeds to invest in clean renewable energy that sustains the planet? All I know is this: if you have truth on your side you don't need to spend the billions these oil and coal lobbying groups do to try to distort it.
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- groups:
- News, Green, Earth and Science
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- tags:
- Climate Change, Propaganda, Lobbying
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JanforGore
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Excerpt:
The biggest influence groups for oil and coal spent a combined $115 million last year to burnish their images and shape public opinion on energy, expenditures that dwarf amounts they have previously reported for federal lobbying.
The American Petroleum Institute in 2008 doled out $75.2 million for public relations and advertising, according to reports filed Friday with the Internal Revenue Service. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, meanwhile, spent nearly $40 million on advertising, grass-roots outreach and communicating its message at federal and state levels.
"The members of these associations ponied up a lot of their shareholder money to influence the legislative and policy debate on climate change," said Tyson Slocum, director of watchdog group Public Citizen's energy program. "While they're spending millions of dollars, there are billions of dollars at stake."
IRS documents lift the veil on the trade groups' activities and financial heft, which had been difficult to determine from their federal lobbying disclosures. Both associations report federal lobbying using a format that does not require them to reveal total budgets, state lobbying, advertising or grass-roots activism.
Both trade groups have fat wallets. API, the IRS report shows, had $320 million in revenue last year, while ACCCE had nearly $47 million. The trade group for the wind industry, by comparison, reported total receipts of nearly $30 million. The solar industry trade group recorded $4.9 million in income.
end of excerpt.
- 3 months ago
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JanforGore
