The People vs. Big Coal and Big Green

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Author and activist Ted Nace has been very busy on SourceWatch creating a home for what he calls the Coal Swarm. He has an important article in Orion magazine examining the coal moratorium battle that pits gassroots activists against not just the coal industry, but also some of the biggest environmental groups. Writes Nace, "The contrast between No New Coal Plants and Big Coal is obvious, but the contrast between such low-profile, leaderless entities and the large national groups typically identified with the environmental movement is equally striking. The largest of these groups, sometimes known as Big Green, include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, and the National Wildlife Federation. Typically based in Washington DC or New York and sporting annual budgets in the tens of millions of dollars, these groups, not unlike the corporate and governmental entities they oppose, are hierarchical, highly organized, and reliant on trained and seasoned attorneys, scientific experts, and lobbyists." Nace believes the strategic and tactical differences between the Coal Swarm and the Big Green groups over new coal plants is critical to determining whether and how the US addresses global climate change.