How does Big Coal honor veterans?

I caught part of the Veteran’s Day parade in downtown Charleston this morning, and I’ve been reading this New York Times story which contains some of the more grim news to come out of the Fort Hood massacre:

Fort Hood is still reeling from last week’s carnage, in which an Army psychiatrist is accused of a massacre that left 13 people dead. But in the town of Killeen and other surrounding communities, the attack, one of the worst mass shootings on a military base in the United States, is also seen by many as another blow in an area that has been beset by crime and violence since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began. Reports of domestic abuse have grown by 75 percent since 2001. At the same time, violent crime in Killeen has risen 22 percent while declining 7 percent in towns of similar size in other parts of the country.

And incredibly:

Since 2003, there have been 76 suicides by personnel assigned to Fort Hood, with 10 this year, according to military officials.

Coalfield communities and coal miners are no strangers to the military, with places like West Virginia historically sending — and losing — a larger share of their young people to foreign wars than other parts of the country.

But then, I read reports out in the last two days from Mother Jones and Climate Progress about the latest antics of one of Big Coal’s major lobby groups, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

According to Kate Sheppard at MJ:

The coal front group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has been in hot water lately for employing an astroturf group that forged letters to Congress opposing the House climate bill—and then for possibly lying under oath about their position. Now ACCCE is in trouble again—for misrepresenting the views of two major veterans groups in an email hyping coal’s role in energy security.

The email, sent in anticipation of Veterans’ Day, argues that coal can play a vital role in reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and cites two groups—VoteVets and Operation Free. The problem: both of those groups are strong supporters of climate legislation—in part because of the national security threats posed by global warming—while ACCCE has been working energetically to undermine a bill.

Here’s the text of the e-mail message:

With Veterans Day around the corner, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all the military personnel who are involved in ensuring our country is protected.

Energy security is one issue that has become increasingly important to our veterans. In fact, national veterans groups Votevets and Operation Free are urging the government to become more energy independent and less reliant on foreign oil.

We can do this by using the abundant domestic fuels we already have. With more than 250 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves, the United States has more coal than the Middle East has oil.

We need to start putting our coal to use - and technologies such as hybrid-electric cars and cleaner, more efficient power plants are making it easier for us to do that.

Joseph Romm at Climate Progress commented:

The letter implies that VoteVets and Operation Free support ACCCE and its dirty energy agenda, but the the two groups are actually vocal backers of clean energy legislation. VoteVets excoriated ACCCE for citing them in the email, writing that VoteVets “will never advocate the continued use of carbon based fuels” and that ACCCE is trying “to hijack America’s Veterans” in “an act of despicable hubris.”

Operation Free — a veterans group which is dedicated to fighting climate change — was also quick to condemn ACCCE. In a blog post, Operation Free wrote that the email “dishonors Veterans day” and is “insulting to all of the Veterans who are fighting to protect America’s national security by supporting clean, American power.”

I checked over at Behind the Plug, the ACCCE blog, and this is all they had to say today:

As we celebrate Veterans Day today, we wish to express our gratitude to veterans – both past and present – who have served their country with such dedication. Our thoughts are also with our current military personnel serving both here at home as well as oversees and your family. Your sacrifice is to be admired.

And in honor to our veterans and current military personnel and in observance of Veterans Day, the Behind the Plug blog will remain closed for the day.