A coal industry front group called the “Americans for Balanced Energy Choices” (ABEC), is one of the lead sponsors for tonight’s CNN Democratic presidential debate.
ThinkProgress wonders whether candidates will be grilled on where they stand on the issue of “clean coal” electrical generation – which by all accounts remains the dirtiest form of energy production in the United States.
At least ABEC is honest about who funds them, their website states that, “primary funding for ABEC’s outreach efforts come from America’s coal-based electricity providers.” And a list of their supporters can be found on their site here.
But any praise for their attempts at disclosure ends there.
Check out the advertisements currently running on their site, set to “Celebrate” by Kool and the Gang. Nowhere is there mention that these ads are bought and paid for, in large part, by a coalition of the largest coal-fired electricity producers in the United States.
What if Peabody Coal had launched this campaign? No doubt there would not be the luster and the appearance of a citizen’s driven coalition that the fine folks at ABEC provide for their “supporters.”
Back to the presidential campaign.
Just for fun, here’s a breakdown of the amounts of money so far received by the top 3 Democrat candidates from the energy and resource sector, according to Open Secrets:
Hilary Clinton – $574,658
Barack Obama – $489,909
John Edwards – $62,306
And just for fun, here’s a breakdown of the amounts of money so far received by the top 3 Republican candidates from the energy and resource sector, according to Open Secrets:
Rudy Giuliani – $819,508
Mitt Romney – $635,133
Fred Thompson – $161,704
