U.S. Chamber of Commerce Loses Another Member
September 29, 2009 | Posted by Sharyn Stein in Business, News
The exodus from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues. A third energy company is dropping its membership over the Chamber's short-sighted opposition to the clean energy bill.
Chicago-based Exelon announced today that it will not renew its membership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. That comes on the heels of last week's announcements from California's Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) that they were were leaving the Chamber.
Of course, what it really follows is the Chamber's ridiculous demands for a "Scopes Monkey Trial" to debate whether climate change is real.
The New York Times has the full story, and the Wonk Room has good quotes from Exelon's CEO, John Rowe. You can also hear John Rowe on how climate change can be addressed affordably in an ad he did with us earlier this year.
All three refugees from the Chamber are members of USCAP (as is EDF). That means they're pushing for Congress to pass a cap on carbon pollution — a move they see as a good business opportunity.
So, if three of its biggest members see a carbon cap as a money-making opportunity, why is the Chamber of Commerce opposing it?
See this story from NPR that explores whether it's because the president of the Chamber is also on the board of directors of Union Pacific — a company that makes a large part of its money shipping coal.
7 Responses
Pingback from Climate 411 » U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tries to Tap Dance Out of PR Disaster - Blogs & Podcasts - Environmental Defense Fund
September 29th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
[...] Thomas Donahue, president and CEO of the Chamber, issued a statement today in response to heavy public criticism of the Chamber’s position on climate change. [...]
Pingback from Climate 411 » Nike Leaves Board of U.S. Chamber — But Keeps Membership? - Blogs & Podcasts - Environmental Defense Fund
October 1st, 2009 at 11:11 am
[...] The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to rack up bad press because of its knee-jerk opposition to climate change legislation. (If you want the whole sordid history, read our earlier post.) [...]
Pingback from Climate 411 » Apple Joins List of Former U.S. Chamber Members - Blogs & Podcasts - Environmental Defense Fund
October 6th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
[...] U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to make a monkey of itself over its "Scopes trial" comment, as well as its general policy on climate [...]
Pingback from Climate 411 » Four Signs that Clean Energy Opponents are Getting Desperate - Blogs & Podcasts - Environmental Defense Fund
October 27th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
[...] explains why a highly-publicized string of companies leaving the Chamber doesn’t bother him. Politico pointed out that rarely, if ever, [...]
Pingback from U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tries to Tap Dance Out of PR Disaster « Regurgitation
January 8th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
[...] Thomas Donahue, president and CEO of the Chamber, issued a statement today in response to heavy public criticism of the Chamber’s position on climate change. [...]
Pingback from Nike Leaves Board of U.S. Chamber — But Keeps Membership? « Regurgitation
January 19th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
[...] The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to rack up bad press because of its knee-jerk opposition to climate change legislation. (If you want the whole sordid history, read our earlier post.) [...]
Pingback from Apple Joins List of Former U.S. Chamber Members « Regurgitation
January 28th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
[...] U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to make a monkey of itself over its "Scopes trial" comment, as well as its general policy on climate [...]
Leave a Reply
User comments reflect the opinions of the responsible contributor only, and do not reflect the viewpoint of Environmental Defense Fund. We reserve the right to delete comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate. We also reserve the right to delete duplicate comments, or comments that have no relationship to the original post.