Ad Firm Proudly Trumpets its Clean Coal Greenwashing Work

The ‘clean coal’ campaign was widely ridiculed for being utter hogwash, but that hasn’t stopped the public relations firm behind the multi-million dollar advertising blitz from proudly trumpeting its role in the greenwashing extravaganza. R&R Partners – Advertising is bragging about the work it did for the coal industry’s main front group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE).

From DeSmogBlog:

Rob Van Raaphorst, Account Supervisor, Public Relations at R&R Advertising and Persuasion explains that their company prepared, “a fully integrated marketing, branding and issue-advocacy campaign to educate our audiences on the importance of coal in their daily lives… Outreach consisted of grassroots, earned media, paid media and advocacy tactics that created a “surround-sound” effect targeting each of our audiences through all mediums and communications. Grassroots efforts included street teams, walking billboards, mobile billboards and recruitment and mobilization of an ACCCE Army (supporters of ACCCE and its mission) at presidential primaries, debates, conventions and other key campaign events.”

The coal industry spent $45 million on this piece of crap advertising campaign, along with $125 million in the first 9 months of 2008 lobbying against federal legislation to promote clean energy and a cap on global warming pollution.

All that money spent on ads – not cleaner technology or safety, as we saw earlier this year during several high-profile environmental disasters involving coal.

Golf claps, R&R Advertising. Give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve contributed so much to society.

Link [DeSmogBlog]
Photo credit: Not My Tribe

‘Clean Coal’ Group Making False Claims in Online Ads

An online advertisement by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE), a front group for the coal and electricity industries, claims that 72% of opinion leaders support coal electricity. The ‘America’s Power’ ad, which has appeared on The Washington Post, The Hill and other news websites, redirects to a page that contains blatant falsehoods in an attempt to hoodwink the public into supporting coal.

SolveClimate took a closer look at the report. The first problem is with the ACCCE’s definition of ‘opinion leaders’, which basically translates to a tiny percentage of the American population – far too small of a number of individuals in the U.S. to be able to generalize the results of the poll. The ACCCE survey also claimed that the 72% represented “a significant increase over the past year and the highest level of support since the group began polling almost 10 years ago” – which sounds impressive until you find out that the ACCCE wasn’t even founded until 2008.

From SolveClimate:

The next claim is that “the poll shows that Americans are very optimistic about the future for coal. When asked the question ‘do you believe coal is a fuel for America’s future?’ — 69% of Americans agreed (compared to only 26% who disagreed).”

This claim is an outright lie.

According to the survey’s own methodology, 600 people who qualified as “opinion elites” were polled. It is not possible to generalize the results of a survey from a tiny selected minority out to the entire population at large. It would be like polling just my immediate family about our car buying habits and then trying to apply that to my entire community.

Without a statistical method to correlate your data with the wider population, you cannot draw any conclusions for the wider population. The press release doesn’t even attempt to provide a margin of sampling error. Riehle also said a margin of error wouldn’t be appropriate for the poll – “It’s not statistically the same kind of animal” as a Gallup poll or other random survey of the population, he explained.

So, what it comes down to is manipulation of poll results to convince Americans that “opinion leaders”, i.e. smart people who should know, believe that coal is the fuel that we need now and heading into the future.

Surprising? Not at all. The dirty energy industries are desperate to hang on. The backlash against so-called ‘clean coal’ scares them. Stunts like this are the last pathetic gasps of a dying industry, and they know it.

Link [SolveClimate]

Clean Coal Air Freshener Spoof by The Coen Brothers

Is regular clean clean enough for your family? Not when you can have ‘Clean Coal Clean’! The Coen Brothers are responsible for this hilarious spoof ad talking about how clean coal “harnesses the awesome power of the word clean” to make it sound like the cleanest clean ever… all while the family using the ‘clean coal air freshener’ choke on clouds of black coal smoke.

It’s pretty simple: there’s just no such thing as clean coal. Period.

Link [Eco Wonk]

The Truth About “Clean Coal”

The coal industry has spent over $40 million on misleading advertising that touts coal as the next great thing to solve the energy crisis. It’s time for a reality check. Watch this video released by the Sierra Club to learn more about the deception of the coal industry and how it stands in the way of real solutions such as wind and solar. Better yet, learn the facts and join the conversation at coalisnottheanswer.org/

Let’s Get This Straight: There’s No Such Thing as ‘Clean Coal’

During the Vice Presidential debate last Thursday night, the candidate’s responses to energy and environment issues were fairly predictable: Sarah Palin offered canned, cliché-ridden talking points about nuclear power and offshore drilling, and once again stated that she won’t fully attribute global warming to man.  Joe Biden emphasized that global warming is man-made, and pointed out that “if you don’t understand what the cause is, it’s virtually impossible to come up with a solution”.

While we at EarthFirst believe strongly that the Obama/Biden ticket is the only ticket that will properly protect the environment and address global warming in a meaningful way, let’s be clear on one thing: we cringe every time Obama and Biden utter the words ‘clean coal’.  Here’s why: there’s no such thing.

‘Clean coal’ is a myth perpetuated by – hadn’t you guessed already? – the coal industry.  It’s a contradiction in terms; an oxymoron.  The term isn’t just misleading.  It promotes a perception of this polluting, health-endangering, ecosystem-destroying technology that exists only in Imaginationland.

The talk of ‘clean coal’ really centers on attempts to make coal ‘less dirty’.  At least, marginally less dirty.  It relates to the idea of separating CO2 from the coal-burning process and burying it in liquid form, so it won’t end up in the atmosphere contributing to global warming.  The process is called ‘carbon capture and sequestration’, and it’s still decades away from commercial viability.  Like nuclear power, there are many safety issues involved, like the question of whether stored CO2 could cause leaks or earthquakes.  Plus, capturing and sequestering carbon takes a hell of a lot of energy – doesn’t that sort of negate the whole point?

