The Tragedy of GOP Greed

"A rising tide lifts all the boats." -
 my Grandfather took me to see JFK 

in August 1962 in Pueblo.

Taking a drag from his short fat stogie, the man started to shuffle past our Burro Days booth, and then stopped. Pivoting toward me and puffing out a circle of smoke, he began to “explain” that lead, not gold, would be the next most-precious metal. He was talking about bullets.

Any hopes I had of reaching common ground with him were dashed when he complained about the action taking place in Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits to those “worthless, lazy” people who have been unable to find jobs during the recession created by eight years of policies from (his) Republican Party. “They shouldn’t benefit from my efforts,” he authoritatively blurted, as if the unemployed were taking money from his pocket. I wondered what his father must’ve been like.

Spending time in Park County at his “summer home,” the man wreaked of arrogant, ignorant greed. While 62 percent of the public supported extending those benefits, only 6 of 219 Republicans ultimately voted for it after Democrats bucked another unconscionable GOP filibuster.

It’s the kind of greed that led the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans to pass huge tax cuts that benefited only the wealthiest in our country. Conservative hacks like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity would have you believe allowing those tax cuts to expire as they are scheduled to at year-end would do damage to this fragile economy when in fact it would likely do damage to their income and those that fund Fox “News” instead.

Never mind that the reason the cuts took place at all were done under a special voting rule called “reconciliation,” when the GOP pushed the cuts through - the same process they hypocritically decry when the Democrats consider using it.

The man looked at the charts from the Bureau of Public Debt that were posted in our booth and grimaced; clearly unable to absorb the reality – increases in the National Debt, flat and less than $100 billion a year under Jimmy Carter in the late 70s, jumping to a record $283 billion under Ronald Regan, then to $432 billion under George HW Bush in 1991 before dropping sharply down, to $18 billion under William Clinton.

Then, in just the first half of his two terms, George W Bush added more than $2 trillion! But that’s what happens when you finance two wars on credit and give tax breaks to the richest Americans to tuck away or invest offshore.

Go ahead. Believe the Republicans when they say it’s the Democrats that are big spenders. Do it at your own peril and think about the money given – under the Bush Administration -- to “help” banks, only to be turned into multimillion dollar bonuses for executives.

Realize how the bottom 1/5th of families in our country have only seen a 16% increase in inflation-adjusted income over the last 30 years while the top 1/5th have doubled their earnings and the top 1% have reaped a 281% increase in the same period. Understand how our system keeps the lesser well off among us down, and how Republicans put all of their effort onto the highest end of the spectrum.

The man seemed unable to absorb the truth of how the Republican Party has consistently been the reason for unpaid debt in spite of the rhetoric they spout. He can never handle the truth as it would ruin his fantasy that those who “have” built this country and the “have-nots” who should be sent packing or worse.

As he left, I told him I was reminded of a speech my Grandpa took me to when I was 7. We sat on folding chairs in the August heat of Pueblo Public Schools Stadium to listen to President John F Kennedy.

The President spoke of the promise of the Frying Pan Arkansas Project that Congress had passed funding for that year and how it would benefit a wide range of citizens across much of Colorado; but it was more about many public projects around the country. He spoke about long-range thinking and making this country a better place for everyone.

Kennedy said, “What I preach is the interdependence of the United States. We are not 50 countries-we are one country of 50 States and one people. And I believe that those programs which make life better for some of our people will make life better for all of our people. A rising tide lifts all the boats.”

The man went on without another word.

This column was originally published in the July 30, 2010 edition of The Flume, the paper of record for Park County, Colorado.  The monthly column is titled "Democratically Speaking"

The Coming Park County Oil Slick

Garfield County's Drilling Landscape - Coming to Park County?

If you were driving through my subdivision and looked over to discover a large piece of equipment on my land looking to be pumping huge tanks of liquid “stuff” into the ground, would it concern you? You might ask since you probably use well water for your domestic needs and you might wonder what I was up to.

I calmly tell you it’s not really a big deal. I need the money and I’ve leased the natural gas drilling rights to a Houston company who thinks there’s lots to be found and we’re so dependent on Middle East energy that we should try and use our own resources. They say all they’ve got to do is pump this “hydraulic fracking” material into the ground and presto – up comes the gas!

“Sounds pretty nifty,” you say. “Will it save us money?”

“I don’t know. I’ll make some from the lease, that’s for sure. But for the rest, I don’t know. “It’s up to the company, I guess.”

I began to wish that the derrick was better hidden. I didn’t want to think about the answers to the questions. Another neighbor approaches.

“What is that stuff they’re pumpin’ down there anyway?” he asks.

“I don’t know, but the company says it’s safe,” I say, getting a bit uncomfortable.

“Looks awful,” the neighbor says. “How long will it be here? And what’s that pond of guck I see over there? What do those tanks do?”

You already noticed an unusually large number of big tanker trucks coming and going at all hours and thought you smelled something “funny.”

Then all of the warnings that you’d been told were “alarmist” begin to fall into place.

