What do you think of the coal industry's forged letters to try to stop the US Climate Change Bill?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/19/granny-fake-letters

"...confirmed 13 fake letters to members of Congress apparently from old people's centres and Latino and African-American groups opposing climate change legislation."

I think the people involved should be jailed.

And a lead-on question to this would be "How do apparently 'normal' people on websites like Yahoo still defend the coal and fossil fuel industry?"

2009-10-19T03:53:37Z

James E and BeKindToAnimals, and DaveM what has any of those statements got to do with the fake letters?!

Conservative, I'm online with my 26watt laptop, which is powered by my 1.4kw PV grid-connect system, and I buy my nightime power from the windfarm 40km down the road. By the way, today I used 6kw/h and generated 9.2kw/h. The house itself is a zero carbon demonstration house. I don't charge people to learn from it by the way. So no. I don't use coal at all. Let me know if you'd like to learn how.

antarcticice2009-10-18T18:51:06Z

Favorite Answer

Sounds a lot like the tactic used with the original OISM petition which had a covering letter that made it seem like it came from the National Academy of Science, till the Academy sent out a letter saying it wasn't.
Deniers (like james) are constantly going on about conspiracies and never providing any evidence to back them up.
The facts are if they want a conspiracy theory then the one, that the oil/coal industry would take considerable measures to protect their profits actually has quite a lot of evidence to support it and the tactics they are using are straight from the same play book used by the tobacco and chemical industries (they even share some of the same experts) used over the last several decades for the very same reason, to protect profits no matter what the effect on the general public. Corporations have a long and proven history of this sort of thing like Ford not recalling vehicles with major problems on the grounds it was cheaper to pay a few dozen legal claims for wrongful death than to do a safety recall.

Conservative:
"BTW, where's the electricity coming from to power your computer?"
Hydro power actually, supplemented by a 1.5Kw solar system feeding back into the grid.

Dana19812009-10-18T21:52:38Z

I think it's absolutely despicable. The forged letters claimed to be from groups representing blacks, Hispanics, women, senior citizens, and veterans.
http://climateprogress.org/2009/09/11/coal-group-accce-forged-letter-veterans-support-climate-bill-national-security-john-warner/

They definitely need to be severely punished. And the people who are denying global warming need to realize the dishonesty and complete lack of morals of the people on "their side".

Global warming deniers on YA aren't really normal people though. They're generally right-wing nutjobs who don't care about anything other than their own wallets.

BB2009-10-19T08:35:06Z

"The lobbying firm acknowledged sending out the fake letters before the House of Representatives voted on the bill. However, its founder, Jack Bonner, said all 13 forgeries were the work of one employee who has since been sacked."

An unfortunate incident.... like Mann's Hockey-Stick scandal..... except Mann has yet to be fired.

davem2009-10-18T19:29:41Z

Without coal and fossil fuels the world would be a dark, cold bleak place. Capitalism would fail and free societies would fall, which is the goal of the global warming empire.

You've obviously been brainwashed into accepting that there's conclusive evidence that CO2 is harmful to the atmosphere. There is no such data anywhere, just liberal-minded guesswork. Some "scientists" have been working hard - for years - trying to prove their theory but to no avail. They're the ones who should be jailed along with their political co-conspirators.

BekindtoAnimals222009-10-18T18:35:38Z

This legislation will destroy the incomes of thousands, if not millions, of people based on a theory that has been far from proven. Computer models showing the effects of global climate change have been far from accurate.

What do you mean by defend the coal and fossil fuel industry? Its our energy. What is the substitute? That is the whole question to this whole subject. What is the substitute? I find it abnormal not to take that into consideration. Can the old folks survive a week or two of 100 degree weather without their air conditioners? 50,000 died in Europe from that very circumstance. 50,000 in one month. Do you get the idea of what we are facing here? Tremendous unemployment. Much less food production. Light bulbs full of mercury. How do you defend that? We are supposed to cut our emissions by 80% by 2050. There is no real substitute for fossil fuels. What is your life going to be like my friend.

Show more answers (3)