The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has caused controversy in recent years by denying the role of human activities in global climate change, critics charge. Now, the coalition of state legislators and private groups is threatening to sue those activists who refer to the organization as liars or who state the coalition opposes the theory of man-made climate change.
Google and other high-profile partners have recently abandoned ALEC due to its positions on issues related to global warming. Managers at the organization delivered letters to the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and Common Cause, demanding the groups remove any reference to their organization opposing the idea of global warming.
Up until 2013, ALEC was still sending letters to state lawmakers stressing the idea that science was unsettled on the theory of anthropogenic global warming. The memos also urged legislators to consider positive benefits of rising global temperatures "in an even-handed manner."
The recent letters declare the position of ALEC on the issue of global warming is that the effect is occurring, driven by human activities.
"ALEC's position is clear. ALEC does not deny climate change. ALEC has recognized the fact that '[h]uman activity has and will continue to alter the atmosphere of the planet ... [s]uch activity may lead to demonstrable changes in climate, including a warming of the planetary mean temperature,'" ALEC leaders wrote in their letter to the League of Conservation Voters (LCV).
In response, attorneys for the environmental group wrote back to managers at ALEC, refusing to retract their statements about the organization.
"LCV's comments about ALEC are protected by the First Amendment. The statements about which you complain are either opinions or they are true or substantially true. You have not and cannot prove that any factual statements LCV has made about ALEC are false or that they were published with reckless disregard for the truth," League of Conservation Voters managers retorted.
ALEC was founded as a nonprofit organization in September 1973. Critics have often claimed the group works to pass legislation crafted by corporations, designed to maintain profits.
Many politically conservative voices that once denied climate change are now either stating they do not have enough information to take a position or that any action taken in the United States does little to improve the environment without a comprehensive international agreement. President Obama is expected to announce new legislation in June regarding regulating emissions from power plants.
The Heartland Institute, a libertarian group that once billed itself as the leading voice of skepticism on the issue of man-made climate change, has now reversed its position, acknowledging the effect of human activity on rising temperatures around the globe.
Photo: Andrea Della Adriano | Flickr
