Ohio Enviros Dress as Cavemen to Protest GOP's "Stone Age" Energy Stand

by Emily Gertz

categories: Activism, Arctic & Antarctic, Clean Energy, Fossil Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Jobs & Economy, Oceans, Policy & Legislation

Published September 03, 2009 @ 08:25PM PT

Above: Highly amusing video by Bring Ohio Back about the Stone Age 5 -- GOP representatives who oppose the ACES energy and climate bill.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), an avid opponent of federal climate and clean energy policy reform, got a special welcome yesterday from constituents dressed as cavemen to protest "stone age" GOP energy policies.

Or as the group Environment Ohio puts it, "backpedaling, coal- and oil- promoting alternative to the historic clean energy legislation finally being considered in Congress."

The occasion was a panel discussion in Columbus, where Rep. Boehner was joined by Rep. Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek), Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green), Pat Tiberi (R-Columbus) and Jean Schmidt, (R-Loveland). The five legislators appeared before the public to discuss the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which passed the House in June; most House Republicans voted against the bill. The public was not invited to comment at the hearing, which according to a local TV station, also featured several invited speakers who supported the Republican position.

Outside the meeting, around 60 protestors from Environment Ohio dressed up as cavemen to protest the GOP's prehistoric energy policies. “We think we need clean energy tax credits, clean energy programs, programs that will drive innovation in wind, solar, geothermal and other clean, renewable energy resources,“ Amy Gomberg of Environment Ohio told NBC 4 Columbus. “We’re suggesting we need to shift our energy policies to actually get us on a path to a clean, sustainable and renewable energy future,“ Gomberg said.

Environment Ohio opposes offshore drilling, as well as oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and says that coal-to-liquid technology -- one of the coal-power-friendly technologies being touted under the "clean coal" moniker -- will damage the environment.

ACES would boost funding for clean and renewable energy generation, and create a cap-and-trade system for controlling and reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.

Rep. Boehner has introduced an alternate energy bill that would allow offshore and Arctic drilling, as well as promoting continued reliance on coal-fired power under the guise of supporting so-called "clean coal" technology, while not addressing climate change at all.

Rep. Pat Tiberi said at the meeting that the plan would raise electricity bills for Ohioans by 30 percent. However, an analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office determined that most Americans would see their energy bills rise very modestly by 2020 under ACES -- about $175 on average, with the poorest households actually getting money back.

Rep. Tiberi also claimed that under a cap-and-trade plan, the US would lose jobs to China and other nations. But a fellow Ohioan disagreed, according to NBC 4:

...David Cohen of Dovetail Solar and Wind, a company that installs solar panels and wind turbines, says the Democrats’ bill will create jobs.

“[ACES] will not kill jobs,“ Cohen says. “Our company has doubled in size in the last two years. Our payroll is up 725 percent.“

According to several recent analyses, ACES would spur well over $100 billion in clean energy industry expansion, and create upwards of 2 million domestic jobs. These reports include "Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standard in the United States" by the Political Economy Research Institute; and “The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy” from the think tank Center for American Progress.

Apparently, even Rep. Boehner acknowledged at this meeting that his bill is never likely to see the light of legislative day. He and his fellow GOP House legislators may be staging events like this primarily to maintain visibility and cred with their core supporters, rather than to engineer any actual progress on a bipartisan approach to energy policy reform.