Kelly Mader

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The late Kelly Forbes Mader is the founder of the Energy Policy Network and former Vice President of State Government Affairs at Peabody Energy. Mader passed away on June 24, 2016.[1]

Mader founded the Energy Policy Network, itself financed by Peabody Energy.[2] He briefly served as a director of the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, another organization listed in Peabody's 2016 bankruptcy filings.[3][2]

Peabody Energy, previously Peabody Coal Company, is the largest private-sector coal company in the world. In 2006, Peabody sold over 247 million tons of coal. The company's coal fuels approximately 10% of the electricity generated in the United States and 3% of electricity generated throughout the world.

According to a biographical sketch appearing on the National Association of Attorneys General website, Mader "formerly served in the Wyoming legislature between 1984 and 1991, first as a state representative then as a state senator. During his time as state senator, he chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee and co-chaired the Joint Appropriations Committee."[4]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

Mader was involved with ALEC for decades, mostly as Peabody's representative on the Corporate ("Private Enterprise") Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as of 2011.[5] In August 2011, he was given ALEC's 2011 Private Sector Member of the Year Award.[6] In 1986, when he was a Wyoming State Senator, he was the ALEC State Chairman of Wyoming.[7]

After leaving Peabody to found the Energy Policy Network, Mader continued to serve on ALEC's corporate board of directors, on behalf of the EPN.

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

Resources

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References

  1. Kelly Forbes Mader Obituary, Gillette News Record, June 29, 2016.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Nick Surgey,Peabody Coal Bankruptcy Reveals Climate Denial Network Funding, Center for Media and Democracy, June 13, 2016.
  3. E&E Legal Letters Issue X: Kelly Mader Joins the Board, Energy & Environment Legal Institute, March 2, 2016.
  4. [1], "Speaker Biographies." National Association of Attorneys General. NAAG.org. Accessed June 25, 2011.
  5. American Legislative Exchange Council, Private Enterprise Board, organizational website, accessed July 21, 2011
  6. American Legislative Exchange Council, "Solutions for the States," 38th Annual Meeting agenda, on file with CMD, August 3-6, 2011
  7. Ralph A. Rossum, Benedict J. Koller and Christopher P. Manfredi, Juvenile Justice Reform: A Model for the States, Claremont: Rose Institute of State and Local Government and the American Legislative Exchange Council, March, 1987, p. vi

External articles