PennFuture: Pseudo-Event Planned for Chester Today; Big Oil Attempt to Kill Climate Change Law Uses Deceit Instead of Facts
PHILADELPHIA-(Business Wire)-September 3, 2009 - Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) today decried the attempt by Big Oil, led by the American Petroleum Institute, to fool local citizens by holding a public forum-style pseudo event packed with employees, contractors, and friends of polluting energy companies, attacking the proposed federal global warming legislation. Today’s event is one of a number of events, with each “rally” scheduled to allow full participation by the handpicked audience and little notice to the general public so that only those opposed to climate change legislation are heard.
“Big Oil and the Chamber of Commerce are attempting to manipulate the public through the news media,” said Jan Jarrett, president and CEO of PennFuture, “and journalists should avoid accidentally helping this deceit. These are classic pseudo-events, existing for the sole purpose of gaining publicity and serving no other function in reality. Without media coverage, nothing meaningful will actually occur at this bogus rally; the event will only become real once it is covered by electronic or print reporters.
“What’s worse, these bogus events are wrapped around a patriotic theme, with flags and bunting attempting to obscure the pure cynicism of the organizers,” continued Jarrett. “They are attempting to bamboozle the American electorate and our elected officials into acting against the best interests of our nation and world, killing legislation that would slow global warming.”
A group calling itself “Energy Citizens” is organizing the pseudo-events across the nation. A look at the group’s website shows that the participating organizations include the American Petroleum Institute, Chambers of Commerce, oil and gas drillers, the trucking industry, traditional right-wing organizations, coal industry front groups, and others who will be forced to change the way they do business if the nation adopts meaningful policy to slow global warming.
“We strongly urge any reporters to make sure that their coverage shows the men behind the curtain pulling the strings in these theatrical productions,” continued Jarrett. “These so-called ‘energy citizens’ are far from ordinary voters. They are the leaders of the multi-trillion dirty power industry, protecting their companies’ bottom lines and their own million dollar salaries.”
PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization. Working from the premise, “Every environmental victory grows the economy,” PennFuture has successfully advocated for landmark environmental legislation, including passage of the largest-ever environmental funding bond, investment in green energy and energy savings programs, the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, the Clean Vehicles Program and adoption of a regulation that restricts mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants.
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