{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/op-eds/ups-and-pfizers-dirty-little-secret", "UPS and Pfizer’s dirty little secret", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Sheldon Whitehouse", "W000802", "www.whitehouse.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.06.17\n\t\t\t UPS and Pfizer\u2019s dirty little secret \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tThe blandly named American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is one of the most powerful groups you may have never heard of.\u00a0ALEC describes itself as the \u201clargest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism.\u201d\u00a0In reality, it is an almost entirely corporate-funded front group looking to roll back environmental, consumer and workplace protections in state legislatures across the country.\u00a0When ALEC talks, conservative state legislators listen and act.\r\nMost state legislators serve part-time and don\u2019t have large staffs to develop legislation.\u00a0That\u2019s where ALEC comes in.\u00a0With its money and marching orders from corporate America, ALEC churns out bills and resolutions ready-made for state legislators to introduce in their home states.\u00a0Want to kill off public unions in your state?\u00a0ALEC has a bill for you.\u00a0Looking to roll out the red carpet for for-profit education companies?\u00a0Call ALEC.\u00a0Voter ID laws? Anti-immigration laws?\u00a0Privatizing government services?\u00a0Check. Check. Check.\r\nNow, with a White House occupant who has said climate change is a hoax, ALEC\u2019s anti-climate campaign is in overdrive. And complicit in that push are corporate supporters \u2014 such as Pfizer and UPS \u2014 who have not woken up to how inconsistent ALEC is with their values.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nALEC receives a large share of its funding from the fossil fuel industry, notably the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil.\u00a0The group has pushed a number of bills to undermine efforts to cut carbon emissions and combat the effects of climate change.\u00a0Way back in 1998, ALEC drafted a model resolution that would have forbidden states from regulating greenhouse gases in any way. In 2004, ALEC again urged states to reject efforts to limit carbon pollution, arguing that global warming was a \u201cmyth\u201d and that the carbon dioxide generated by burning fossil fuels was actually \u201cbeneficial.\u201d\u00a0During the Obama administration, ALEC repeatedly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s efforts to limit carbon emissions.\r\nWith President Trump in office, the group is pushing a model resolution at its summit this week that would have states call upon EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to withdraw the agency\u2019s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare.\u00a0This finding underpins the EPA\u2019s legal authority to regulate carbon emissions.\u00a0If the fossil fuel industry succeeds, it will seriously undermine our country\u2019s ability to fight climate change for decades to come.\r\nWhile ALEC\u2019s 20-year anti-climate crusade perfectly corresponds to the priorities of its fossil-fuel funders, it has driven off several of its corporate supporters.\u00a0Google left ALEC in 2014 because of ALEC\u2019s position on climate change.\u00a0Shell left in 2015 for the same reason. They joined major American brands ranging from Coca-Cola to Ford to CVS that have left ALEC in recent years because of its extreme positions. Unfortunately, not all companies have recognized this reality.\r\nTake Pfizer and UPS. Both sit on the ALEC Task Force that votes Wednesday about the endangerment finding. Pfizer says that it \u201chas long recognized the risks posed by global climate change\u201d and that it \u201cbelieve[s] industry, government, and the public all have a responsibility to address this evolving challenge.\u201d As a pharmaceutical company, Pfizer understands the health impacts of climate change, noting that more frequent heat waves and floods may contribute to an increase in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as infectious diseases spread by insects, such as malaria and dengue. It has taken steps toward reducing its own emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050 and supports \u201cgovernmental policy frameworks that .\u2009.\u2009. reduce [greenhouse gas] emissions.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\r\nUPS recognizes that carbon emissions \u201caffect our climate and pose a serious challenge to the environment \u2014 and ultimately to the global economy\u201d and \u201csupports global and national efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change.\u201d\u00a0The company has committed to reducing carbon pollution from its ground operations by 12 percent and get 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025.\r\nYet Pfizer and UPS fund a group engaged in a decades-long anti-climate campaign.\r\nBoth companies\u2019 investors may want to know why their money is being used in a manner that may reduce their companies\u2019 profitability.\u00a0UPS acknowledges that climate change poses a serious threat to the global economy \u2014 and by extension, to its own bottom line. And Pfizer recently saw how a warming world can upend its global supply chain when Hurricanes Maria and Irma, fueled by abnormally warm waters, damaged or idled its factories in Puerto Rico, costing the company $55 million in the third quarter alone.\r\nWith the Trump administration busily undoing environmental safeguards and the president announcing his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, business leadership on climate is more important than ever.\u00a0Hundreds of American businesses have signed the \u201cWe Are Still In\u201d declaration, affirming their ongoing support for climate action.\r\nWhen corporate America backs an anti-climate agenda contrary to the express policies of the corporations, consumers and investors \u2014 and the world \u2014 will be watching.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\t    By:\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t    Sheldon Whitehouse and Elizabeth Warren\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\tSource:\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWashington Post\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/op-eds/ups-and-pfizers-dirty-little-secret"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8042130395770073, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}