Another ArticleCORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
Clean Sky Coalition – Anything but Dirty Coal
21 Corporate Crime Reporter 17, April 17, 2007
Full page ads. In the Wall Street Journal. In Roll Call. In newspapers throughout Texas.
Pictures of the faces of beautiful people. Faces smeared in coal dust.
And then the message. Face it. Coal is filthy. Live Longer. Live Better. No More Filthy Coal Plants.
Sponsored by the Clean Sky Coalition. A coalition of environmental groups. Just in time for Earth Day.
Right?
Wrong.
Jackson Williams is the executive director of the coalition.
He says his background is in real estate and politics.
Williams jump started the coalition in an effort to help defeat TXU’s proposed coal burning plants in Texas.
In February, the coalition dumped $1 million on the anti-coal ad campaign in Texas newspapers alone.
Now, he’s going national.
The purpose of the national campaign is to “generate public awareness to defeat the 150 filthy coal plants currently being planned nationwide.”
He says that members of his coalition are businesses and individuals that come from a wide range of industries.
No environmental groups are members of the coalition, he says.
Williams says that while coalition members have differing ideas on energy policy, they all agree – nothing is worse than coal.
But where’s the money coming from?
“It comes from a wide range of industries,” he says.
Including energy companies.
But he won’t say which ones.
Nuclear?
Natural gas?
Some natural gas companies have already admitted to dumping a pile of change into the coalition.
All Williams will say is – energy companies, yes.
But he gives no details.
When pressed, he says he hasn’t taken money from nuclear companies.
But he won’t rule out taking money from nuclear companies in the future.
Other than saying he has taken no money from the nuclear industry, he refuses to characterize his coalition members or funders.
“Our members do not want to get in the cross-hairs of big coal,” Williams explains. “For business reasons, for professional reasons, for social reasons, they don’t want to be identified.”
The ad campaign was developed by Strategic Perception, an ad company based in Hollywood, California.
The Clean Sky Coalition’s web site does link to environmental groups, including Environmental Defense and Sierra Club.
Did the environmental groups approve of being linked to your site?
“They know about it and they didn’t disapprove,” he says.
Some of the groups, like Sierra Club and Public Citizen, say they have worked together with Williams in Texas to defeat the TXU coal plants.
Williams says the Clean Sky Coalition was not his idea.
“It was people in politics and public policy in Texas,” he says. “They came to me.”
How much money will be spent on the national campaign?
“Don’t know the answer to that yet,” he says.
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