Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE)

Background

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) is a 501(c)(3) public charity with a Section H Election, allowing it to lobby legislators within IRS guidelines. The group’s website is no longer valid, and it is unclear if it is still in operation.¹

Sourcewatch describes CARE as a fossil fuel advocacy organization that opposes sustainable energy and that claims solar and wind power “will end the America we know and love.” CARE describes sustainable energy advocates as “Gang Green.”² ³

CARE was founded in 2005 by Mark E. Mathis, a former TV anchor, current radio talk show host, and consultant with the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico. CARE’s stated mission is to “simplify the conversation about energy production and provide citizens with a more thorough understanding of how energy policy decisions affect their day-to-day lives.”⁴

Before taking her position as Executive Director at CARE, Marita Noon was known nation-wide as a Christian speaker and a trainer for Christian speakers.⁵

Stance on Climate Change

”[…] [F]ossil fuel use in total is estimated to be responsible for less than 1% of the emissions deemed to contribute to global warming. Global conditions and interactions are so complex, there is little chance of reasonably modeling the impact of any particular component. Scientists cannot even agree whether there IS a global warming trend at this time, much less agree to its cause.”⁶

On Environmentalism

CARE compares environmentalists to watermelons, describing them as “Green on the outside like environmentalism, red on the inside like neo-communism or neo-socialism.” They quote from Fred L. Smith Jr., President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute:

“We can say this for environmental activists– they are persistent, constantly developing collectivist schemes to increase the size and scope of government. And they are becoming more ambitious. Not content with giving more power to Uncle Sam, they now seek to give greater power to the United Nations, a move that would seriously undermine American sovereignty and pave the way for top-down global wealth transfer schemes that would make the Great Society look small.”⁷

On Energy

According to CARE’s website, “Anti-development and anti-energy activist groups are attempting to deceive the public into believing that we can wean ourselves off of oil in the near future… . The United States cannot lose its ability to produce a significant percentage of oil for itself. Without enough petroleum, freedom itself could be in jeopardy.”⁸

CARE offers their position on the following energy sources:

Oil — “Oil is the greatest energy source ever discovered.”⁹

Natural Gas — “Natural gas is as close to an ideal energy source as can be found on the planet.”¹⁰

Coal — “CARE supports coal as a responsible energy source. The United States possesses coal in great abundance, and there is no viable replacement for coal over the next several decades, if not longer.”¹¹

Nuclear — “Nuclear Power is an environmentally responsible pathway to achieve global economic sustainability, environmental quality, and energy security.”¹²

Renewables — “Proponents of these so-called ‘alternatives’ tout the benefits stating that they are green and free. Neither is true… . backing up a wind farm with a coal-fired power plant actually creates more CO2 than if the energy came from the coal plant alone… . renewables are heralded as clean, green, pure, fresh, and free—are anything but.”¹³

Funding

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) does not appear to publicly list their funding sources.

According to a 2005 article by past executive director Mark Mathis, “Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy is funded by more than 250 members including New Mexico oil and gas producers.”¹⁴

According to publicly-available 990 forms (see below), CARE had a total revenue of $121,484 in 2014. It reports paying Executive Director Marita Noon $60,000 that year. Total revenue in 2013 totaled $153,850.

990 Tax Forms

Key People

According to CARE’s website, as of December, 2015:¹⁵

Marita Noon — Executive Director.
James K. Chilton Jr. — Board Director.
Mike Hightower — Board Director.
Gavin Longmuir — Board Director.
Paul Gessing — Board Director.

CARE Energy Council

CARE’s lists the following members of their “Energy Council”:¹⁶

Dennis T. Avery
Robert L. Bradley, Jr.
Paul Driessen
Michael J. Economides
Michael R. Fox
Byron King
Tom Tanton

Actions

November 10, 2015

In a column for The American Spectator, Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy’s Marita Noon criticized Catholic leaders for supporting a global climate agreement that she said would be particularly harmful for “the poor and elderly.”¹⁷

Noon writes: “The bishops want to protect the poor from climate risks, but the risks from poverty are much greater and more immediate than those from climate change, and the global treaty the bishops want would slow, stop, or reverse economic growth, destroy jobs, and raise energy costs, harming everyone–especially the poor and elderly.”¹⁸

Noon cites climate change skeptic Bjorn Lomborg multiple times for support. For example:

“Surely the Catholic leaders really do care about ‘the poorest and most vulnerable. If they do, rather than calling for the unrealistic ‘end of the fossil fuel era,’ they’d call for the ‘climate aid’ to be spent on ‘improved public health, education and economic development,’ as recommended by noted economist Bjørn Lomborg.”¹⁹

In summary, Noon urges readers to sign a petition by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation titled “Forget ‘Climate Change’, Energy Empowers the Poor!” which urges President Obama and the U.S. Senate to avoid any global agreements to limit carbon emissions.

