National: Hart E&P Op-Ed

In his classic book, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 18th century English historian, Edward Gibbon wrote “… as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight.”
The assault we are seeing from Congress on energy producers, by promoting the Waxman-Markey Climate Tax Bill, is an assault on the very support that helps preserve our nation’s greatness.
Congress’ zeal to punish energy providers causes massive economic collateral damage to the most vulnerable in our country. According to the first comprehensive economic impact study of Waxman-Markey by the federal government’s Energy Information Agency (EIA), this bill will lead to fewer jobs and higher energy prices by 2030. The EIA report said the average cost to a household by 2020 would be $114, though those costs would more than double to $288 by 2030 as the rules on energy providers tighten. When stricter rules go into effect in 2025, “the rapid increase in energy prices will cause the economy to contract,” the EIA said.
The salient theme of CORE Chairman Roy Innis’ best selling book, Energy Keepers, Energy Killers, is that energy is the “master resource”—that which makes virtually all other human activity in our modern society possible.
When energy prices go up – who gets hurt? When the domino effect of high energy prices impact the cost of food, transportation, housing and healthcare, who gets hurt disproportionately? All working class Americans of every color are forced to bear the burden of environmental elites desires to radically change our country.
War is being waged by a very well funded, aggressive and systematic campaign to stop—not slow down—reliable energy production. This war to shut down fossil fuel production will force poor and working class Americans into economic serfdom and dependence on government energy subsidies.
CORE and its members do not want energy welfare. Government run energy programs often fail and the poor will stay mired in poverty as a result. Americans do not want the necessities of life and economic progress to be held hostage to the whims and priorities of politicians. Americans need abundant supplies of affordable energy from coast-to-coast.
CORE’s national energy campaign, called – Stop the War on the Poor, – launched in 2008, has promoted this message in over three dozen states across America, Canada and Brazil. The High Impact Leadership Coalition of churches, 60 Plus, Pat Boone’s senior citizens advocacy group, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a network of 25,000 member churches, has joined the crusade.
But this struggle is akin to a David v. Goliath battle. Our free-market coalition cannot rely on the multi-billion dollar foundations that fuel the elite “Green Mafia.” What this coalition has is a very powerful and unique message. What the coalition has is the moral high ground. It has the ability to tap into the independent spirit of the American People, revealed by the nationwide Tea Parties. It has the ability to galvanize hundreds of thousands of people of color and working class Americans to push back against the Green Mafia. The effectiveness of this type of strategy was recently demonstrated in the brush-up between Senator Barbara Boxer and Harry Alford – President of the National Black Chamber of Commerce-, a coalition ally. It is one thing for the Green Mafia to pursue this radical agenda while combating the energy industry or Rush Limbaugh; it is quite different for them to be confronted by a multi-racial working class network of churches and community satellites all across this country.
What our nation needs is a comprehensive domestic energy policy that includes more of everything: renewable fuels, fossil fuels, increased conservation and efficiency. What our nation needs is not only a reduction of our dependence on foreign sources of oil, but a dramatic re-alignment of those foreign sources. Canada has massive energy reserves. The Washington Times reported in July that Brazil’s recent oil discoveries (in the Tupi and Iara fields) give it the potential to make it the Saudi Arabia of our hemisphere. What is needed is a new Energy Monroe Doctrine. A doctrine that creates a Western Hemispheric economic inter-dependence that preserves a secure supply of energy resources, while reinforcing our democratic, free-market values.
This is the struggle that has been engaged by CORE and joined by several organizations and thousands of Americans. These unorthodox and grassroots efforts nationwide need the support of patriotic Americans from all walks of life. As I write this, I recall Edmund Burke’s famous quote, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
By,
Niger Innis
National Spokesman
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Co-Chair
Stop the War on the Poor
730 West Cheyenne Avenue
Suite 150
North Las Vegas, NV 89030
(702) 633-4464
August 2009

In his classic book, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 18th century English historian, Edward Gibbon wrote “… as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight.”