"Processed" frac water in Garfield 

County Pit.  Companies don't have

to disclose the chemicals thanks to

"The Haliburton Loophole"

On the Precipice - Gasland
We’re on that precipice here in Park County after a Denver Based company, Land Energy, Inc., spent $1 million during a BLM lease auction in May for 10-year rights to potentially drill on more than 6,000 acres on land north of Hartsel. The Flume reported it on May 21, and through fortunate timing, HBO has been airing the Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary Gasland since last week with airings still scheduled July 2, 5, and 9, as well as HBO on-demand.

The show is an eye-opening vision of possible hazards from domestic natural gas drilling and uses toxic scenes from Garfield County on Colorado’s Western Slope to bring home unintended consequences to the viewer. Of course, the gas industry has done its best to discredit the film, knowing full well that it’s more fact than fiction.

These documentaries are the only way to effectively get the word out as major media in this country has been taken over by money and corporate interests.

The Garfield County drilling boom triggered a rash of citizen complaints that petrochemical pollution has caused adrenal and pituitary tumors, headaches, nausea, joint pain, respiratory problems, and other symptoms. One related organization, the Paonia- based “Endocrine Disruption Exchange” seeks to compile and disseminate via their web site and other means, information on health and environmental problems caused by low-dose exposure to chemicals that interfere with development and function, called endocrine disruptors.

One little-known piece of the puzzle is the “Haliburton Loophole,” a 2005 Republican-created exemption named after the company former Vice-President Richard Cheney headed. Cheney, you’ll recall, conducted numerous secret meetings with members of the energy industry during his VP tenure.

“Fracking” involves forcing millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals, some toxic, into the ground. The process frees the gas back to the surface for capture. Cheney’s Haliburton “perfected” the technology and the loophole created an exemption to the Safe Water Drinking Act allowing companies to keep secret the chemicals injected deep into ground. Some statistics say each well uses from one to seven million gallons and that while half returns to the surface as a black muck, called “produced water” to be trucked away, the rest stays below.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Colo) 

has pushed for better oil and gas 

disclosure of materials used in fracking.

Who’s there for you – the Democrats
Regardless of your political leanings, the facts are clear that it’s the Democratic Party trying to look out after you in spite of a Conservative-loaded Supreme Court intent to let corporations rule and make the muck murkier.

In the film, Colorado 1st Congressional District Congresswoman Diana DeGette, D-Denver, is shown sparing with industry executives over disclosure of the chemicals, but a bill she sponsored to close the loophole died in her Congressional committee in May and her amendment was withdrawn.

Contrast that with British Petroleum Lobbyist Dan Meyer co-sponsoring a $1,000 a plate Washington DC fundraiser on June 24 for Cory Gardiner, a Republican running to unseat incumbent Democrat Betsy Markey, D-Ft. Collins, in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.

At the state level, Colorado Democratic Governor Bill Ritter helped put in place what some say are the most environmentally stringent oil and gas regulations in the country. Likely GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis will take aim at relaxing those rules.

McInnis has been an attorney representing the oil and gas industry and down on the county level, in 2008, he contributed $10,000 to help fund a 501c4 nonprofit group called Western Heritage; half of the $20,000 the group used for advertising in support of winning Garfield County Republican Commissioner candidates favorable to the industry.
The election drew record spending from outside interests and led to one fine levied against another 527 political committee for improper electioneering tactics.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a former geologist and our Democratic candidate for governor, has called on the oil and gas industry to disclose the chemicals to give the public faith in the processes.

Quality of Life
But this is more than just about fracking; it’s about quality of life. It’s about change and big money at a time when we should be focusing more on environmentally friendly energy technologies and less on how to get more oil and gas out of the ground and giving the industry more control over our landscape.

Colorado Democrats -- US Senators Mark Udall (left), Michael Bennet (right), and Bennet Primary challenger Andrew Romanoff (center) with a youthful constituent.

You’ve seen how that lack of interest in oversight led to the largest oil spill ever, still in progress in the Gulf of Mexico. Does this industry deserve more control?

To my astonishment, the US Senate voted in June NOT to repeal $35 billion in subsidies to BIG OIL, money that could’ve been used to pay down the deficit and fund a $10 billion grant program to encourage energy-efficient buildings. Voting with BIG OIL were Colorado Democratic US Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, along with 19 other Democrats. Among other things, they cited a negative impact on jobs in that industry and a bill that could’ve been written better.

Bennet primary challenger Andrew Romanoff, who received unanimous support from Park County delegates at the state assembly in May, told the Colorado Independent newspaper last week “the truth is, it’s not about our wellbeing or well water that is at stake here, it is our children’s future.” He favors better regulatory reform and control of “a bigger slick of money spreading through Congress and washing away our hopes for reform.”
I agree. And believe you should as well.

In light of the activist Supreme Court carved out by George Bush, which earlier this year changed laws granting corporations the ability to contribute unlimited funds to influence elections – at any level -- if we care about our pristine State we should take heed.

In response, our Democrat-controlled state legislature passed a bill requiring more disclosure of corporate and union spending in our elections. It was signed into law by Governor Ritter in May. Every Republican in the Colorado Senate voted against the bill.

Colorado Oil & Gas Map by Resource Play. GREEN: Producing Wells YELLOW: Permitted Wells RED: Not-Producing www.resourceplay.com


This column was originally published in the July 2, 2010 edition of The Flume, the paper of record for Park County, Colorado.  The monthly column is titled "Democratically Speaking"