Clean Coal swag at Democratic Convention eliciting cynical repsonse

onAug 26, 2008 @ 11:11 PDT

On the ground sources at the Democratic National Convention are telling us that people aren’t buying the clean coal propaganda being shoveled out by a major coal industry front group at the event.

As many have reported, including DeSmogBlog, a coal industry front group calling themselves the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is spending $2 million over the next couple of weeks aiming their coal is clean and green message at people attending the Democratic and Republican conventions.

One of our sources at the Dem’s convention this week is telling us that even people hired by ACCCE to hand out free swag aren’t buying into ACCCE‘s propaganda. Nancy Laplaca with Energy Justice told me this morning that when one of the women hired by ACCCE to hand out ~~free t-shirts~~ clean coal baubles was asked whether she believed coal can really be clean, she stated that she really doubted it.

When a guy wearing an ACCCE clean coal t-shirt was asked a similar question, he replied, “hey, it’s only a t-shirt.”

Ouch.

ACCCE will also be in St. Paul for the Republican convention next week.

Here’s some facts on the dirty side of coal.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.