Western Fuels Association

The Western Fuels Association states on its website that it is "a not-for profit cooperative that supplies coal and transportation services to consumer-owned electric utilities throughout the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions", including the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation. Two members of its board are Sunflower's chief executive officer, Earl Watkins, and the Sunflower's board chairman. Sunflower's partner in the Holcomb expansion, a Colorado co-op, also has members on the board.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Western Fiels Association has been a corporate funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). See ALEC Corporations for more.

History
The Association founded the Greening Earth Society in 1997, according to a archived version of the Society's website, "as a vehicle for advocacy on climate change, the environmental impact of CO2, and fossil fuel use."

According to a March 30, 2008 article in the Kansas City Star, Western Fuels and its director Fred Palmer targeted a message to farmers, small-town officials and rural legislators in the 1990s to promote the idea that considerable doubt existed about the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming. Palmer is now a senior vice president at Peabody Energy,, which partnered with Sunflower in 2007 to buy pro-coal newspaper ads featuring Chavez, Ahmadinejad and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, warning that Kansas would have to import natural gas from Venezuela, Iran and Russia if no new coal plants were built.

Previously, the Association had, at the inspiration of Palmer, sued Friends of the Earth, the Earth Island Institute, Rain Forest Action Network, Turning Point Project, the International Center for Technology Assessment and Ozone Action, in Western Fuels Association v. Turning Point Project, No. 00-CV-074-D (D. Wyo. 2001), challenging the truthfulness of an advertisement in the New York Times on December 13, 1999, entitled "Global Warming-How Will It End?" that called attention to the problem of global warming. The lawsuit attempted to establish a new legal precedent involving political speech by invoking the federal Lanham Act, which applies to commercial speech among competitors. The suit was dismissed.

Contact Information
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

1100 W. 116th Avenue Westminster, CO 80234 Phone: (303) 254-3070 Fax: (303) 254-3079 Email: wfa@westernfuels.org Website: http://westernfuels.org Contact: Duane Richards, CEO

WYOMING OPERATIONS

2201 S. Douglas Highway, #130 Gillette, WY 82718 Phone: (307) 682-8051 Fax: (307) 686-6355 Contact: Meri Reidt, Manager of Coal Transportation

DRY FORK MINE

P.O. BOX 1809 Gillette, WY 82717 Phone: (307) 682-2839 Fax: (307) 682-6468 Contact: Brad Hanson, General Manager

NEW HORIZON MINE

P.O. Box 628 Nucla, CO 81424 Phone: (970) 864-2165 Fax: (970) 864-2168 Contact: Lance Wade, Mine Manager

ESCALANTE-WESTERN RAILWAY

P.O. Box 552 Prewitt, NM 87045 Phone: (505) 876-2270 Fax: (505) 876-2279 Contact: David Soros, General Foreman

CORPORATE COUNSEL

Sherard, Sherard & Johnson P.O. Box 69 Wheatland, WY 82201 Phone: (307)322-2107 Contact: Rex Johnson

Articles and Resources
Karen Dillon and David Klepper, "Lots of cash behind coal plant clash," The Kansas City (MO) Star March 30, 2008.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Global Warming Cost website
 * Greening Earth Society
 * Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine
 * Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
 * Richard S. Lindzen
 * Smith & Harroff
 * David E. Wojick
 * American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
 * Headquarters of U.S. coal mining companies