It doesn't have a name yet, but a new group with ties to the conservative Koch brothers and a "veteran Washington energy lobbyist" is getting ready to spend big attacking electric vehicles, according to the Huffington Post. The new group will be funded by Koch Industries and lobbyist Charles Drevna, who was president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers group until last year. HuffPo says that the new group will spend "about $10 million" a year to, "boost petroleum-based transportation fuels and attack government subsidies for electric vehicles."
The gist seems to be that Big Oil needs to change the "energy narrative," something that Drevna and Koch Industries board member James Mahoney have been laying the groundwork for for a while now. Drevna has a history of speaking out against anything that will reduce the amount of gasoline Americans use, such as putting more than 10 percent ethanol into the nation fuel supply (the E15 debate).
The expected result of the new group will be ads and research that promote "pro-petroleum transportation messages" and attack subsidies for plug-in vehicles, HuffPo says. An affiliated group, the Institute for Energy Research, has already gotten its feet wet attacking Tesla and its Powerwall. The new anti-EV messages could start appearing this spring.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk (after just writing, "Sigh"), Tweeted that if the new group wants to attack EV subsidies, it is, "Worth noting that all gasoline cars are heavily subsidized via oil company tax credits & unpaid public health costs." According to a report from the International Monetary Fund last year, fossil fuel companies are subsidized to the tune of $10 million every minute.
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The gist seems to be that Big Oil needs to change the "energy narrative," something that Drevna and Koch Industries board member James Mahoney have been laying the groundwork for for a while now. Drevna has a history of speaking out against anything that will reduce the amount of gasoline Americans use, such as putting more than 10 percent ethanol into the nation fuel supply (the E15 debate).
The expected result of the new group will be ads and research that promote "pro-petroleum transportation messages" and attack subsidies for plug-in vehicles, HuffPo says. An affiliated group, the Institute for Energy Research, has already gotten its feet wet attacking Tesla and its Powerwall. The new anti-EV messages could start appearing this spring.
Worth noting that all gasoline cars are heavily subsidized via oil company tax credits & unpaid public health costs https://t.co/4li5E013Dj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2016
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk (after just writing, "Sigh"), Tweeted that if the new group wants to attack EV subsidies, it is, "Worth noting that all gasoline cars are heavily subsidized via oil company tax credits & unpaid public health costs." According to a report from the International Monetary Fund last year, fossil fuel companies are subsidized to the tune of $10 million every minute.
Related Video:
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