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Spotlight On: Richard Rowlands

Spotlight On: Richard Rowlands

Richard Rowlands describes himself as liberal. But he subscribes to several conservative groups’ email lists “just to keep track of what they’re doing and saying.”
One such group is AmeriPAC, which claims in a fundraising email that President Barack Obama is raising gas prices to pay for failed green energy companies.
Rowlands, 70, a retired psychologist who lives in Saco, Maine, forwarded the email to Spin Detectors. We found that AmeriPAC supports its conspiracy theory with misleading claims and twisted facts.

PAC’s Email Spreads Energy Conspiracy Theory

PAC’s Email Spreads Energy Conspiracy Theory

In a fundraising email, a conservative PAC claims President Barack Obama is raising natural gas prices to pay for failed green energy companies. But the letter offers only false claims and twisted facts to support this conspiracy theory.

The email says Solar Trust of America, a now-bankrupt company, received “the second largest loan ever handed out by the Department of Energy.” STA never took a government-backed dime. The firm was conditionally approved for the financing, but ultimately turned it down.