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Verizon sponsors rally against climate action
To mark Labor Day this coming Monday, Massey Energy is holding a Friends of America Rally in Holden, W.V.
The event, which will be emceed by rocker Ted Nugent and will feature a speech by Fox News commentator Sean Hannity and musical performances by Hank Williams Jr. and John Rich, is billing itself as a rally for American jobs. It's expected to draw as many as 70,000 people to a former strip mine in the coalfields of southern West Virginia.
But the rally is also designed to build support against federal legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, with its website inviting visitors to sign the National Mining Association's petition against the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the Waxman-Markey climate bill.
It's not surprising that Massey Energy -- the fourth-largest coal producer in the U.S. and a major mountaintop removal operator -- would be sponsoring a rally against legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. After all, Massey's profits are dependent upon continuing to shift the costs of coal-related pollution onto the public. Furthermore, CEO Don Blankenship doesn't even believe in man-made climate change.