The story was broken by the New York Times. See here.

Apple joins Pacific Gas & Energy, Public Service Company of New Mexico, and Exelon in withdrawing from the group over the issue. Nike last week withdrew from the board of the chamber but remains a member.

In response to Apple's move, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. and chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming said:

"While the U.S. Chamber has been looking to shoot down clean energy legislation at every turn, the defection of more and more companies over these issues are turning them into an 'empty chamber.'"

"We need a constructive discussion of the issues, not scare-mongering and Scopes monkey trials. Clean energy represents the future of business, and American companies and workers are ready to lead the world in the race for new technologies."

Constructive discussions, as if they haven't had enough already. It seems to me that they are trying to gain more time but what for? It doesn't make sense. Anyway, I don't understand why all the fuss, really. I have an educational technology degree so I usually state my opinion when I read articles that catch my attention. But sometimes they manage to mess things up so badly that there's nothing left to say. Moreover, they focus on details which most of the times are not even important.