ABEC is dead, but long live coal

Americans for Balanced Energy Choices gets new name, t-shirts

Posted by Sean Casten (Guest Contributor) at 12:57 PM on 17 Apr 2008

Read more about: coal | energy | messaging | advertising | business

ABEC has re-branded themselves the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. See here for an interview with President Stephen Miller, who does an admirably media-savvy job of laying out their talking points and PR strategy.

His key points:

"If we push too hard, too fast, we will force fuel switching away from coal."
"The president and the congress have a role to play to make sure the public sector invests in coal-fired power."
We've spent a lot of money on t-shirts, trucks, and advertising to affect the primary campaign, and it's working.

In other words: We need to burn more coal. We need taxpayers to pay for the cost of that coal. And we've got enough money to make sure it happens.

Here's the creepy new 60-second ad they're running nationwide:

If you believe hard enough ...

For story: ABEC is dead, but long live coal
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Subsidies

"Is there not something shameful in the role that the protectionist makes society play?

He says to society:

"You must give me work, and, what is more, lucrative work. I have foolishly chosen an industry that leaves me with a loss of ten per cent. If you slap a tax of twenty francs on my fellow citizens and excuse me from paying it, my loss will be converted into a profit. Now, profit is a right; you owe it to me."

The society that listens to this sophist, that will levy taxes on itself to satisfy him, that does not perceive that the loss wiped out in one industry is no less a loss because others are forced to shoulder it -- this society, I say, deserves the burden placed upon it.

Thus, we see, from the many subjects I have dealt with, that not to know political economy is to allow oneself to be dazzled by the immediate effect of a phenomenon; to know political economy is to take into account the sum total of all effects, both immediate and future."

-Frédéric Bastiat, 1850

a sibilant intake of breath

by sindark at 1:35 PM on 17 Apr 2008

Bring it on...

...they're spendin' 40 million to advertise for coal.

We've (Gore) got 300 million to advertise against it.

Bring it on!

by Tasermons Partner at 2:31 PM on 17 Apr 2008

ACCCE really stands for ...

American Corporations for a Climate Crisis Emergency

by Jo2 at 7:41 AM on 18 Apr 2008

No Shit

Blimey, that was quick. I guess we freaked them out:

http://thesietch.org/mysietch/keith/2008/03/21/americans- ...

http://www.americascoalpower.org/

But it's ok for the coal industry, the Nature Conservancy has partnered with American Electric Power who are 73% coal-fired, so coal must be ok (or maybe the Nature Conservacy are also a bunch of hypocrites).

Keith Farnish www.theearthblog.org

by farnishk at 3:10 PM on 18 Apr 2008

Not just a name change

Why are you trying to deceive people?

Concentrating on the name change, as you do, glosses over the REAL news about the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity:

For the first time, we have over 40 coal-related companies agreeing to federal regulation of carbon dioxide, provided our 12 principles are met.

And for the cynical among you, those principles are available for anyone to see.

(See the PDF link on this page: http://www.cleancoalusa.org/docs/beyond/ )

by davdABEC at 12:00 PM on 21 Apr 2008

A great development!

I think it's a good sign that the coal lobby had to change the name of their front group. It tells us that the environmental movement has so completely damaged the coal industry's brand, that they had to run and hide their identity again. Which is pretty incredible when you remember that ABEC spent $35 million a year promoting their brand.

The coal lobby's new video is so ripe for parody that I can't wait to get started on remaking it. Here's the video I did in response to the coal lobby's previous ad:

Solar Kicks Coal's Ass #2, Funny

by RFKactionfront at 12:07 PM on 24 Apr 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

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