More on Graves' flacking for polluting coal companies

Last week, we flagged Sam Graves' distribution of pro-pollution talking points that were literally created by the National Mining Association. At first, it looked like a simple bit of shameless flacking for Graves' special interest friends.  But it gets worse:

Kate Sheppard of Grist did some sleuthing of her own and found out that the map appears on the mining association website. She notes that the research has a footnote explicitly saying that the calculations do not take into account the current version of Waxman-Markey [the cap and trade legislation in Congress], and, worse, that they cover only the costs of the legislation and not the benefits, including allocations back to utility companies to mitigate against price increases. This isn’t research at all; it’s advocacy.

This is what is politely called the influence of special interests in Washington.

The congress members peddling the NMA’s work were Frank Lucas (R-OK), Sam Graves (R-MO), and Doc Hastings (R-WA). Way to think for yourself, guys.

Read the full story at Reuters here.