June 29, 2015

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy’s Executive Director, Marita Noon, released a statement following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling against the Environmental Protection Agency to “limit mercury emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants” via a Heartland Institute press release titled, “Heartland Institute Experts React to Supreme Court Decision on EPA Mercury Rule.”²⁰

CARE’s Marita Noon stated:

“…today’s decision on mercury and air toxics standards for power plants serves as a severe smack down and has the potential to impact future regulations like the Clean Power Plan … The big lesson for the Obama administration should be read between the lines. It can introduce all kinds of controversial and unreasonable rules and regulations that crush growth, kill jobs, and favor its friends and ideology — and even if it ultimately gets shot down, it will be too late; the impact will already be felt.”²¹

March 10, 2015

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) released an anti-solar energy white paper titled, “Solar Power in the U.S.: Lessons Learned and Guidance for Policymakers.”²²

CARE’s goal in creating the report was to “educate both consumers and lawmakers about the various consequences of using solar energy.”²³

According to the Energy & Policy Institute’s updated post, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) featured CARE’s report with its members in an e-mail newsletter and on its website.²⁴

May 21–23, 2012

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute‘s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7).²⁵

DeSmog researched co-sponsors behind the conference and discovered that they had received a total of over $67 Million from ExxonMobil, Koch, and Scaife family foundations.²⁶

May 16–18, 2010

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) was an official co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change in Chicago, IL.²⁷

DeSmog researched co-sponsors behind the conference and found that collectively 19 of the 65 sponsors (including Heartland itself) had received a total of over $40 million in funding since 1985 from ExxonMobil, and/or Koch Industries and/or the Scaife family foundations.²⁸

March 2–4, 2008

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute‘s First International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC1).²⁹

RealClimate reported how ICCC1 “is not aimed at understanding, it is a PR event aimed at generating media reports.”³⁰

March 8, 2006

The Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) past Executive Director Mark E. Mathis was a co-signatory on a letter, initiated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in support of an expansion of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.³¹

CARE Contact & Location

As of June, 2016 the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy listed the following contact information on its website:³²

CARE-Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy
PO Box 52103
Albuquerque, NM 87181-52103
505.239.8998
[email protected]

CARE Blog: responsiblenergy.blogspot.ca.
Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise — A CARE blog post lists Ron Arnold, Executive Vice President of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise as a “integral part of CARE’s founding.”³³

Other Resources

Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) research at Energy and Policy Institute.

Resources

1
“Welcome to CARE,” www.responsibleenergy.org. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/2AAec
2
“Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy,” SourceWatch. Accessed December 4, 2015.
3
“Denver Meeting with Partnership for the West: Re-Arming the Western Grassroots Movement,” The Power Line Volume 2 Issue 5. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dyih6
4
“Solar Power in the U.S. Lessons Learned And Guidance For Policymakers” (PDF), www.responsibleenergy.org, March, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog
5
“About Us,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/PtbXa
6
“Misconceptions and Myths,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/0iqdr
7
“Smash the Watermelons,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GwrIU
8
“Welcome to CARE,” www.responsibleenergy.org. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/2AAec
9
“Oil,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/l6qm1
10
“Natural Gas,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/S2nRe
11
“Coal,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/NwlJp
12
“Nuclear,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XWXQl
13
“Renewables,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dTB46
14
Mark Mathis. “Richardson Should Do a 180 on Energy Plan,” Albuquerque Journal, October 19, 2005. Archived June 18, 2006. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XEeLZ
15
“About Us,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/PtbXa
16
“Meet the CARE Energy Council,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/iOb4d
17
Marita Noon. “We’ll Always Have Paris,” The American Spectator, November 10, 2016. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/1v9Kp
18
Marita Noon. “We’ll Always Have Paris,” The American Spectator, November 10, 2016. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/1v9Kp
19
Marita Noon. “We’ll Always Have Paris,” The American Spectator, November 10, 2016. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/1v9Kp
20
“Heartland Institute Experts React to Supreme Court Decision on EPA Mercury Rule,” Heartland Institute, June 29, 2015. Archived November 1, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/H8Npd
21
“Heartland Institute Experts React to Supreme Court Decision on EPA Mercury Rule,” Heartland Institute, June 29, 2015. Archived November 1, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/H8Npd
22
Matt Kasper. ”Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy Releases Anti-Solar Report,” Energy & Policy Institute, March 18, 2015. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/u1o8b
23
Matt Kasper. ”Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy Releases Anti-Solar Report,” Energy & Policy Institute, March 18, 2015. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/u1o8b
24
Matt Kasper. ”Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy Releases Anti-Solar Report,” Energy & Policy Institute, March 18, 2015. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/u1o8b
25
“Cosponsors,” 7th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived May 10, 2012. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
26
“A Closer Look at Heartland’s ICCC7 Denial-a-Palooza Speakers and Sponsors,” DeSmog, May 23, 2012.
27
“4th International Conference on Climate Change: Sponsored by the Heartland Institute” (Conference Program – PDF), The Heartland Institute, May, 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
28
Brendan DeMelle. “Denial-a-palooza Round 4: ‘International Conference on Climate Change’ Groups Funded by Exxon, Koch Industries,” DeSmog, May 13, 2010.
29
“Sponsorships,” The 2008 International Conference on climate Change. Archived June 10, 2011. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
30
“What if you held a conference, and no (real) scientists came?” RealClimate, January 30, 2008. Archived June 27, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/uM8Bd
31
“National Organizations Rally for ANWR,” anwr.org, March 8, 2006. Archived January 15, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/gfTHK
32
“Contact Us,” Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy. Archived June 8, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XCtiT
33
“Memo to Senator Bingaman: Start Drilling!” Citizens’ Alliance For Responsible Energy, June 18, 2008. Archived December 4, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XVcnf

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