Non-profit environmental group targets Brown with advertising campaign

By Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff

A new advertising campaign by a non-profit environmental group is urging Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown and several of his Senate colleagues to pass energy and climate legislation when Congress gets back from its August recess.

The Web and radio campaign by the Natural Resources Defense Council, launched today, addresses Brown directly: “Senator, when you've caught up with your summer reading, we'd like you to get back to work on passing a strong climate bill -- for American jobs, and for America's future.”

Similar ads will run in the home states of five other senators: Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Republicans from Maine; George Lemieux, a Florida Republican; Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri; and Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, according to the group.

The six Senators were chosen because they “have acknowledged the reality of climate change and their votes are closely watched by their colleagues,” according to the NRDC.

“The Senate’s inability to pass meaningful clean energy and climate legislation has serious consequences for Massachusetts’s environment and economy,” said Franz Matzner, climate legislative director at NRDC, in a statement. “And each day we do not have a climate and clean energy bill, the U.S. falls further and further behind other countries that aren’t losing any time arguing about whether to invest in clean energy.”

A spokesperson for Brown could not be immediately reached for comment.

UPDATE: Brown spokesman Colin Reed released the following statement on the new ad:

"Left-leaning political groups have been attacking Senator Brown since day one. This particular attack ad is disingenuous and detached from reality. Senator Brown has been clear about his position on energy reform legislation – he opposes a national energy tax. Energy prices are already too high in Massachusetts."