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Chair column for March, published in the Kenosha News
Chair column for March, published in the Kenosha News
The elected GOP representatives in this state and country are working against us by providing tax cuts to the energy companies, the same companies that have gouged us at the pump and polluted the air we breathe. In 2000, we paid less than $1.50 per gallon of gas, whereas today’s price is over $2.50 per gallon.
What do we, as citizens, get in return? A GOP attorney general that backs out of an EPA lawsuit seeking better pollution controls on coal-fired power plants. Why would J.B. Van Hollen do this? Well, he received a lot of money for his campaign from utility companies, that’s why.
Paul Ryan (our GOP representative) is working on convincing us that we pay too much at the pump because of so-called “boutique blends” in gasoline. Paul Ryan is only saying this because he is pushing bills being presented to him by the same people that backed his campaign to the tune of over $30,000. Taking a drive this past weekend to the Dells, the price of gas remained quite consistent, regardless of the blend of gasoline that was marketed.
Our Republicans in
Congress have consistently favored the
extreme profits of the oil companies that fund
them. They voted in
2004 and 2005 to give away $14
billion of our money to these companies that
are now reaping massive profits at
our expense. Thank
God the U.S. House
Democrats had the common sense to repeal these
giveaways, voting this year to
overturn such legislation. In fiscal
year 2006, the 5 largest oil companies
reported a combined $113.3 billion in
profit. That
equates to $376 for every
person living in the
Even Samantha Kerkman has failed to represent our environment or our farmers. She first backed the E10 (Ethanol) bill in the Assembly, then flip-flopped on the bill after major business (i.e. oil) balked at a 10% mandate state-wide. Why? She consistently gets money from energy companies to fund her campaigns.
Since the GOP lost control of both houses in the last election, they are focusing on getting the Iraqi government to pass a “hydrocarbon law”, which will ensure up to 2/3 control of Iraqi oil resources to be under foreign (i.e. United States-based companies) control. This will also guarantee our soldiers will remain in the country for many years to come, which is exactly what the PNAC (Project for a New American Century) calls for in their founding documents (drafted in 1997), detailing a permanent presence in Iraq, not only to control the oil, but to launch further wars in the region.
I think we can all agree
that the only way out to get our
environment back on track and get out of