The exodus continues...

Apple has become the latest big-name company to defect from the Chamber of Commerce, thanks to the group's uncompromising opposition to serious efforts to stop global warming.

In a letter to the Chamber released today, Apple CEO Catherine Novelli wrote that her company "strongly object[s] to the Chamber's recent comments opposing the EPA's effort to limit greenhouse gases."

Apple -- which counts Al Gore as a board member -- joins Exelon, Pacific Gas & Electric, and PNM Resources in quitting the Chamber over the issue. Nike resigned from the Chamber's board, but remained a member of the organization. And GE has said the Chamber does not speak for it on global warming.

A Chamber official recently called for the "Scopes Monkey Trial of the 21st Century" to debate the science behind global warming.

Environmental groups and their allies have led the effort to press the Chamber's members to distance themselves from its recalcitrant stance on the issue, as the Senate gets set to take up major climate change legislation.

Late Update: Rep. Ed Markey, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce committee and co-sponsored the major climate change legislation that passed the House earlier this summer, is making hay out of the Apple news.

In a statement, Markey 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. The Chamber would serve their members, and all citizens, to listen to these forward-thinking companies and workers.