by Kevon Martis, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in Daily News
I am writing in response to the recent column from Apex Clean Energy salesman Dan Paris which makes a number of false claims about the grassroots coalition I founded in 2011 in Blissfield, Michigan, the Interstate Informed Citizen’s Coalition or “IICC.”
The IICC is not an “arm” of E&E Legal. And my honorary title of senior policy fellow at E&E has no financial compensation of any kind and Apex knows this. They have heard me say it publicly many times. But it doesn’t prevent them and others from using that honorary title to falsely tie me to coal, gas, nuclear and even, perversely, to “Big Tobacco” interests. E&E Legal is committed in part to exposing the corrupt ties between governmental regulatory agencies like the EPA and special interest groups like Sierra Club and other marketing organs for renewable developers like Apex. The reader can see why Apex would be averse to E&E’s efforts in that sphere.
The IICC does not now and has never received any contributions from any coal interest of any kind. But Apex is awash in coal money from the sale of their Isabella Wind project to DTE Energy, the biggest coal polluter in the state. So Paris is literally using coal money to claim that coal funded people are liars.
