By Tony Hake, Climate Change Examiner
The United States Chamber of Commerce has long stood against the proposed climate change legislation that was passed by the House of Representatives and is now being considered in the Senate. That is, until today if you believe CNBC and Reuters as both organizations fell for a fake press release saying otherwise (see doc here). Both news organizations reported Monday that the Chamber of Commerce had made a major change in its stance and was going to be backing the cap and trade legislation. A press release purportedly released by the Chamber said, “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is throwing its weight behind strong climate legislation, a spokesman for Chamber President Tom J. Donahue announced today at the National Press Club.” CNBC ran a banner announcing “Breaking News” as reporter Hampton Pearson excitedly read portions of the false press release (video below). A CNBC host on the cable network later suggested that the White House might be behind the release. Reuters issued a story announcing, “The Chamber of Commerce said on Monday it will no longer opposes climate change legislation, but wants the bill to include a carbon tax.” The Washington Post and New York Times followed suit and posted the story to their sites before it was retracted. The press release misspelled Tom Donohue’s name and the email address and phone numbers listed as media contacts listed on it were not valid. Further, the press release directs readers to a website that supposedly had full comments from Donohue. Those comments on the website included statements advocating for a carbon tax saying it, “will mean new blood for Free Enterprise, and a fertile new foundation for long-term business prosperity.” The site alludes to the recent falling out of a few members of the Chamber and said the group would welcome those members back. In looking at the site however, it is clear that while it looks like the Chamber’s website, it is not. The false comments are on a page at the domain chamber-of-commerce.us. The real U.S. Chamber of Commerce uses the domain uschamber.com. It is being reported that liberal activist group AVAAZ Action Factory was responsible for the hoax press release. Source H/T CCF