At the "Utah Energy Summit," Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer called for more federal money to develop "clean coal" as an alternative to petroleum and a solution to global warming. As David Roberts notes, the summit organizer is Jim Sims of Policy Communications, "a long-time lobbyist for extractive industries" and the head of front groups such as Partnership for the West and the Save Our Species Alliance, "an astroturf organization created for the purpose of convincing the public to accept the gutting of the Endangered Species Act. ... Remember: despite the new moniker, clean coal is coal, a fossil fuel backed by a fossil fuel industry. It's the same Big Coal with deep ties in state and federal government and a long history of corruption. It's an industry that's spent practically a century entrenching itself and fighting off competitors. It founded the 20-year campaign of obfuscation and denial on global warming. Now it's selling 'alternative energy.'"

"Within hours of Pat Tillman's death, the Army went into information-lockdown mode, cutting off phone and Internet connections at a base in Afghanistan, posting guards on a wounded platoon mate, and ordering a sergeant to burn Tillman's uniform," reports Scott Lindlaw. The revelations about "how the military sealed off information from all but a small ring of soldiers," following the death of former football star Tillman by "friendly fire," come from documents recently obtained by the Associated Press. Tillman's family was not told of the circumstances surrounding his death for five weeks. According to Army officers, "pulling the plug on base phones and e-mail" is routine after soldiers die, to ensure that families are notified "through official channels." However, the clampdown following Tillman's death was unusual. On April 24, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on the Tillman incident and "misinformation surrounding the capture and rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch in Iraq."

E. Bruce Harrison, who began his PR career by helping the pesticide industry attack Rachel Carson and her classic 1962 environmental book "Silent Spring," now proclaims that the era of corporate greenwashing is almost over. In an opinion column, he writes that greenwashing in the 1990's "meant the company was painting over bad stuff with good words. It meant corporate communicators were not to be trusted when they talked green." That doesn't happen today, Harrison claims, pointing to the willingness of groups like Environmental Defense to cut deals with corporations such as McDonald's, TXU and Wal-Mart Stores. He optimistically (or perhaps strategically) writes, "We've reached the place where 'greenwashing' charges no longer hold very much water." However, even Harrison was quick to attach a caveat to his sweeping proclamations. "BP has become the don't-let-it-happen-to-us exemplar, where years of progressive green messaging are hollowed by evidence and events to the contrary," he conceded.

Tony Blair

With British Prime Minister Tony Blair expected to retire from politics in the next few weeks, some of his staff are already jumping ship. In August, Blair's former adviser on strategic communications, Julia Simpson, will begin work as head of corporate communications with British Airways. In doing so, Simpson is following a well-worn path, reports PR Week. "In 2001, Anji Hunter famously left Downing Street to take up BP’s director of comms role. More recently, key Blairites to jump ship include Darren Murphy, now head of government ­relations and external affairs at AstraZeneca and Jim Godfrey, now head of corporate affairs at ITV." Fleishman-Hillard director Nick Brown believes that Blair's staff will be in great demand among PR circles. "Anyone who has senior ­experience of this type of problem solving in politics, in the media and in the spotlight will attract interest," he said.