U.S. Energy Czar applauds Apple, whacks Chamber

The United States secretary of energy, during an event in Washington, lauded Apple for resigning from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chided the Chamber for its stand on global warming.

Steven Chu, the U.S. Secretary of  Energy, praised Apple for its support of environmental actions on global weather change, and in the same breath chided the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the organization from which Apple recently resigned over their stance on those same issues. Chu was equally pleased with recent Chamber resignations by companies such as Nike Inc., PG&E Corp., and Exelon Corp., calling the actions of the Chamber “foot-dragging, to denials” on global weather change policy, saying  “I think [the resignations are] wonderful.”

Chu believes that other companies should follow the lead of Apple and leave the Chamber in protest of the business group’s policies relative to over environmental issues, according to a BizJournals story. Chu believes that efforts to reduce greenhouse gases are “part of our economic future in the United States” and continued by saying that “I would encourage the Chamber of Commerce to realize the economic opportunity that the United States can lead in a new industrial revolution.”

U.S. Chamber President Thomas Donohue said in reply “It’s pretty clear because we’ve heard it from our own companies that a number of environmental groups are trying to apply some pressure on Chamber companies to apply pressure on us to change our views.” Donahue says he believes that it is the victim of an organized campaign by environmentalists who are pressuring companies such as Apple to resign from the Chamber in order to force the organization to change its environmental stance.

Donohue, however, also says “We are not arguing the science. You are not going to get me to go against the science because, by the way, I know a lot of things, but I don’t know about the science.” On the other hand, Apple probably has a good idea of both the technology and the science. It seems likely that Donohue should probably keep his mouth shut if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and especially if he feels completely free to admit that shortcoming. In point of fact, one wonders how the Chamber can have a policy at all if they don’t understand the involved facts.

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