Only a week after the nation's third largest utility, Duke Energy, announced it was terminating its membership in the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), citing disagreement over clean energy legislation, another company has followed suit.
Alstom Power is joining Duke for similar reasons. From the NY Times/Greenwire article:
Alstom Power, a French company that makes parts for power plants and is working on carbon sequestration, said it is leaving ACCCE immediately. "We have resigned from ACCCE because of questions that have been raised about ACCCE's support for climate legislation," said Tim Brown, an Alstom spokesman. The French company, which is partnering with U.S. utilities on power-plant projects, said that it wants to "remove any doubt about our full support" for a climate bill.
Check out what Duke Energy said last week:
As the debate evolved, it became clear that there were some influential members who would never support climate legislation no matter what," Duke Spokesman Tom Williams told the press.
Duke has also withdrawn its membership in the National Association of Manufacturers for similar reasons; the NAM is currently running a misleading ad campaign against clean energy legislation.
Duke Energy and Alstom Power washing their hands of the coal lobby is welcome news. ACCCE is trying to preserve the status quo for dirty coal, and they will do whatever it takes to keep things that way.
ACCCE doesn't want any climate legislation and has actively been fighting the legislation using any means necessary. ACCCE contracted with Bonner & Associates - the lobbying firm that forged letters against ACES and otherwise tried to subvert the democratic process. Then ACES hired "Astroturf" firms like Lincoln Strategies.
The defections of Duke Energy and Alstom Power are clear signs that this front group has gone too far--even for energy companies like Duke that are heavily invested in coal and have more coal plants under construction than any other utility.
The big question now is why is General Electric staying in the coalition. Why is General Electric continuing to sully its name by associating with a coal front group that is under investigation by Congress for corrupting our democracy? When will they realize that the coalition is trying to kill markets for clean energy, the very markets that GE allegedly cares about?