Jeff Clark, President of the Advanced Power Alliance, released following statement:
“In response to ‘unprecedented’ dark money attacks on renewable energy in Texas, the Advanced Power Alliance today launched a multimedia advertising campaign calling on Texans to engage with their state legislators and to become active in the policy discussions currently underway in our state capitol. Decisions being made now will affect our state’s energy future for years to come. 79% of Texans support expanding our state’s use of renewable energy and their voices need to be heard during the important debates taking place.
“As has been well documented in state and national media, anti-renewables efforts, presumably – undoubtedly – funded by fossil fuel interests, are being conducted using tax-exempt ‘lobby charities’ to conceal donors’ identities and to conduct this advocacy under the guise of non-biased academic “think tanks.” Quite ironically, these dark money donors are collecting a tax write-off for their covert efforts meaning the taxpayers of this country are subsidizing their campaign.
“Lawmakers deserve accurate and honest information and these groups don’t provide it, despite their pseudo-academic claims and tax-exempt status. They publish flawed and often factually-incorrect statements on renewables, deliberately designed to mislead decision makers and many times presenting as fact conclusions that run counter to the data-backed findings of our state’s grid operator (ERCOT) or the Independent Market Monitor (IMM).
“This secretly-funded, taxpayer-subsidized lobbying must be combatted. The funders of these efforts are working to mislead our state’s lawmakers and to protect their financial interest by preventing a transition to our state’s own cleaner, cheaper energy resources like wind, solar, and natural gas. In the end, this jeopardizes the benefits that every Texan receives from renewable energy including: cleaner air and water, lower electric bills, a diversifying economy, jobs in rural areas, funding for our schools, capital investment, and a new source of income for our state’s farmers and ranchers.”
