When it comes to environmental activism, the competing sides have two very different strengths: clean air and clean water advocates have grassroots support and motivated activists, while industry groups have cash.
As a result, the former has grassroots support; the latter has astroturf.
This isn’t exactly new. A few years ago, the American Petroleum Institute urged oil industry employees to pose as regular ol’ “citizens” who oppose climate change legislation. Around the same time, a D.C. lobbying firm, working for the coal industry, sent bogus letters to Democratic lawmakers in opposition to a cap-and-trade bill.
In these cases, the industry and its lobbyists couldn’t rally real support, so they faked it, using their financial resources to perpetrate a fraud. It’s textbook astroturfing.









