Coal ads roil Washington

The natural-gas company behind the controversial “Coal is Filthy” advertising campaign is also underwriting a new trade group expected to weigh in on global warming legislation.

It isn’t clear what specific policy positions the American Clean Skies Foundation will adopt when it opens its doors this summer. The only certainty is that it will promote natural gas as a clean-burning fuel source.

{mosads}But the fact that Chesapeake Energy, a large natural-gas company based in Oklahoma, is a major financial backer of the new group makes energy lobbyists nervous that the foundation could undermine an existing détente among various energy producer groups, which typically do not go after one another.

Chesapeake Energy is the only known member of the Clean Sky Coalition, the group responsible for the “Face it: Coal is Filthy” ads that have run in papers like the Washington Post.

That campaign has drawn vocal rebukes this week from powerful members of Congress and threatened to divide powerful energy lobbies — coal, oil and gas — as lawmakers write a global warming bill that could eventually lead to dramatic changes in the country’s energy mix.

The critics included Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Both West Virginia Democrats are strong backers of the coal industry. Rahall said the campaign was about “one segment of the energy industry trying to bamboozle the general public and policymakers.”

In a letter sent Thursday to Barry Russell, the president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), the National Mining Association called the ad campaign a “destructive attempt to further natural gas interests at the expense of coal.”

Fearing a backlash, IPAA and other natural-gas lobbyists have sought to minimize the damage by backing away from the campaign.

“Now is not the time to engage in efforts that criticize one energy source compared to another,” said Mike Linn, IPAA chairman, in a statement.

Tom Price, a spokesman for Chesapeake, acknowledged the controversy of the ad campaign but said, “You don’t get people’s attention … unless you create a stir.”

 But he also sought to distance Chesapeake from the fallout, saying the company had urged the Clean Sky Coalition not to run negative ads. He said Chesapeake was one of several sponsors of the coalition.

Because natural gas emits less carbon dioxide than does coal, the industry could stand to benefit from a global warming bill that caps greenhouse gas emissions.

Ron Black, a public-relations specialist based in Oklahoma, said the new foundation would promote natural gas for use as a clean-burning fuel. But he said the foundation was still in its “formative stages,” and what role it would seek to play in the global warming debate was not yet clear.

Black said Chesapeake is one of several members of the group, but would not list other entities involved. He did not know whether the group would lobby Congress.

Denise Bode, a member of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, has been tapped to run the new group. The Commission has ties to Washington’s oil and gas lobby, and Bode previously served as president of the IPAA as well as a staffer to former Sen. David Boren (D-Okla.).

She changed parties and ran as a Republican for an Oklahoma congressional seat before losing a primary battle to Rep. Mary Fallin, who is now serving.

One natural-gas lobbyist said Bode has a reputation as a “hard charger.”

“When she focuses her sights on an issue, she’s like a laser-guided missile,” Black said of Bode. But he added that he doubted the foundation would target other fuel sources in any negative way.
 
Given the controversy over the coal ad campaign, natural-gas lobbyists are wary of how aggressive the foundation will be in its advocacy.

“I don’t know what the message behind this new foundation will be, but trashing the coal industry isn’t going to be a winner for natural gas,” said Martin Edwards, a lobbyist for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America.