Billings
Rally: An Energy Strategy for the 21st
Century
March
29, 2016
Billings
Courthouse Lawn
It’s disheartening. We clamor for our national leaders to be
inclusive, to speak on behalf of our most vulnerable populations, to not be
short-sighted but to seek out long term solutions that might benefit not only
the profit of the present generation but the health and well-being of future
generations. Instead, what Senator
Daines has chosen is to use slick words and twisted terms to be nothing but a
snake oil salesman. Snake oil salesmen
were always carpetbaggers who betrayed the locals by getting them to spend
their hard earned dollars on remedies and potions that had no basis in
reality. How can he claim his Montana
roots when he sells Montana and its people down the Yellowstone River?
He talks about an all-of-the-above energy strategy,
like its inclusive, but heads up a conference hosted and sponsored by the likes
of Montana Petroleum Association, Montana Coal Council, Cloud Peak, Phillips
66, and Conoco Phillips with an obligatory nod to everpower. An all-of-the-above energy strategy ignores a
history of imbalance, government funding for extractive energy, and denies the
radical action climate change requires to bring balance back to God’s good
earth. At the very least, Senator
Daines, show yourself to be a man of honor and speak the truth.
To act like this is about the plight
of our Native American sisters and brothers, he now claims to be their defender
by advocating for Crow Nation’s ability to take their coal out of the ground
for use. These are just slick words and
twisted terms showing him to be a snake oil salesman. What
will this do for the long term plight of the Crow people, the everyday Crow
person, the structural racism that will remain?
At the very least, Senator Daines, show yourself to be a man of honor
and speak the truth.
Senator Daines talks about the
“future” of Montana energy with the intelligence of an ostrich. With the overwhelming statements by climate
scientists saying that we are way past the time when we need to adjust course,
with no such thing as “clean coal”, and with peak oil, how can this be our
future? With the way extracted energy
sources destroy ecosystems, how can this be our future? With the way extracted energy sources act in
boom and bust, how can this be our future?
These are the words of a snake oil salesman. At the very least, Senator Daines, show
yourself to be a man of honor and speak the truth.
Stop using slick words and twisted
terms and speak the truth. Be a man of
honor. Show leadership.
Today we affirm one of the deepest
truths in the Judeo-Christian tradition.
God owns the land and gives it to the entire community on loan so that
we might be good stewards of this amazing gift.
So that we may be good stewards of this soil’s fertile and regenerative
power, these mountains’ majesties, this waters’ cleansing and ever-flowing
life, we meet here today to say there is a path which honors the beautiful and
rich Montana we have been given.
Mythologically, throughout Scripture, the prophets tell us that God is
actively involved in creating a new earth when the soil is despoiled, the
mountains tremble, and the seas begin to roar.
It is a sign that the earth itself has lost balance, is showing symptoms
of a fever, and that we best be collaborating with God to build a new heaven
and a new earth. That time has come
sisters and brothers. That has time has
come. The soil has been poisoned and
cracks in dryness, the mountains burn and tremble in places where they never
have before, and the hurricanes and typhoons roar with an intensity never
known. Pope Francis remembers our
tradition to know that all of this environmental degradation is related to how
we treat the economically poor.
And Senator Daines tells us to take
two aspirin and he will call us in the morning. Because there are dollars to be made when
extractive energy says that it owns the land.
There is a profit to be made even when the long-term effects of coal
extraction will ravage the land and our lungs.
There is a future to be sold when our tapwater can be lit on fire and
emergency services are once again needed on our coastlines ravaged by roaring
seas and among our towns ravaged by burning forests. Show yourself to be more than a snake-oil
salesman. Be a man of honor. Be honest.
Speak the truth.
Whether it be through the wide
consensus on climate change or Biblical imperative, listen to what the world is
telling you. We have been given a
gift. You are its trustee. Listen to climate scientists. Listen to Biblical imperative. Listen to the earth. Be truly inclusive. Truly care for the most vulnerable. Truly imagine a future for your children and
children’s children. None of the people
of Montana or Montana’s beauty and resources will be protected by your almighty
dollar. Be more than a snake oil
salesman. Speak the truth.
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