Conservative lobby group Alec plans anti-environmental onslaught

[mucifer]

Source: The Guardian

The corporate lobbying network American Legislative Exchange Council, commonly known as Alec, is planning a new onslaught on a number of environmental protections next year when Republicans take control of Congress and a number of state legislatures.

The battle lines of Alec’s newest attack on environmental and climate measures will be formally unveiled on Wednesday, when the group begins three days of meetings in Washington DC.

Alec, described by its opponents as a corporate bill mill, has suffered an exodus of tech companies from its ranks recently because of its extreme positions – especially its promotion of climate denial.


Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/02/alec-environmental-protection-agency-climate-change

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No big surprises here. It realllly sucks.

[blkmusclmachine]

1. "Pave the planet."

[lonestarnot]

2. So what are their targets?

[I_stand_4_oranges]

3. tsk.. tsk..

Destroying our enviroment; is equivalent to shitting where we eat. ALEC, among others, is advocating to destroy our enviroment, with a shit eating grin.

[SoapBox]

4. Sicko fucks...

Is it that "burn out the planet" religious thing or just pure, filthy greed?

Whatever it is, they need to be stopped.

[apnu]

7. Greed. (Nt)

[Unknown Beatle]

5. ALEC doesn't care about the future,

they're more concerned about 'what's in it for me' now.

"Fuck the future, I want my money now!" - ALEC

[stuffmatters]

6. I think the majority of bills now will be ALEC products

As the Repugs have the majority in both House & Senate & now determine what bills come to a vote, I think it's pretty clear that we'll shortly see the ALEC "bill mill" turned on full blast in Congress. ALEC is not just relentlessly determined to burn up the planet, they also abhor minimum wage, unions, social safety net, tax breaks for anyone but the big corps & 1%, women's rights and equal pay, civil rights, net neutrality, any regulatory (environmental, worker, financial, insurance, guns) provision . I expect a flood of unabashedly hideous bills passed in Congress via ALEC's "elected" employees in many areas...like trying to make their "stand your ground" a national statute and certainly more bills seeking occupancy guarantees and increased prison labor for their private prison corps. Inversion, corporate "tax holiday," and further slashing corporate taxes will predictably be their phony "jobs bills." Probably also a bill calling nationally for photo id to vote...as that's been another of their inventions along with "stand your ground."

I picture the US Republican Congress functioning much like ALEC/Koch's wholly owned subsidiary of Wisconsin under Scott Walker & its Republican legislature/judiciary. Now ALEC can take their agenda and their bill mill national for two years.

Thank goodness that Obama has veto power.

[Bragi]

12. Yes, quite likely

They are responsible for a slew of wretched state legislation over the past few years, so yeah, they likely will now start writing federal legislation that their paid-for congressional legislators can pretend to come up with all on their own.

You know, if the 1 per cent didn't need to prop up the appearance of democracy to fool the foolish, they could just do away with the whole congress nuisance. I'm sure that will come, eventually.

[stuffmatters]

16. Totally. This Repub Congress is going to be the ALEC Hit Parade for the next two years.

We know they'll be relentlessly and shamelessly anti working class. Maybe, just maybe they'll bottom out with the public.

[bemildred]

8. Yeah, fuck the environment, who needs an environment anyway?

We can just eat, drink, breath, and wear our money.

[MrScorpio]

9. Hell, why don't they just set a flame thrower on the environment themselves.

As much as they hate the planet, they should do it in person, rather than by proxy.

[greatlaurel]

10. Look to Ohio to see what they have planned.

Stopping renewable energy projects will be first out of the gate. Repealing anything that protects public health from toxic pollutants from the fossils fuels will be the next agenda item. The Koch's love polluting. The thing the toxic pollutants never get in the air, water or food they consume.

They are the poster children for stupid rich people.

[Bragi]

13. I wish they were stupid

They aren't. They'll live to ripe old ages, and their kids and grand-kids will live their lives inside heavily-protected areas so the rest of us can't get at them.

[Vinca]

11. You might think these greedy pigs would care about the planet their grandchildren will inherit.

You might . . . and you'd be wrong.

[Bragi]

14. They will buy protection for their kids

They aren't stupid. They know they have the resources to pay for their own police, and their own military power. Their kids and grandkids will live in zones that are protected from the rest of us. That's their future, and it won't be so bad for them, certainly better than giving up their prestige and power and money.

[Vinca]

17. They can't buy breathable air and potable water after it's gone.

[Bragi]

18. Why not?

I can't see why money can't eventually buy something resembling breathable air and drinkable water, at least for a generation or two.

After that, the descendants of the billionaires are probably on their own, but that's no reason for today's billionaires to slow down their wealth growth by doing something stupid, like sharing with others, or saving the environment for people not yet born.

[sulphurdunn]

15. Corporatists know what they are doing.

They will destroy the world, and they don't care, so long as it makes money.

[pampango]

19. Anti-environment, anti-immigrant - what will ALEC oppose next?

Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp have all left Alec. Google flatly accused Alec of lying about climate change, when it severed its connections with the group last September.

The top priority appears to be rolling back the main pillar of Obama’s climate action plan: new rules to limit carbon pollution from power plants now being rolled out by the EPA.

Under the most extreme proposal, Alec would urge Congress to gut the EPA entirely, cutting its environmental protection budget by 75%, and delegating its powers to 300 state agency employees.

The group is also facing growing public scrutiny of its position on climate change. More than 100 liberal and environmental groups on Tuesday called on state legislators to reject Alec’s climate denial.