Political News- US Congress inquiry reveals fake letters from 'voters' opposed to climate bill

Bonner & Associates, lobbyists hired to campaign against climate change bill, admit letters sent by sacked employee

Don't blame it on granny. A US congressional inquiry has found more than a dozen forged letters to members of Congress purportedly from voters opposed to a climate change bill – including a number from old people's homes.

The house select committee on energy independence and global warming now says it has confirmed 13 fake letters to members of Congress apparently from old people's centres and Latino and African-American groups opposing climate change legislation.

The committee is still investigating 45 other letters sent by the lobbying firm Bonner & Associates, which was hired to campaign against the climate change bill. The fake letters unearthed so far were sent to three junior Democrats who represent conservative, coal-mining districts. At least nine bogus letters were sent to Tom Perriello of Virginia in the run-up to the vote in the house on climate change in late June purportedly from Latino organisations, a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, and a senior citizens' centre in Charlottesville.

Two other Democrats - Kathy Dahlkemper of Ohio and Chris Carney of Pennsylvania - also received letters from old people's homes."We are concerned about our electricity bills. Many of our seniors, as you know, are on low fixed incomes," said a letter to Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper that claimed to be from the Erie Centre on Health and Ageing. "Please don't vote to force cost increases on seniors."

The committee released three different fake letters to Dahlkemper claiming to be from old people's homes. They used almost identical language.

Ed Markey, one of the authors of the bill, said the use of faked letters marked a new low. "We've seen fear-mongering with our nation's senior citizens with healthcare, and now we're seeing fraud-mongering with senior citizens on clean energy," the congressman said. "Lately, democratic debate has been deceptively debased by fake facts and harsh rhetoric. We must return to an honest discussion of the issues."

The prospect of Congress passing climate change legislation this year has led to a lobbying boom in Washington with industry groups – as well as environmental organisations, on a more modest scale – seeking to influence energy reform. More than 460 new organisations paid for lobbying on global warming in the run-up to the house vote on climate change in June, a report from the Centre for Public Integrity said this month.

There are growing signs that the campaign against climate change legislation is finding traction, with Barack Obama slipping in approval ratings and focused on the struggle to preserve his healthcare reform plans.

This month, a group of 10 Democratic Senators from midwestern states wrote to Obama demanding protections for American workers in the legislation.

"Any climate change legislation must prevent the export of jobs and related greenhouse gas emissions to countries that fail to take actions to combat the threat of global warming comparable to those taken by the United States," they said.

This week saw the launch in the oil capital of Houston of a series of "energy citizen" rallies against climate change reform. More than 3,000 people attended the lunchtime rally – many employees bussed in by Chevron and other oil companies.

Greenpeace, which obtained a memo last week from the American Petroleum Institute laying out a plan for the supposed grassroots uprising against climate change legislation, has called such rallies "astroturf" events.

The inquiry has yet to establish the full extent of involvement of major coal firms in the scandal. Bonner had been hired by a PR firm, the Hawthorn Group, to lobby against the bill by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

The lobbying firm acknowledged sending out the fake letters before the House of Representatives voted on the bill. However, its founder, Jack Bonner, said all 13 forgeries were the work of one employee who has since been sacked.

For more on this and the related article “BP and Shell warned to halt campaign against US climate change bill” published by the Guardian please click here

Political News-Speculation grows around Miliband energy plans

Green Jobs, Bill Increases, Speed and Clarity are the order of the day

Speculation is growing around the details of Ed Milliband's, renewable energy package which is due to be announced on Wednesday. This will be the third time in five years that the government will attempt to make clear their proposals on cutting green house emissions and their ideas for energy generation in the UK.

The UK government is committed to cutting carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020. The UK is also bound by the European Union to produce 15 per cent of the country’s energy needs from renewables by the same year.

The question is how the government intend to fund the estimated £100 billion needed for development of the renewable sector and the upgrade of the national grid to a ‘smart grid’. The fear among politicians is that the costs will and can only be met by an increase in energy bills for the voter.

An increase in bills in economic tight times will do nothing but increase voters ire and is a dangerous move in an election year. Ed Miliband and his advisers will be very aware that discussing bill increases of a pound or two are fine and may go somewhat unnoticed at the end of a heatwave in the summer months. However the political repercussions will be felt in the winter months when demand for energy increases and the prices start to spike again. But if it is not the consumer that will shoulder the burden of the government meeting its renewables target then who will?

The private sector has already claimed that there is not enough available money or investment in bringing new technologies such as marine, biomass and wind to the energy mix at the speed at which is required. Investing in the smart grid, transmission points and further storage all come with a high cost which over time will dwarf the money that was pumped into the banking crisis.

Dieter Helm, an energy expert at New College Oxford was quoted in the Financial Times as saying “the enormous investment needed in renewables would have been hard to finance even when financial markets were strong, and would be even more difficult following the credit crunch” The return to investors would need to come from the public through higher energy bills.

This echoes the opinion outlined early this week by David Milborrow in his paper Managing Variability where he claims that “The UK can meet its targets of generating more than a third of its electricity from wind by 2020 without raising the risk of blackouts at an additional cost of £2 for every £100 electricity bill”.

The uncertainty over returns on investment in wind and solar power has already seen some large energy groups such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell from pulling back from the renewable sector. The government’s former chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, sites this hesitancy by the private sector to invest is a result of the government’s failure to come up with a plan and stick to it.

In the Sunday Times he is quoted as saying “you can’t keep adjusting the energy policy, businesses need a clear signal that any investments they make now in low carbon technology and infrastructure in the UK will pay off in the future”.

On the positive side Miliband is expected to announce the creation of up to 400,000 green collar jobs. These jobs are expected to focus across the renewable sector of wind, solar, marine and biomass. But there will be funding for the nuclear sector also.

Whatever, the finer details of this weeks’ announcement Miliband must make speed and clarity as being the essence for the growth of the sector and creation of green jobs. Earlier this week Dr. Keith Maclean, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Scottish & Southern Energy in the APPCCG Westminster Debate noted that “the uncertainty that there is around small projects because of issues in relation to transmission charges.

Smaller developers need to be able to show the bank that they can make a return on their investment and for this to be done DECC will need to use their powers under the energy act very quickly to make this happen”. His fear is that unless action is taken in this area soon there will “be no investment for more small to medium generators going into the market”.

If the government are to find a solution to the two challenges of climate change and creating new jobs the time is to act now.