PolluterWatch.com Launches Investigative Effort to hold polluters’ influence peddlers and propagandists like Patrick Michaels accountable

PolluterWatch.com Launches Investigative Effort to Hold Polluters’ Influence Peddlers and Propagandists Accountable

by admin on www.polluterwatch.com, December 16, 2009

Opening Shot: Legal Pursuit of Deniers’ and Polluters’ Emails, To Show Who’s Really Cooking the Science Books

For Immediate Release:                    
Contact: Adam Feiler, 703-302-8395, polluterwatch@gmail.com, Joe Smyth, 831-566-5647, joe.smyth@greenpeace.org
December 16, 2009

Washington, D.C. – A new muckraking project, PolluterWatch, launched today with the express intent of exposing and pushing back on polluting industry influence peddling and propaganda. The project, launched with an effort to legally obtain, organize and post large numbers of emails by top global warming deniers and top polluting industry lobbyists who “served” in the Bush Administration.

“Hard-working Americans don’t have the money or lack of scruples to hire hackers to sort and post stolen emails,” said PolluterWatch Director Kert Davies. “It’s the guys making money lying about climate science who have been cooking the science books. Once their emails are brought to the light of day, we’ll know the truth. If they haven’t been lying, they’ll have nothing to hide, and we’ll be happy to organize and post all of their emails for them so the public can judge for themselves.”

PolluterWatch is currently investigating Patrick Michaels, a former University of Virginia professor being bankrolled by polluters who has been widely attacking credible climate scientists. Michaels has repeatedly misrepresented the significance of stolen emails from several prominent scientists, with almost no pushback by the mainstream media.

Organized by Greenpeace, PolluterWatch, is being advised by a panel of Americans personally impacted by polluter propaganda. The project was founded on the premise that many in elected office and even some in the media have grown far too comfortable with the legalized corruption created by polluting industry lobbyists and the front groups they underwrite.

The PolluterWatch website (http://polluterwatch.com) will give a voice to Americans’ concerns that powerful corporate lobbyists, particularly from big polluting industries, have far too much control of public decision making.

PolluterWatch will work to expose and fight back against the web of legalized corruption that blocks progress on clean energy jobs and energy independence in Washington. Further actions will be announced in the coming days and weeks, as efforts to secure a global climate deal fight for survival against the assaults of the oil, coal and polluting industry lobbyists.

PolluterWatch will be advised by a panel of Americans who are leading the fight for cleaner energy and a stronger economy, including:

• David Dionne of Westport, MA, a house painter and community leader who started fighting dirty coal plants from his backyard over a decade ago.
• Bonnie Swinford of Knoxville, Tennesee, of United Mountain Defense, who has led efforts to protect communities from mountaintop removal and help victims of the Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill of December 2008.

“If you are making money subverting America’s interests in clean energy jobs and energy security, we’re going to expose you and fight back,” said PolluterWatch advisor David Dionne of Massachusetts. “These Washington elites have been accountability-free for far too long, and the public is sick of it.”

In addition to the website, PolluterWatch.com, the campaign has established a presence on Twitter (@PolluterWatch), YouTube (youtube.com/PolluterWatch) and Facebook (facebook.com/PolluterWatch).

Link:  http://www.polluterwatch.com/?p=15