2. UTILITIES: Meet 'Common Sense Sam,' pitchman for coal power (Greenwire, 09/11/2008)

Daniel Cusick, Greenwire reporter

This story is part of the Electric Switch special report.

ATLANTA -- Electric-power giant Southern Co. has a new lobbyist, "Sam," an androgynous cartoon character with an oversize nose, a shock of red hair and a smile who appears in newspapers and online sites frequented by policymakers.

Sam strolls into one ad pushing a wagon heaped with symbols of energy options -- a whirring turbine, a bundle of switchgrass, an atom, a compact fluorescent light bulb and a hunk of coal. His message: "Different energy sources are smart for different reasons. Common sense says, don't just use one."

Southern Co.'s "Common Sense Sam" pushes his wagon of energy options. Photo courtesy of Southern Co.

But the ad at its heart is a paean to coal -- Southern Co.'s fuel of choice to power more than 4.3 million homes and businesses across the utility's four-state service territory. For example, coal generates 75 percent of the electricity produced by Georgia Power, Southern Co.'s largest subsidiary, and just a slightly lower percentage of power for subsidiaries in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

"It obviously resonated with us that we have a plentiful, abundant [coal] supply right under our feet, so we ought to be putting that supply to good use," said Mary Story, the utility's ad director at the company's headquarters here.

But critics say the assertions of "Common Sense Sam" about the company's robust investment in renewable energy are -- at best -- stretching the truth to promote coal, which faces growing opposition from environmental groups wary of its role in raising global temperatures.

While the company has committed tens of millions of dollars toward development of renewable energy sources -- including woody biomass and landfill gas -- critics say the scale of its investment pales in comparison to that of other Southeastern utilities, including Florida Power & Light, which recently announced a $688 million investment to build three major solar power plants in its service territory and is one of the nation's largest investors in domestic wind power.

"Where is the straight talk? Where is the honest evaluation and honest representation of where words meet actions?" asked Stephen Smith, executive director of the Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "In Sam's basket, everything is of the same size and caliber, when in reality, that basket would have to be overloaded with coal and have a heaping pile of enriched uranium, while the windmill would need to be one of those toy pinwheels and the compact fluorescent light bulb a tiny speck."

Southern officials maintain the ad is factually accurate, and that Sam's message is really about energy diversification, whereby coal remains a primary fuel for electric power generation as other energy sources, such as new nuclear and renewables, are brought online over the next several decades.

The Southern message dovetails with a broader "clean coal" campaign by utilities, mining companies and railroads. Millions of television viewers, particularly those tuned to news programs and sporting events, have seen coal marketing in the "I believe ..." ad series.

The ads, sponsored by the nonprofit American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, feature everyday Americans pledging confidence in "the future," "protecting the environment," "energy independence," "reducing greenhouse gases," "technology" and "American ingenuity."

None of the on-camera "I believe" speakers mention coal. The core message is left to a voice-over: "We can be energy independent. We can continue to use our most abundant fuel cleanly and responsibly. We can and we will. Clean coal, America's power."

The coalition, funded by 47 corporations, including Southern Co., represents the tip of the political spear for industries deeply vested in coal and which have the most to lose from any federal regulation of the utility sector's No. 1 pollutant, carbon dioxide.

In addition to their ongoing TV ad campaign, coalition members are directly lobbying the two political parties and individual members of Congress over a range of issues, including climate change and investment in "clean coal" technology. The race for the White House offers plenty of opportunities for coal. No fewer than six coal-producing states are considered battlegrounds in the election, including delgate-rich Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia.

The effort appears to be working. Delegates to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., adopted platform language criticizing the Democrats' position on coal, saying it "firmly opposes efforts by Democrats to block the construction of new coal-fired power plants."

Meanwhile, the Democrats' presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, has expressed support for "clean coal" research with a goal of creating five coal-fired demonstration plants equipped with carbon capture and sequestration technology.

Joe Lucas, the clean-coal coalition's spokesman, said the work of his group and Southern Co. is essential to keeping lawmakers focused on coal's viability for U.S. energy production and to pushing back against environmentalists who want to abandon new coal-fired generation in favor of alternative energy.

"It gets down to the fundamental principle of energy reality," Lucas said. "It is not a question of whether we will use coal in this country, it's a question of how we will use coal."

Lucas added that Southern and other coal-dependent utilities have a responsibility to their shareholders and ratepayers to promote what they believe is the best path to energy security, and that the utility's promotion of clean coal is no different than other major energy producers, such as BP PLC, promoting natural gas, wind and solar power.

Southern Co. strategy shift

The ad campaigns do, however, reflect a sea change in the way utilities perceive their role in the policy sphere.

Long considered a powerful, behind-the-scenes player in Washington energy policy discussions, Southern Co. rarely advanced its positions in public. The "Sam" campaign, Story said, reflects a new directive by the company to reach a wider audience than lawmakers and their staffers. For its campaign, the company turned to Dallas-based advertising firm The Richards Group, creator of the "Eat Mor Chikin" ads for Chick-fil-A restaurants.

But while Sam's message is delivered in friendly tones, it doesn't mean the company is softening its position on the regulation of greenhouse gases -- it has opposed every piece of climate legislation introduced to date -- or that it is cozying up to environmental groups that advocate for a moratorium on coal-fired power plants.

Story refers to those who would place a moratorium on coal-fired power as "Chicken Littles running around saying the sky is falling." She added that the company wanted "to bring about some honest, reasoned discussion about these issues."

But Smith, of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, sees a different motive.

"These are the same companies who for years had institutional control and a very strong foothold on energy policy," Smith said. "All of a sudden, energy policy is front and center, and because of concerns about global warming, people are questioning whether the status quo is the way to go."

Click here to see the Web version of Southern Co.'s ad.

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