Big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change, which could smother messages from environmentalists. But it is not yet clear whether corporations have the will or the budgets to use the advertising weapon the climate change wars that emerged in January when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same right as individuals to free political speech, including spending on advertising. The decision could affect every issue and every political race in this congressional election year, but those pushing for a federal law to limit greenhouse gas emissions say it will hit them harder because business interests have much more money to spend on these campaigns. ‘Environmental voices are already far outspent by voices of all sorts of polluting interests, but the Supreme Court decision has really now opened the floodgates for big oil and dirty coal to spend … much, much more money in the electoral arena,’ said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. Green groups — including even the powerful Service Employees International Union, which has pushed for cap-and-trade measures as a spur to clean-energy jobs — are at […]

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