An environmental group called Rising Tide North America put out a fake press release on Monday stating that members of U.S. Climate Action Partnership had agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to stop building coal-fired power plants.

A story using the release was published on dallasnews.com.

USCAP, a group of industrial companies including NRG Energy, said later that it never made such commitments.

“Neither USCAP nor its member organizations were involved in the development of this Web site or the distribution of today’s announcement. This fraudulent Web site has been shut down,” the real USCAP said in a statement.

Rising Tide opposes the use of fossil fuels and promotes “community based solutions” to climate change. According to the group’s Web site, members seek to “spark a nationwide uprising against the fossil fuel industry that not only disrupts business as usual, but inspires widespread resistance.”

Jessica Starr, an organizer for the group, said the fraudulent press release was meant to draw attention to climate change and the idea of cutting emissions substantially.

“It’s a free speech tactic,” she said.

The fake press release was e-mailed to the news media from what appears to be a public relations company called Parsons & Fischer.

The release included a link to the Web site www.climateactionpartnership.org, a fraudulent Web site that was nearly identical to the real USCAP Web site, at www.us-cap.org. The Web site has since been taken down.

The Dallas Morning News called the Parsons & Fischer representatives listed on the release, who directed the reporter to a man named Brian Jones at a different phone number. Mr. Jones said he is a spokesman for USCAP, but he is not.

The News also called USCAP member NRG Energy, as well as Energy Future Holdings, which had applied to become a member of the group. Representatives at both companies said they weren’t familiar with the release, and couldn’t immediately comment.

David Yarnold, a spokesman for USCAP, said the group is considering whether to take legal action against Rising Tide.

“We’ll have some conversations with lawyers,” he said. “In some ways, this group had its moment, and we just hope in the future they’ll speak with their voice and not with ours.”