Friends of the Earmark Make Themselves Heard

Coal Gets Fired Up

Sol Levine, on the receiving end of some horseplay from Dave Marash during their days at Al Jazeera English, has joined Marash as a former staffer. Levine took a position at the D.C. public relations firm Qorvis Communications. (2006 Photo By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
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Natural gas mogul Aubrey K. McClendon ran into trouble with producers of other kinds of energy by pushing too hard for his own commodity -- and against the others -- with his American Clean Skies Foundation. I wrote about the dust-up last week.

Now, the coal industry, an occasional target of the billionaire, is battling back. Partly in response to McClendon, two groups have combined to form the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a $45 million-a-year effort to promote coal and its conversion through technology into a "cleaner" energy source.

The coalition's predecessor groups were not fans of reducing greenhouse gases to combat climate change. But the industry has changed its mind. In fact, the group's breathtakingly pro-environmental pitch for coal is very similar to McClendon's appeal for natural gas.

"The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is committed to the idea that America can have the affordable, reliable electricity we need . . . with the clean environment we want," the group's Web site says.

Just ignore all that smoke.

A Food Fight With Whiskers

That's a fine kettle of, well, you know, that the Catfish Farmers of America have made for the food industry.

You may remember that the catfish lobby successfully persuaded the Senate to require catfish to undergo inspections similar to those for meat and poultry. That was a way, critics said, to keep out foreign competition. But it also spurred House aides to draft legislation that would subject all seafood to inspections by the Agriculture Department.

It now looks as if that broad language might make it into the farm bill, and the food lobby is upset. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Restaurant Association and the National Fisheries Institute have complained that added regulation would be costly and duplicative; the Food and Drug Administration already has responsibility in the area.

But lawmakers might be hooked on more inspections. Stay tuned.

Departure of the Week

Most people think the oil industry is a male bastion. But that's not true in Washington. Three of the largest oil companies have women in charge of their D.C. offices.

Well, now there are only two.

Peggy R. Hudson, who became the first woman in charge of a major oil company lobbying shop six years ago, is taking a break after six years as BP America's vice president for federal and international affairs.