The Scandal gets even Better!

I noted a few days ago that a scandal was brewing when it was discovered that letters from local groups given to Congressman Tom Perriello opposing the climate bill were forged, and I think the final product is fantastic!  Now, I know that we aren’t all Sherlock Holmes, but I’m going to show you a few exhibits…draw a few dots, and we’ll see if you can connect them.

Headline:  The group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity acknowledged this afternoon that it had contracted Bonner & Associates earlier to perform “limited outreach,” but the advocacy group denounced the firm’s actions.

Article:  Alex Kaplun, E&E reporter

The Sierra Club today urged Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an investigation into the activities of a lobbying firm that has been linked to fake letters urging Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) to vote against the climate bill.

In a letter sent to Holder, Sierra Club Legal Director Patrick Gallagher argues that at a minimum, the firm Bonner & Associates appears to have committed fraud, and that a thorough investigation may reveal that the firm “devised a scheme to defraud constituents of Rep. Perriello … by depriving them of the intangible right to the honest services of their representatives.”

The request stems from a newspaper report last week that Bonner & Associates sent letters to Perriello’s office that were made to look as if they came from Creciendo Juntos, a Charlottesville-based Hispanic advocacy group. Perriello staffers also received similarly worded letters that were designed to look as if they came from the Albemarle-Charlottesville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The Need to Lead on Green Tech

A couple things on both the need to lead on green tech, and a good step by the government to help us get there.  First, two CEO’s John Doerr and Jeff Immelt have a column on how the US is falling behind countries like China on green tech, and how we need the right incentives and price signals to have American companies leading on clean energy.  Then we have an article in Business Green by James Murray which talks about some new payments and loan guarantees for clean energy.  Here’s part of the story…

“The US Treasury and Department of Energy formally launched a flagship renewable energy funding programme on Friday, announcing that project developers could now apply for direct payments from a new fund worth over $3bn (£1.8bn).

Under the scheme – which is expected to see funds distributed to around 5,000 biomass, solar, wind and other types of renewable energy projects – firms can agree to forgo existing tax credits in return for a direct payment from the government.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said that the new funds, which are being made available from the US government’s economic stimulus package, would help kick-start those capital-intensive renewable energy projects that have “stalled due to a lack of financing”.

His comments were echoed by energy secretary Steven Chu, who predicted that the government investment would “play a major role in encouraging private sector capital to invest in clean energy development”.

The launch of the scheme came just days after the Department of Energy announces that it would provide up to $30bn in loan guarantees to renewable energy projects as well as a further $750m in loan guarantees for grid upgrade projects. Applications for the loan guarantees will now be accepted for 45 days.

Meanwhile, the department last week also awarded $11m in new grants to five research projects focused on integrating solar energy systems with the grid.”