No families allowed in “families for coal” group. Say again?

According to a Grist blog posted today titled “A Farce to be Reckoned With,” a Pennsylvania coal-industry group calling itself Families Organized to Represent the Coal Economy (FORCE) isn’t actually comprised of families after all. Instead, membership criteria is limited to “any Pennsylvania company doing business with the coal industry” and “coal and coal company-related sponsorship.”

The group is responsible for billboards along Penn state highways promoting “clean coal,” which you think would lead the public to believe this group has a lot of “families” supporting “clean coal.”

Read Jonathan Hiskes’ punchy account of his attempts to gather more information from the group.

And be sure to check out his other blog post on the Families Organized to Represent Coal coloring book for kids, appropriately titled “Eyes for Frosty.” As Hiskes says, “At least it picks a relevant topic in snowmen—they won’t be around for long if the coal industry succeeds in stomping all over climate change legislation.”

About Jamie Goodman

Jamie is an Appalachian local with a deep and unshakeable love of the mountains her family has called home since the mid-1700s. With a background in journalism and communications, she has been with Appalachian Voices since 2008 and currently serves as our Director of Digital Innovation and Technology.