The US Chamber of Commerce has not been making many friends lately with its views on climate change.
Last week it was the subject of a spoof press release and press conference , in which a group of pranksters/activists declared the Chamber had reversed its long-held position on climate change and called for a carbon tax (apparently the Chamber has since made sure the press release was taken offline).
They’re not popular with the White House.
Then there was the spat over its membership numbers: 3m or 300,000? And if indeed it is the smaller number (direct membership, rather than membership of member organisations, is in fact about 360,000), who was to blame for getting it wrong all those years? The question was first raised on Mother Jones, but Colombia Journalism Review, for one, is rather critical of the Chamber on the issue.
The National Resources Defence Council meanwhile points out that several big members – including energy companies Exelon and PG&E - have quit the organisation. Apple has done the same.
But several others, such as Microsoft, Duke and General Electric, have said the Chamber doesn’t represent their views – but they’re planning to stay anyway.
BP have confirmed they’re not planning to leave the US Chamber of Commerce. And Shell has no plans of leaving either, with chairman Jorma Ollila saying trade groups are not something you “come out and go into” even though they disagree with the Chamber’s views.
In fact the Chamber says that, like BP and Shell, it supports a cap-and-trade system. But it reacted vehemently to the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that carbon dioxide should be regulated under the Clean Air Act. And when one of its VPs suggested a ‘Scopes Monkey trial’ on climate change science (it was retracted a week later).
There is more than just energy behind this – healthcare and economic policy that are causing something of a rift with the White House and some members. Either way, the Chamber seems to be attracting significantly more ire than did the API for its ‘astro-turfing’ with the Energy Citizen rallies.
Related links:
Organising vs astroturfing (FT Energy Source, 19/08/09)
