Earth Equity News

As Elections Near, Big Coal Pours on the Heat. By Stephen Power, WSJournal, October 20, 2008. "As Election Day nears... candidates are competing over who will do more to support clean-coal initiatives. For that, some credit belongs to Stephen Miller. Mr. Miller, 55 years old, is president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a Virginia group funded by the country's major coal-burning utilities, coal producers and railroads that haul coal. Over the past year, his organization has spent nearly $40 million on television and radio spots and other outreach efforts to bolster public support for coal, and to reinforce fears that limits on its use will raise living costs. Mr. Miller's group has been a fixture at presidential campaign events. At the Democratic and Republican conventions, the coalition spent a total of $1.7 million on advertising and street teams of workers who handed out water bottles, hats and literature about coal's importance to the U.S. economy. Through a network of volunteers across the country, the group encourages voters at town-hall meetings to question the candidates about their positions on coal."