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Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has taken legal positions consistent with those of coal and other energy industries. He also has taken their campaign donations. But does that mean he favors them over other Ohio constituents?

(File photo )

WASHINGTON -- Several times now, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has joined other Republican state attorneys general in suing the Obama administration in efforts to derail federal environmental rules.

At the same time, DeWine -- a possible contender for Ohio governor in 2018 -- has collected large campaign donations from coal companies, electric utilities and others pushing back against the environmental rules. So-called polluting industries and their employees have donated more than $335,000 to DeWine since 2010, according to data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Does this put Ohio's attorney general in the pocket of polluting industries?

The liberal group Americans United for Change says yes. Americans United, part of a broad network of activists who supports Democratic causes, included DeWine in a list of state attorneys general who regularly fight President Barack Obama on environmental rules while raising money from industries with a financial stake in winning those fights.

Americans United released the information today because it is the second anniversary of the U.S. EPA's proposal for what became the Clean Power Plan, which, if the courts don't block it, will require power plants to burn less coal as they generate electricity.

What's the beef, and why today?

To environmentalists, the Clean Power Plan is a necessary step to cut greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. Supporters say the rule and financial incentives should spur growth in the already expanding alternative-energy and energy-efficiency industries, creating jobs. And the rule will prevent premature deaths and asthma attacks.

But to many Republicans, especially in states like Ohio that rely heavily on coal for electricity, the rule is a step toward higher energy costs and will cause job losses in the Appalachian region, while doing little about climate change.

Americans United not only doesn't buy that argument. It also says that while Republican officeholders complain and bring federal lawsuits, they line their own campaign coffers.

Republican attorneys general have received $2.8 million from "polluters and energy interests" in recent years, and the Republican Attorneys General Association has received $1.9 million for those interests since 2014, Americans United said in a report titled "Polluter Impunity."

DeWine's share since 2010: $335,763.

What's DeWine say?

DeWine's office said the purported linkage between his legal positions and campaign donations is unfair.

It is true that DeWine has filed lawsuits on behalf of Ohio, as did other attorneys general for their states, over Obama's rules to:

curtail coal use in electric-generating plants (the case is working its way through federal courts)

cut mercury emission from the plants as well (the attorneys general won

restrict development along waterways, including some marshes and streams, unless such plans pass an environmental review first (the attorneys general

Obama's EPA also wants to clarify that emissions controls on cars made for the road cannot be modified, even if used for off-road racing -- a pending rule DeWine wants nixed.

DeWine's argument on the environment is no different than the one he raised in cases fighting Obama's immigration and health insurance policies, spokesman Dan Tierney said. (Obama won the health insurance case and a Supreme Court decision on immigration is expected this month.) That is, DeWine is fighting what he says is an illegal White House overreach of constitutional power.

"We're seeing it pop up time and time again," Tierney said. "And the attorney general has been very clear about this: There are powers left to the states."

Is there another claim besides money?

Besides noting the campaign donations DeWine has received from such sources as executives at the Boich Companies, Murray Energy and FirstEnergy, Americans United had another criticism of DeWine: He seems awfully close with the industries whose positions he supports.

Using public records laws, Americans United obtained emails between DeWine and interests with a stake in fighting Obama's rules.

One such email provided details of an appearance DeWine was to make before an Ohio Coal Association luncheon in 2015. U.S. Sen. Rob Portman was to speak as well. In an email from the group's president, DeWine was asked through a top aide to speak about the Clean Power Plan, the waterway rule and "anything else with coal he is seeing."

Christian Palich, president of the coal association, added in the email that this would be a "closed press event in case you were wondering, (because) we want people to be able to speak freely."

Is that all?

Another email to DeWine, from last August, contained a critical analysis of the Clean Power Plan and what the authors saw as the EPA's poor understanding of the way the power grid and regional electricity markets operate. The analysis made critical points that could be used in a legal or public relations case.

The email had been circulated among four people who work for the energy industry, including Matt Evans, president of external relations for Boich Companies. It was sent to DeWine by Mike Dawson, who does public relations consulting for the industry and was DeWine's communications director when DeWine was a U.S. senator.

DeWine received it in his personal email account. He then forwarded it from his iPad to members of his staff.

What's that prove?

Is this a smoking gun?

That might depend on the angle from which you view it. Critics such as Americans United say all that money, and the level of familiarity and information being exchanged, went beyond what was required for the attorney general to do his job.

"When an attorney general chooses to serve as part of dirty energy's unofficial defense team, who is left looking out for the public interests?" said Americans United president Brad Woodhouse. "If you're a public servant like DeWine and find yourself delivering 'closed press' speeches at Coal Association events while standing in the way of a plan that will save thousands of lives and leave millions of Americans less susceptible to air-pollution related illnesses like lung cancer to asthma attacks in children, maybe it's time to consider a clean break from your dirty energy friends."

Those close to DeWine said that's a stretch.

Dawson, who sent the industry-related email to DeWine, said he doesn't even remember it. Dawson said he's "never talked to Mike DeWine at all" about the issue.

As for the donations, many of them came from Ohio executives at coal- or energy-related companies that donate widely to politicians. They tend to favor Republicans, who in turn support the industry's low-regulation priorities.

The assertion that DeWine takes his positions because he wants to help polluters "is false on its face," Tierney said. The critics might be talking about pollution, but "we're talking about federalism. That's the underlying issue for our office."