The Cooler Heads Coalition

A sub-group of the National Consumer Coalition focusing on global climate issues.

"The risks of global warming are speculative;
the risks of global warming policies are all too real."

Who we are

• The Cooler Heads Coalition was formed on May 6, 1997 under the auspices of the National Consumer Coalition out of concern that the American people were not being informed about the economic impact of proposals to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nor was the American public being provided with balanced information about the science of global warming. Myron Ebell, director of global warming and international environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is the Cooler Heads group leader.
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• "Cooler Heads" focuses on the consumer impact of global warming policies that would drastically restrict energy use and raise costs for consumers.
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• Members of the coalition point out that the science of global warming is uncertain, but the negative impacts of global warming policies on consumers are all too real. Coalition members also follow the progress of the international Global Climate Change Treaty negotiations.

Members

"Cooler Heads" members are non-profit, non-partisan, public policy, taxpayer, activist, seniors, and consumer groups: 

Alexis de Tocqueville Institution

Americans for Tax Reform

American Legislative Exchange Council

American Policy Center

Association of Concerned Taxpayers

Center for Security Policy

Citizens for a Sound Economy

Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow

Competitive Enterprise Institute

Consumer Alert

Defenders of Property Rights

Fraser Institute, Canada

Frontiers of Freedom

George C. Marshall Institute

Heartland Institute

Independent Institute

Istituto Bruno Leoni, Italy

JunkScience.com

National Center for Policy Analysis

National Center for Public Policy Research

Pacific Research Institute

Seniors Coalition

60 Plus Association

Small Business Survival Committee

Spreading the word

• Global warming website - The Cooler Heads Coalition has a web site solely dealing with global warming issues, www.globalwarming.org. This site, designed and maintained by Consumer Alert, pools together information from experts both inside and outside of the coalition and serves as a clearinghouse for information on global warming science and policy proposals. After only four months, it was listed by the New York Times as being among the top fifteen environmental websites, and it was the only market-oriented website listed.

• Cooler Heads Newsletter - The group also publishes The Cooler Heads Newsletter, a bi-weekly newsletter which serves as an update on current economic, scientific, and political issues related to global climate change.

• On the Hill - Cooler Heads members sponsor a regular series of science and economic briefings on Capitol Hill, which feature prominent researchers and academicians to discuss scientific and economic research relating to global warming issues. Congressional staff members, policy makers, and the media are invited to these educational sessions.

Also...

• Besides the publications sponsored by the group, individual Cooler Heads members publish research studies, reports, and issue briefs on scientific, economic, and political aspects of global warming policies. Members also sponsor press conferences, rallies, and consumer surveys.

• Members give numerous presentations, sponsor seminars, take part in debates, and appear regularly on television and radio talk shows to discuss global warming issues. Articles and opinion pieces by Cooler Heads members appear in newspapers and magazines around the country and abroad.

• Several Cooler Heads member groups are involved in the global warming treaty negotiations as NGOs (non-governmental organizations) at the United Nations negotiating sessions.

"Cooler Heads" members quotes on global warming policies

"Its dj vu all over again. First it was the bogus health care crisis. Now it is the imaginary climate crisis. Then the solution was Hillarycare a Rube Goldberg bureaucratic monstrosity dressed up in the rhetoric of markets, flexibility, and innovation. Now the solution is Climatecare an even more audacious power grab decked out in the same deceptive rhetoric. I am confident the American people will see through and reject this latest assault on their freedom and living standards."

-- Marlo Lewis, vice-president of policy of the Competitive Enterprise

"President Clintons global climate change proposals will waste taxpayer money on pork-barrel corporate subsidies and will impose a stealth tax through its emissions permit systems which will increase the cost of energy for every American."

-- Grover G. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform

"Despite President Clintons attempt to play down the pain factor in his proposals to put U.S. energy-use under UN authority, the facts cannot be denied -- it will mean energy rationing or massive tax hikes or some of both. Remember the Carter years under the Carter Energy Plan? Millions of Americans sat in long lines for their turn at the fuel pump. The Clinton Energy Plan could produce similar results but its impact will be more widespread. Small businesses are Americas job creators. This proposal puts millions of American jobs at risk by unduly and unfairly burdening small businesses with vast new costs and stealth taxes."

-- Karen Kerrigan, president of Small Business Survival Committee

"Policies disguised as middle-of-the-road instead will be leading us down the road to national industrial policy and a planned economy. The losers will be American consumers, who will bear the brunt of restrictions on energy use in their everyday lives. Theyll have to pay the costs, not just in higher prices, but in a drastically lower standard of living."

-- Frances B. Smith, executive director of Consumer Alert

"The proposal that the Clinton Administration finally put on the table is long on idealism but frighteningly short on the specifics of how much it is going to cost American consumers. In fact, one might say, it leaves American consumers, particularly seniors, out in the cold."

-- Thair Phillips, CEO of the Seniors Coalition

National Consumer Coalition

The National Consumer Coalition (NCC) is an on-going coalition organized and coordinated by Consumer Alert, which focuses on the consumer impact of policy proposals. Its 26 non-profit, non-partisan member organizations include public policy groups, seniors organizations, taxpayer and consumer groups whose individual members number 3.9 million. NCC coordinates the work of subgroups in specialized consumer issue areas.

For More Information, write or call:

The Cooler Heads Coalition
c/o Consumer Alert
1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Suite 1128
Washington, D.C. 22036

Telephone: (202)467-5809
Fax: (202)467-5814

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