The U.S. Chamber of Commerce faces a revolt for its global-warming stance (*BLECH*)

Keene Sentinel ^ | 10/3/2009 | Dana Hull

[markomalley]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — a strong opponent of the global warming bill passed by the House of Representatives and a likely foe of a Senate bill to be introduced Wednesday — faces a high-profile revolt by some of its members.

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based PG&E took the extraordinary step of quitting the chamber because of its “extreme rhetoric and obstructionist tactics” as the debate over global warming legislation heats up in Congress.

Two other utility companies, New Mexico’s PNM and Chicago’s Exelon, followed PG&E’s lead, and other companies are under pressure to join the exodus.

On Tuesday, the Green Century Equity Fund, which invests in athletic shoemaker Nike, urged Nike to “Just do it” and terminate its membership in the chamber as well.

“It makes sense to us for Nike to be the next company to pull out of the chamber,” said Emily Stone, a shareholder advocate for Green Century, noting that Nike has a strong brand as well as a reputation for supporting environmental sustainability. “What PG&E did was very important. The chamber is a powerful organization, but there’s safety in numbers.”

On Wednesday morning, Nike announced it was resigning from the chamber’s board of directors, but not the full chamber itself.

“Nike believes U.S. businesses must advocate for aggressive climate change legislation and that the United States needs to move rapidly into a sustainable economy to remain competitive and ensure continued economic growth,” the company said in a statement. “As we’ve stated, we fundamentally disagree with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the issue of climate change, and their recent action challenging the EPA is inconsistent with our view that climate change is an issue in need of urgent action.”

But Nike said that, for now, it will remain a member of the chamber in hopes of advocating for global-warming legislation within the chamber’s various committees and influencing their policies from within.

The defections began when PG&E Chairman and CEO Peter Darbee sent a sharply worded two-page letter outlining why the utility, which provides gas and electricity to 15 million customers from Eureka to Bakersfield, is pulling out of the chamber, which represents 3 million large and small businesses across the country and has one of the most powerful lobbying operations in Washington.

[skinkinthegrass]

1) hysteria about global warming will be replaced by hysteria about shortages of fossil fuels and sky-high oil and gasoline prices

Agree....
Hmmm...reminds me of Eco-Terrorists /
Gloom-Doom crowd of the (19) '80s...
thiry years ago "the JImmah "Malaise" Carter Years"

[skinkinthegrass]

Power companies, being regulated monopolies are VERY LIKELY to
bend to the winds of political correctness, especially since they can
pass the costs on directly to the consumer.

Oops - apologies for the dup. post!

n/p...needs to be said....over...over...& over.