You may already have seen the news that Duke Energy is pulling out of the increasingly controversial and troubled Americans Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).
But we are wondering: Was Duke the first cut the cord with Big Coal's answer to the Tobacco Institute?
No wonder that major corporations with reputations to protect want nothing to do with ACCCE, which has been linked to forged letters sent to members of Congress. And this is part of a bigger phenomenon in which responsible corporations have split with the U.S. Chamber of Congress and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) over those groups obstructionist approach to climate and clean energy legislation.
It's not a coincidence that Duke and NAM already had parted ways before the energy company called it quits with ACCCE. And that was some time ago; since then NAM has gone even farther off the deep end in trying to stop climate legislation.
But we wonder if Duke was the first to tell ACCCE to take a hike.
We noticed that when ACCCE rolled out in April 2008, Alcoa was listed as a major member.
Now, Alcoa is nowhere to be found on the ACCCE Web site.
Whatever the circumstances, the message seems clear: ACCCE, NAM and the U.S. Chamber are finding it increasingly difficult to keep responsible corporations on board with their climate science denial and kill-it-don't-amend-it approach to climate legislation.