The Political Power of Energy

I was perusing the "USA Today" this morning before work, and I noticed 3 items in the front section that really demonstrate the hubris and political influence that big energy wields in American politics. Two of these are items on the carefully negotiated national spending bill, which will decide the US budget for the upcoming year. Within the 1600 plus page bill are the two items incorporated clearly for the benefit of energy producing corporations. The first, a 60 million dollar budget cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, although shameful, is no surprise. What better way is there to get away with the myriad environmental abuses these companies employ in the name of profit than to slash the already thin stretched agency in charge of regulating them to budget levels of 25 years ago?

The second item is one that may not be apparent at first glance, unless one pauses to question why the blocking of a bird from addition to the endangered species list is included on a spending bill. The sage grouse is a remarkable animal, and a symbol of the American west whose habitat, unfortunately, directly overlaps gas drilling boom areas. Even the arid scrub lands this beautiful and tenacious creature inhabits is not remote enough to avoid threat of destruction from myopic and single focused oil and gas drilling companies.

The third item I noticed was unrelated to the spending bill. It was a small article in the "State By State" section covering Colorado, which described a group of residents of the small town of Timnath as being in an uproar about a proposed gas drilling site 2000 feet from an elementary school. When I dug a little more I found that the original plan called for the site to be 1000 feet from the school, but that the president of Peterson Energy removed it 1000 feet further to alleviate public concerns. Apparently the president was counting on the residents of Timnath all to be partaking in legalized marijuana in order to believe the extra 1000 feet would protect their children from airborne and subsurface toxic pollutants.

Here's to hoping for the ability of all to see through the obfuscation and deception in which our politicians are such willing accomplices in this energy corporatocracy.