The assault we are seeing from Congress on energy producers, by promoting the Waxman-Markey Climate Tax Bill, is an assault on the very support that helps preserve our nation’s greatness.

Congress’ zeal to punish energy providers causes massive economic collateral damage to the most vulnerable in our country. According to the first comprehensive economic impact study of Waxman-Markey by the federal government’s Energy Information Agency (EIA), this bill will lead to fewer jobs and higher energy prices by 2030. The EIA report said the average cost to a household by 2020 would be $114, though those costs would more than double to $288 by 2030 as the rules on energy providers tighten. When stricter rules go into effect in 2025, “the rapid increase in energy prices will cause the economy to contract,” the EIA said.

The salient theme of CORE Chairman Roy Innis’ best selling book, Energy Keepers, Energy Killers, is that energy is the “master resource”—that which makes virtually all other human activity in our modern society possible.

When energy prices go up – who gets hurt? When the domino effect of high energy prices impact the cost of food, transportation, housing and healthcare, who gets hurt disproportionately? All working class Americans of every color are forced to bear the burden of environmental elites desires to radically change our country.

War is being waged by a very well funded, aggressive and systematic campaign to stop—not slow down—reliable energy production. This war to shut down fossil fuel production will force poor and working class Americans into economic serfdom and dependence on government energy subsidies.

CORE and its members do not want energy welfare. Government run energy programs often fail and the poor will stay mired in poverty as a result. Americans do not want the necessities of life and economic progress to be held hostage to the whims and priorities of politicians. Americans need abundant supplies of affordable energy from coast-to-coast.

CORE’s national energy campaign, called – Stop the War on the Poor, – launched in 2008, has promoted this message in over three dozen states across America, Canada and Brazil. The High Impact Leadership Coalition of churches, 60 Plus, Pat Boone’s senior citizens advocacy group, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a network of 25,000 member churches, has joined the crusade.

But this struggle is akin to a David v. Goliath battle. Our free-market coalition cannot rely on the multi-billion dollar foundations that fuel the elite “Green Mafia.” What this coalition has is a very powerful and unique message. What the coalition has is the moral high ground. It has the ability to tap into the independent spirit of the American People, revealed by the nationwide Tea Parties. It has the ability to galvanize hundreds of thousands of people of color and working class Americans to push back against the Green Mafia. The effectiveness of this type of strategy was recently demonstrated in the brush-up between Senator Barbara Boxer and Harry Alford – President of the National Black Chamber of Commerce-, a coalition ally. It is one thing for the Green Mafia to pursue this radical agenda while combating the energy industry or Rush Limbaugh; it is quite different for them to be confronted by a multi-racial working class network of churches and community satellites all across this country.

What our nation needs is a comprehensive domestic energy policy that includes more of everything: renewable fuels, fossil fuels, increased conservation and efficiency. What our nation needs is not only a reduction of our dependence on foreign sources of oil, but a dramatic re-alignment of those foreign sources. Canada has massive energy reserves. The Washington Times reported in July that Brazil’s recent oil discoveries (in the Tupi and Iara fields) give it the potential to make it the Saudi Arabia of our hemisphere. What is needed is a new Energy Monroe Doctrine. A doctrine that creates a Western Hemispheric economic inter-dependence that preserves a secure supply of energy resources, while reinforcing our democratic, free-market values.

This is the struggle that has been engaged by CORE and joined by several organizations and thousands of Americans. These unorthodox and grassroots efforts nationwide need the support of patriotic Americans from all walks of life. As I write this, I recall Edmund Burke’s famous quote, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

By,

Niger Innis

National Spokesman

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Co-Chair

Stop the War on the Poor

730 West Cheyenne Avenue

Suite 150

North Las Vegas, NV 89030

(702) 633-4464

August 2009

Friday, September 18th, 2009 Uncategorized 11 Comments
Next Entries »

Search

 

Tags