The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council is hitting back at Google after the Silicon Valley giant announced it was pulling its support over the group’s stance on climate change.
Google’s “calculated departure from ALEC is based on misinformation from climate activists who intentionally confuse free market policy perspectives for climate change denial,” 156 state legislators who are members of the group wrote executives in a letter on Wednesday.
{mosads}“The organizations that pressured you consistently conflate climate change denial with having significant concerns over government mandates, subsidies and climate regulations,” they added.
Instead of denying climate change, ALEC claimed to support legislation “designed to address the scientific and economic aspects of the issue of climate change.”
One model bill asserts that “Human activity has and will continue to alter the atmosphere of the planet,” and calls for an interstate research commission on the issue.
Another draft piece of legislation for pulling out of regional climate initiatives claims that “there has been no credible economic analysis of the costs associated with carbon reduction mandates” and the cost of doing business in the state.
Earlier this week, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt accused ALEC of “literally lying” about climate change in an interview with NPR.
“Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place,” he added. “And so we should not be aligned with such people.”
Since then, Facebook said that it is likely to leave the organization, too.