This is according to Veteran Richard Allen Smith, a member of the group VoteVets and Operation Free, in response to an e-mail sent out by ACCCE, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which reads

“Greetings!

With Veterans Day around the corner, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all the military personnel who are involved in ensuring our country is protected.

Energy security is one issue that has become increasingly important to our veterans. In fact, national veterans groups Votevets and Operation Free are urging the government to become more energy independent and less reliant on foreign oil.

We can do this by using the abundant domestic fuels we already have. With more than 250 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves, the United States has more coal than the Middle East has oil.

We need to start putting our coal to use – and technologies such as hybrid-electric cars and cleaner, more efficient power plants are making it easier for us to do that.

How do you feel about the issue? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

As always, thank you for your continued support. We hope to hear from you!

Cheers,

The ACCCE Team”

This e-mail is of course misrepresenting what VoteVets and Operation Free advocate for. As Smith writes, the groups are not advocating for increased coal use…

“ACCCE got one thing right. Veterans do have a unique perspective to offer on national security as it relates to climate change and clean energy. Producers of non-renewable energy are lobbying against clean energy legislation and are implying that we’re campaigning for their energy plan. The fact that they are attempting to hitch on to our wagon (albeit falsely) shows the level of credibility we have in this debate. ACCCE, a coalition of carbon polluters, understands that the work their members do is part of the problem.

VoteVets and Operation FREE are not, have not and will never advocate the continued use of carbon based fuels. Such an action would be completely counter to the work we do, as so called “clean coal” only pushes us closer to inevitable catastrophic climate change and threatens our national security. For the ACCCE to hijack America’s Veterans who are working to ensure secure, clean American energy alternatives while simultaneously claiming to honor us on Veterans Day is an act of despicable hubris.”

I don’t think many are surprised that ACCCE is willing to stoop so low in order to protect their own interests, but this gaffe certainly doesn’t help their side.

Cross-posted from: The Dernogalizer

Posted in global warming ]]> http://youthclimate.org/coal-front-group-%e2%80%9chijacks-veterans-dishonors-veterans-day%e2%80%9d-12430/feed/ 0 http://youthclimate.org/accce-and-the-hawthorn-group-the-dirty-side-of-the-clean-energy-movement-2016/ http://youthclimate.org/accce-and-the-hawthorn-group-the-dirty-side-of-the-clean-energy-movement-2016/#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:14:47 +0000 Alexander M. Tinker http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/?p=8742 ]]>

Just came across this disturbing bit of boasting from the Hawthorn Group, a communications firm hired by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) about their work to promote “clean coal” during the general election.

The clean energy movement can score a victory in that the debate is shifting from whether to address global warming to how, whether to transition to clean energy to what clean energy really is and from if there should be a price on emissions to how it should be established and what to do with the revenue.

That said, we’re still up against one of the most highly-organized, well-funded propaganda campaigns in history, and it’s willing to play dirty.A claim to victory from Hawthorn Group:

ACCCE found a way to break through the clutter and noise and make our issue front and center. President-elect Obama and Senator McCain, their running mates and their surrogates adopted our language and included it as part of their stump speeches. ACCCE shaped the debate by finding supporters of the candidates and turning them into clean coal advocates.

Lessons the Hawthorn Group learned in promoting “clean” coal:

1. Social media requires socializing in the real world. Our YouTube videos became popular because they contained interactions between us and many voters in many states. It wasn’t just us talking TO people, it was us talking WITH people and making them part of the story.

2. “Positive” sells. We took a difficult, controversial issue and presented it positively, talked to people about being part of a solution, and had fun.

3. Devising and implementing a strategy that focused on going where the news was happening and the crowds were gathering gave us greater results than trying to make people and news come to us.

We in the real clean energy movement need to be paying attention to this.

Posted in Americas, Coal, Dirty Energy, online organizing, Politics, United States