thanks to nailmaker’s dkos diary we find a couple of updates to the al gore electric bill story. david roberts at huffpo tells us:
the tennessee tax dept. does not consider the “tennessee center for policy research,” which roughly no one had heard of before this, a legitimate group. it’s run by a long-time right-wing attack hack, and its only registered address is a p.o. box. why is everyone in the media taking what it says about gore’s electricity use at face value?
gore’s electricity company has no record of being contacted about his bills.
– – more after the jump – –
the “average” home electricity use quoted by tcpr is a national average that includes apartments and mobile homes. in gore’s climatic zone, the east south central (dept. of energy pdf), the average is much higher, thanks to hot, humid summers and cold winters. within that zone, gore’s usage is three (not 20) times average, and his per-square-foot usage is squarely average. (more here.)
the gores are not an average family. he’s an ex-vp with special security arrangements, and has live-in security staff. he and his wife both work on their many business and charitable undertakings out of their house, so they have space for offices and office staff. all that would be tough to cram in an average size house.
gore buys the maximum allowable green electricity from the program offered by his utility.
most of the electricity in tn comes from hydro and nuclear, and so doesn’t generate all that much co2 anyway.
as david says, feel free to use these talking points when writing the multi-millionaire media to refute this ridiculous story.
anybody got the names of media outlets running this false story? we can make an action alert.
A press release making the rounds at the Toyota plant nearby had this at the end:
For Further Information, Contact:
Nicole Williams, (615) 383-6431
editor@tennesseepolicy.org
Feel free to show Nicole some love.
For a look at the Tennessee Center for Policy Research federal tax return, search here.
Among other things, it shows an $18 expense for research material and $4,880 meals expense. They list assets of one computer and $149 worth of office equipment. The tax return is signed by a Jason A. Johnson and lists a Nashville, TN address. Anyone down south know this guy?
Minor detail, but this part is not “reality-based” (although a popular misconception):
“…most of the electricity in TN comes from hydro and nuclear, and so doesn’t generate all that much CO2 anyway.”
According to the TVA:
“Fossil fuel plants produced about 64 percent of TVA’s total generation in fiscal year 2006.”
“Nuclear power produced about 29 percent of TVA’s generation, and hydropower produced 6 percent.”
no, it’s good to stay reality based. thx for the info.
Not necessarily equivalent…not all energy in Tennessee comes from TVA. Some use solar and a very few wind.
I’m a great Gore fan, and frankly, this anemic response was an example of previous Democratic campaigns lost. First, this isn’t a think tank, it’s a fake storefront/p.o. box. The spokesperson didn’t know $%^& about energy distribution.
The facts weren’t even in the news release. Gore’s house uses about 4 times the average for a house in his climate area, but also includes two full offices and is more than 4 times the average size of a house in his area, so actually uses slightly less than average per square foot.
None of this was in their press release, just obscure references to percentages of green power in the power grid that no one would understand.
Maybe we SHOULD begin hiring the Republican response teams?