Miller's group focuses on the role of coal-generated electricity in the U.S. energy mix and lobbies on its behalf on Capitol Hill.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is a Virginia group funded by the country's major coal-generated utilities, coal producers and railroads. Miller's organization has spent nearly $40 million on television, radio spots and other outreach efforts to bolster public support for coal and to demonstrate coal's impact on the U.S. economy.
Its message, according to ACCCE's web site, is to: "advance the development and deployment of advanced clean coal technologies that will produce electricity with near-zero emissions."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Miller encouraged Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to support clean-coal initiatives. As a result, both candidates promised to spend more money on developing carbon capture and storage technology.
But Miller's group has been the source of considerable controversy as the climate-change debate heats up in Congress. In August 2009, Select Committee on Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) started investigating forged letters sent by an ACCCE contractor to three House lawmakers. Markey and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) are sponsoring the major cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House in June 2009.
In response to the investigation, Miller released a statement on Aug. 3, 2009 which read, in part, "Because of Bonner and Associates' misconduct, we apologize to the community groups and the Members of Congress involved. There is no place for this type of deception. We applaud efforts to ensure that everyone involved in the public policy dialogue lives up to the highest ethical standards."
In Their Own Words
In a 2004 memo from Miller to Irl Engelhardt, former chief of Peabody Energy, Miller urged Engelhardt to adopt a stance with a positive message: "Our belief is that, on climate change, like other issues, you must be for something rather than against everything."
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