Climate Changed

Koch-Backed Business Group Splinters in Climate-Change Dispute

  • Activist groups fill void as companies drop ALEC membership
  • Climate change, repeal of 17th amendment considered by group

Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg

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A business-backed group that rose to prominence by prodding state legislatures to cut taxes, environmental regulations and gun restrictions, now finds itself at a crossroads amid declining membership and a bitter dispute over climate change.

The battle at the American Legislative Exchange Council erupted at the group’s winter meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, this week as members scrapped a measure declaring that climate change is not a risk after opposition from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp.