For our look at interest groups and the tactics they use to serve their clients.
They see electrification as a threat and are doing what they can to encourage the use of propane (and propane accessories).
I pulled a few terms out of the story that relate to textbook content.
- fossil fuel industry group
- Propane Education and Research Council
- TV, print and social media- influencers
- federally-sanctioned trade association
- anti-electrification campaign
- public records request
- Energy and Policy Institute
- tax credits
- National Propane Gas Association
- oversight
- Department of Energy
- Government Accountability Office
- campaigns
- federal and state climate policies
- lobbying
- public relations firm
- New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
- New York Propane Gas Association
- state carbon tax
- Federal rebates
- state-level incentives
- social media ads
- congressional authorization
- paid influencer for the propane industry
For D.I.Y. enthusiasts, Matt Blashaw is a familiar face, judging bathroom remodels or planning surprise home makeovers on popular cable television shows.
Mr. Blashaw also has an unusually strong opinion about how Americans should heat their homes: by burning propane, or liquid petroleum gas.
“When I think of winter, I think of being inside. I think of cooking with the family, of being by a roaring fire — and with propane, that is all possible,” he said on a segment of the CBS affiliate WCIA, calling in from his bright kitchen. “That’s why we call it an energy source for everyone.”
Less well known is the fact that Mr. Blashaw is paid by a fossil fuel industry group that has been running a furtive campaign against government efforts to move heating away from oil and gas toward electricity made from wind, solar and other cleaner sources.
The Propane Education and Research Council, or PERC, which is funded by propane providers across the country, has spent millions of dollars on “provocative anti-electrification messaging” for TV, print and social media, using influencers like Mr. Blashaw, according to the group’s internal documents viewed by The New York Times.
As a federally-sanctioned trade association, PERC is allowed to collect fees on propane sales, which helps fund its marketing campaigns. But according to the law that created this system, that money is supposed to be used for things like research and safety.
In 2023, the organization plans to spend $13 million on its anti-electrification campaign, including $600,000 on “influencers” like Mr. Blashaw, according to the documents, which were obtained from PERC’s website as well as a public records request by the Energy and Policy Institute, a pro-renewables group. . . .
