From AlterNet: Creating a Right-Wing Nation, State by State:
Some of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council)’s environmental initiatives include “environmental audit immunity” , a legal regime whereby polluters could self-regulate and any environmental violations could not be punished as long as they inform the EPA of the damage done.
Another is attacking state and regional limits on greenhouse gas emissions. ALEC has fought what have been called “sons of Kyoto” state laws tooth and nail, calling global warming “the new mantra for environmentalists and non-governmental organizations in their quest to redistribute international and domestic wealth.”
Perhaps the most troubling of ALEC’s environmental aims is criminalizing activism. Its model “Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act” does just that. As Karen Charman wrote on TomPaine:
The Texas [version of the] bill defines an “animal rights or terrorist organization” as “two or more persons organized for the purpose of supporting any politically motivated activity intended to obstruct or deter any person from participating in an activity involving animals or … natural resources.” The bill adds that “‘Political motivation’ means an intent to influence a government entity or the public to take a specific political action.” Language in the New York bill is similarly broad.
The Center for Constitutional Rights’ Michael Ratner told Charman, “The definitional sections of this legislation are so broad that they sweep within them basically every environmental and animal-rights organization in the country.”
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