Attempts to clean up the coal industry aren’t just arduous, they’re incredibly expensive.  And, that money could be going toward truly clean energy technology instead.  The fact is, we need to move away from polluting, environment-destroying energy sources like coal and oil, and we need to do it now.  We need a green energy revolution, which will provide millions of green-collar jobs that can lift these hacking, coal-stained miners out from under the ground and give them a healthier way to provide for their families.

That said, Obama/Biden is still by far a better bet for anyone who cares about the environment in any capacity.  Check back with us on Monday morning, when we’ll be delving into all of the ways a McCain presidency would be a complete disaster for the environment.

Wondering what’s so dirty about coal in the first place? Check out our previous posts, ‘Coal is Clean! Get the Real Facts About the Coal Industry’ and ‘Morgan Spurlock Hits the West Virginia Coal Mines for 30 Days’.

Photo credit: Coal-is-Dirty.com

Coal is Clean! Get the Real Facts About the Coal Industry

As oil gets scarcer and more expensive, the coal industry is revving up their ad campaigns and propaganda to portray coal as a clean, patriotic energy source. So, when you visit the website Coal-is-Clean.com, you may not be too surprised to see images like that of a young boy in overalls and a cowboy hat waving an American flag, and headlines like ‘The Future of America’s Coal-Based Economy and National Security Depends Upon You’. Sick, right? Well, keep reading.

You may then notice ‘Health Workers for Clean Coal’ and ‘From Coal Mine to Golf Course’. Hmm. Then you’ll see ‘Move over java, it’s time for Hot Coal-Cappuccino!’ and ‘Check out what Dr. Coal has to say about the health benefits of coal for you and your family!’ If you’ve ever read The Onion, you know where this is going.

Click on any of the links on the page and you’re taken to Coal-is-Dirty.com, where everything is suddenly all flip flopped around on you. Coal is Dirty has gathered all of the straight facts about coal energy and put them together on one website where you can get info about how coal pollution is threatening our national parks, negative health effects of coal and how the coal industry has turned the greenwashing dial to 11 to convince Americans that it’s a clean source of energy.

The article ‘Clean Coal = Greenwash’ explains it perfectly. Here’s a snippet:

But in 2008 they are going primetime. Having tapped coal companies and utilities for money, the groups launched a $45 million TV, print and online advertising campaign to re-brand coal as clean and patriotic- trying to greenwash one of the dirtiest sources of energy on earth.

ACCCE’s campaign spin has taken over the election season, blitzing key state presidential primaries with clean coal propaganda in the form of billboards, advertisements and a blue sky painted “Power Van” driven by “volunteers” all over the country to political rallies and debates and loaded with clean coal propoganda handouts, t-shirts, hats etc…

Along with their print ad campaign and billboards, ACCCE paid CNN $5 million to be one of the main co-sponsors of six presidential debates, which gave them saturation advertising during the debates on television and on the CNN webpage. Grist noted the irony that during these debates, no questions have been asked about climate and specifically about coal.

Some startling figures really put it all into perspective. You may not have known that 24,000 people die every year from pollution from coal-fired power plants, or that smokestack emissions from coal fired power plants are the primary source of mercury pollution in the U.S. These are just a few of the facts you’ll find on the Coal is Dirty website, which is a joint project managed by The DeSmog Project, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace USA.

Once you’re done reading all of the sobering facts about dirty, dirty coal, check out the video ‘Clean Coal’ for a laugh that might help brighten up your mood a bit. Then pass on the link to everyone you know.

Link [Coal is Clean]

Pranking on The Coal Industry: NRDC Spoofs “America’s Power”

The good folks over at NRDC have taken America’s Power website (Coal Industry Front) and added a varnish of truth to it for today’s Prankstivities.

Before:

After:

Coal is the Enemy of Mankind. Anyone who rips on the purveyors of humanity’s destruction is good in my book. Nice Work NRDC! Swing over and check out their spin.

Thanks to Michael for sending this one over.

Links [Evil Coal Baron Fronted Shill Group] & [Fun Loving Green Pranksters Spoof Page]

Hillary Clinton Does the Waffle Dance Around Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

The word “jobs” is a magic talisman for politicians. When they want to push a dubious policy, they promise that “jobs” will come of it, and rarely does anyone note that some jobs are not worth having.

West Virginia is having a primary soon, and Hillary Clinton, campaigning there, had the following to say about mountaintop removal mining, a kind of Extreme Coal Mining that does what it says–it removes the mountain to get at the coal. She seems to be okay with it:

I am concerned about it for all the reasons people state, but I think it’s a difficult question because of the conflict between the economic and environmental trade-off that you have here.

I’m not an expert. I don’t know enough to have an independent opinion, but I sure would like people who could be objective, understanding both the economic necessities and environmental damage, to come up with some approach that would enable us to retrieve the coal but would enable us to do it in a way that wouldn’t damage the living standards and the other important qualities associated with people living both under the mountaintop and people who are along the streams.

You know, maybe there is a way to recover those mountaintops once they have been stripped of the coal. You know, I think we’ve got to look at this from a practical perspective.

Meh. Grist does a good job taking this apart. Strip mining for coal in Appalachia was never even good enough to be called a devil’s bargain; the devil got everything, and still does. It’s comparable to burning down your house in order to get a “job” hauling the remains to a dumpster. At the end, Hillary grasps for a tedious old dodge: once the mining is done, we’ll restore the landscape. In my experience of such restoration, the only thing left is rubble and toxins, and the only thing you can grow is noxious weeds.

Link [Gristmill]