National Mining Association

The National Mining Association is a trade association for extractive industries in the United States, dubbing itself the “official voice of U.S. mining.” The NMA has created, supported, and promulgated climate denial for years. Notable efforts by NMA to facilitate climate denial include their funds to support American Petroleum Institute’s “Global Climate Science” denial campaign, formal relationship with the Greening Earth Society, and was part of the leadership in the Global Climate Coalition.

Weber Merritt Strategies Contracts

Weber Merritt Strategies, a “grassroots advocacy” firm, is NMA’s highest-paid contractor overall, earning $11.7 million in contracts between 2009 and 2015. In 2014 Weber Merritt Strategies created the astroturf campaign Count on Coal to fight new regulations that would control pollution from mining and burning coal. Count on Coal’s “About Us” page states:

Count on Coal is a campaign to make America aware of the benefits of affordable, reliable coal-generated electricity. From homes to businesses to schools, hospitals and local governments, we all benefit from affordable electricity with stable prices and reliable delivery. Count on Coal is a grassroots organization that seeks to identify, educate and recruit Americans to support our mission to keep electricity affordable by protecting and promoting the use of our abundant coal for power generation.Founded by organizations and companies that recognize the value of coal in our power generation supply chain, the organization is growing to include community, business and political leaders from throughout the US. Join us in our fight to preserve our reliable, affordable electricity.

NMA hosts this Count on Coal ad on their YouTube channel.