Conservative policy group ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, threatened legal action against activist groups that accuse it of denying climate change.

While ALEC does not deny that presentations skeptical of climate science have occurred at meetings in the past, they insist that their new leadership is open to debate and welcomes members who support renewable energy, a carbon tax, or other global warming mitigation efforts.

ALEC has recently faced a number of high profile defections as corporate sponsors such as Google, BP, Facebook, Yahoo and Northrup Grumman have left the organization. Activist groups have been pressuring corporations over climate change and Google publicly stated that their decision to leave ALEC was related to the climate change issue.

Environmental organizations remain skeptical of ALEC’s intentions though, “We don’t think ALEC or organizations like it are done attacking progress on climate change, it is hard to imagine these organizations turning a corner and suddenly being open to an honest discussion of real environmental policy.” said Kert Davies, a longtime environmental activist who leads a small non-profit called the Climate Investigations Center.

David Willet of the League of Conservation Voters said, “Usually if someone wants to get serious about tackling climate change, they ask about working with us, they don’t threaten to sue us.”- As reported by the Washington Post