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As the U.S. suffers through catastrophic tornadoes, heat waves, and other climate extremes – no doubt just a small taste of what the climate crisis will bring in the future – polluting industries and the politicians that serve them want to convince you that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is actually a good thing.

Last December, almost like clockwork, Republican legislators in state houses across the nation sounded the alarm about an “out of control” Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). What had the EPA suddenly done to earn such criticism? The EPA had dared to take the first baby steps towards regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

By January 2011, Indiana became the first state to pass a resolution urging Congress to prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions (by defunding the EPA if necessary), to impose a two year moratorium on any new air quality regulations, and urging the federal government to complete a study identifying all planned regulatory activity by the EPA and its impact on the economy, jobs, and American economic competitiveness.

Between February and May, 13 other states passed similar resolutions (AL, IA, KS, KY, MI, MO, MT, ND, PA, TX, UT, VA, and WY). Six more states had resolutions introduced that never passed (AK, FL, IL, MN, OH, and OK). Because the Center for Media and Democracy has now launched the ALEC Exposed archive, we can now trace the emergence of this rash of legislation to the bill factory know as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).