Friday, March 4, 2016

File under coal and the undermining of science and democracy: Arch Coal funded US ‘libertarian’ think tank and ALEC

More evidence that coal companies are fighting tooth and nail against science and democracy. Arch Coal bankruptcy documents reveal their support for anti-science think tanks.

"Arch Coal, the second largest coal company in the US, has revealed that it has been a secret funder of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a self-proclaimed “libertarian” think tank which has been a part of the global echo chamber of groups opposing action on climate change.
The filing also reveals the coal company was a behind-the-scenes funder of the American Legislative Exchange Commission (ALEC), a US-based group which drafts corporate-sponsored legislation and brokers its introduction via a network of conservative legislators.
Arch Coal’s recent 579-page filing (large pdf) with the US Bankruptcy Court listed the Ludwig von Mises Institute as one of the company’s creditors which are owed money. However, no details are provided on how much Arch Coal has paid the libertarian think tank or when any payments were made." (Bob Burton, at End Coal)


This would not be so out of the ordinary, except that here at Washington University in St. Louis, money also comes in (or was coming in?) from Arch Coal to fund so-called "clean coal" research.  We know that there is not, and will never be anything such as "clean coal." But Arch and Peabody, who also have representatives sitting on the university's board of trustees have little interest in truth or science.  Does it not seem troubling to the scientists at Washington University that corporations that are spending a lot of money to discredit science are associated with you and your colleagues?  

I guess some people's ethics have a price.  

Peabody is also going into bankruptcy soon.  In those documents we might get some revealing information about the climate science denialists they owe money to as well.

Read the whole story here: Arch Coal funded US ‘libertarian’ think tank and ALEC