Curses, Oil Again

Bold announcement by climate partnership outed as a hoax

Posted at 10:59 AM on 04 Dec 2007

Various news outlets breathlessly reported yesterday that the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a consortium of 33 businesses and environmental groups, was calling on the U.S. to slash emissions 90 percent by 2050 and to cease building coal-fired power plants. Ah, if only 'twere true -- but the announcement was an elaborate hoax. Says Matt Leonard of Rising Tide, the loosely knit volunteer-run group that took responsibility for the fakeout: "We wanted to draw attention to the undue influence the biggest polluters, many of which are members of USCAP, have on climate policy. They are focused on their own bottom lines rather than the climate science."

sources:  Wired, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, BusinessWeek