The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has threatened to sue environmental groups that have accused the conservative-backed bill mill of denying climate change, reported The Washington Post.
The environmental groups, Common Cause and the League of Conservation Voters, have accused ALEC of denying climate change. Now, ALEC hasn’t outright denied climate change, it simply produces bills that undermine alternative energy sources, protects the gas, oil, and coal industries, and seek to suppress scientific findings on climate change.
ALEC’s attorneys sent letters to these groups demanding that they “cease making false statements” and “remove all false or misleading material.”
Despite the demands from attorneys, the environmental groups refused and said ALEC’s “model legislation” supports their argument.
ALEC’s funding comes from several multi-million dollar companies, many of which are oil and gas companies. Here’s how the cycle works: Oil Company A funds ALEC, which produces a cookie-cutter bill that will be promoted by some GOP state politician that Oil Company A also funds. The end result is legislation that protects the profits of Oil Company A.
ALEC has suffered recently. Many major corporations have pulled their funding from ALEC, including Google, BP, Yahoo, and defense contractor Northrop Grumman. Google said it severed ties from ALEC because the group “lies” about climate change.
Common Cause doubled down on its accusations when attorneys said ALEC’s bills are “entirely consistent with how ALEC has discussed, characterized, and approached the issue of climate change.”
The legislation ALEC creates “supports policy that distorts the scientific consensus on man-made climate change.”
The group perpetuates the problem of climate change by creating and promoting its brand of GOP-supported legislation.
