Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security

The Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security (FACES of Coal) is a pro-coal "grassroots" organization that appears to be a project of the Adfero Group, a public relations firm based in Washington, DC.

Launch
The formation of the new group was announced in a media release on August 19, 2009. The media release, which did nlot list a media contact, stated that the group had been formed "to promote the economic benefits and community resources that coal generates for residents in Appalachia and, specifically, West Virginia. Dozens of participants from various backgrounds inaugurated the grassroots movement at a press conference held at the Charleston Area Alliance Building." The media release tated that the group "is building on the effective work of Friends of Coal, Coal Mining our Future and the Mountaintop Mining Coalition among others."

"FACES of Coal is an alliance of individuals from all walks of life who have joined forces to educate lawmakers and the general public about the importance of coal and coal mining to our local and national economies. Some 70 different organizations and individuals representing a broad cross-section of people and communities throughout the Appalachian region are the coalition's first member." it stated in the media release. The launch media release featured supportive statements from West Virginia State Senator Roman Prezioso and Vivian Parsons, the Executive Director of the County Commissioners' Association of West Virginia.

Domain name registration
James Hoggan noted in a column for Huffington Post that "the FACES website, which includes no contact information, is registered to Adfero." However, after the column was posted, the domain name registration was changed. In an update, it was noted that "since we posted this article, the website registration for facesofcoal.com has been updated overnight and Adfero's name has been wiped, however - thanks to research by one of our most loyal readers, Frank Bi - a cross-reference with Adfero's IP address still shows facesofcoal.com running on their server.]

Contact details
Website: http://www.facesofcoal.org/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Coal industry PR and lobbying groups
 * United States and coal

External articles

 * James Hoggan, New 'Grassroots' Pro-Coal Group Backed by K-Street PR Firm," Huffington Post, August 25, 2009.