This is rich; quite literally.
Some of the backers of ALEC have "had it" with all the State-meddling into the Energy mix of local Electricity producers. Requiring them to increase their Renewable Energy output -- is down right Un-American, according to those who tell ALEC what to do ...
Full Show: United States of ALEC -- A Follow-Up
Moyers and Company -- June 21, 2013
[...]
BILL MOYERS: Let me tell you a little more about what ALEC [American Legislative Exchange Council] has been up to. In the interest of a healthy environment, 29 states have laws requiring utilities to provide a portion of their electricity from renewable energy sources. The idea, of course, is to cut back on the use of fossil fuels, which, as everyone knows, contribute to global warming.
Yet even as headlines about climate chaos confront us every day, ALEC is doing its damnedest to undermine the use of clean, renewable energy.
Take a look at this. It’s called the “Electricity Freedom Act” -- one of ALEC’s ‘model’ bills. Sounds great -- who doesn’t like freedom? But the bill amounts to an effort by the fossil fuel industry to curtail the freedom of states to set Renewable Energy Standards, by repealing those state laws.
In the last two years, 21 of the 29 states with Renewable Energy Standards have seen bills proposed that would weaken or repeal them, over half of them pushed by lawmakers with confirmed ALEC ties. In two states -- Ohio and New Hampshire -- such bills have already become law.
It will hardly surprise you that ALEC gets millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry, or that companies that have served on the ALEC task force that produced the “Electricity Freedom Act” include representatives of -- hold your breath -- ExxonMobil, Peabody Energy, and Koch Industries.
Now ALEC doesn’t like all this to be publicized. It doesn’t like exposure to sunshine at all. In fact, they’ve recently begun including fine print on their materials saying they believe the documents are, quote, “… not subject to disclosure under any state Freedom of Information or Public Records Act.”
[...]
Isn't that a kick in the pants? These Big Oil backers of ALEC
want their Dirty Energy consumption to remain "free"
-- All the while demanding the right to keep their own Corporate-meddling hidden from the public light of day. MUST really be "what the people want," hey ALEC?
Here's the ALEC Model Legislation to "Free the Electricity" in a state near you, free it from those clean renewable energy scroudels ...
Just fill in the blanks wingers -- even you can't screw that up:
alec.org/model-legislation/
Summary: The Electricity Freedom Act repeals the State of {insert state}’s requirement that electric distribution utilities and electric services companies provide ___ percent of their electricity supplies from renewable energy sources by ___.
WHEREAS, forcing business, industry, and ratepayers to use renewable energy through a government mandate will increase the cost of doing business and push companies to do business with other states or nations, thereby decreasing American competitivenes;
[...]
THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED, that the legislature of the State of ____ understands that a renewable energy mandate is essentially a tax on consumers of electricity that forces the use of renewable energy sources beyond what would be called for by real market forces and under conditions of real competition in generation resources;
[...]
And that is how Corporations prevent clean energy progress in local legislatures all across the nation.
Plot, Pander, Package, Promote, Print -- Repeat!
ALEC is buying their own legislation in a state near you too. Hello Democracy! We were wondering where you went!