 Insulting environmentalist leader calls CORE's Niger Innis "insane" for supporting increased energy drilling The story is in E&E Publications ClimateWire edition of July 30, 2008: Leaders jockey to present unified African American climate platform (07/30/2008) Jenny Mandel, ClimateWire reporter A clamor is growing on Capitol Hill as groups vie to become the voice of African Americans on climate change -- and to serve up what could be a politically important constituency in the fight over capping carbon emissions. But yesterday's launch of a Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change showed that groups will have to speak clearly and firmly to be heard through the din, and choosing their words could be tricky. The commission of 15 leaders, academics and activists -- most of them African American -- says it will strive to bring the black community into the global warming debate and build a coalition encompassing everyone from scientists and teachers to religious leaders and entrepreneurs. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) stressed that the group is sorely needed because African Americans are disproportionately affected by climate change. But in addition to challenges, there are "new opportunities and economies behind our efforts to combat climate change," he said. But when the floor was opened to questions, the discussion quickly splintered. First, a black man identifying himself as a business owner in the Washington, D.C., area gained the microphone and refused to let it go, speaking at length against high gas prices and environmental groups that fail to address the problems of ordinary people. "We are being hurt," he said repeatedly, and finally security was called to escort him away. Soon afterward, a white man claiming membership in the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) stood up to say that climate change skeptics were not being heard. Saying the leading cause of coal-related deaths was a lack of heating and air conditioning for poor people, the man questioned whether energy cost issues were adequately covered by the commission's make-up. CORE spokesman Niger Innis has acknowledged taking funds from Exxon Mobil. Two weeks ago, CORE, along with pro-drilling group Americans for American Energy, hosted a rally in Washington to promote domestic drilling as part of a campaign to "stop the war on the poor" (Greenwire <http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2008/07/17/archive/1> , July 17). A one-sided dialogue? The interjections put Rodney Ellis, a Texas state senator who co-chairs the commission, in a tricky spot. Noting that his Texas district lines mean that he represents "more oil companies than anyone in the room," Ellis said the Commission aims to create a dialogue for African Americans in which not everyone has to agree. Ralph Everett, the commission's other co-chairman and president and chief executive of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank focusing on African American issues, concurred. "I respect everyone who's spoken here," he said. "No views are out of bounds." At the same time, he said, the group will strive for consensus in its activities, but decisions will not necessarily be unanimous. "There's no particular secret or game plan here," he said. "We're happy to have different views." After the event, though, CORE sent out a press release denouncing the Commission as "an unholy alliance of environmental extremists and left-wing politicians" and chastising Rep. Clyburn for his support of it. "Forming a commission to engage blacks in climate change is patronizing and insulting," Innis said. Climate checks to ease the pain If CORE represents one end of the spectrum, further toward the center is a sliver of the environmental justice community, groups like those in the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, which argue that a cap-and-trade system to regulate carbon emissions is too complicated to work fairly in the interests of poor communities (ClimateWire <http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2008/07/25/archive/7> , July 25). On the other side is the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a liberal think tank based in Washington, D.C., that supports a system for trading emissions credits -- and then divvying up the proceeds to help low-income citizens. CBPP is arguing for a "climate rebate," explained Martha Cowan, a senior legislative associate working on the issue. The group estimates that reducing the nation's carbon emissions by 15 percent would cost about $750 per household. A cap-and-trade system would create a huge new revenue stream that should be used partly to offset that burden, Cowan said, explaining that about 14 percent of the estimated revenue would cover the cost of rebates. Such rebates could be made through the tax system for many Americans, Cowan said, while many of those who don't make enough to pay that amount in taxes could be reached by directly depositing funds onto the electronic debit cards used by programs like the Agriculture Department's Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program. Reaching those who are eligible for such benefits but do not collect them could be difficult, she acknowledges, but channeling some funding through the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program could help. Competing for slices of the carbon pie Cowan thinks the recent surge in interest around African Americans' views on climate change stems in part from the climate legislation that has appeared in Congress this year. "We all benefited from the Senate dress rehearsal on this," she said. Cowan maintained that those opposed to the idea of carbon rebates are mostly those competing for money from the same carbon pot. Key among those, of course, are businesses that rely on carbon emissions and are lobbying for handouts and research help to offset the costs associated with compliance. A number of religious groups have been partners with CBPP in their climate work, and Cowan expects more nonprofits to jump into the fray in the next several months, gearing up for possible legislative action in the next Congress. A group already deeply engaged on environmental issues in one African American community is Sustainable South Bronx. That organization has worked since 2001 on the twin goals of "environmental and economic rebirth" for the poor community just north of Manhattan. James Burling Chase, the group's communications director, called CORE's platform "a nightmare," strongly denying that environmental groups are at odds with poor peoples' interests. Hands in the dirt, fighting climate change "It's incredibly short-sighted and a bit dishonest," Chase said. "Certainly, when it comes to the drilling part, the idea that poor people are going to benefit from more drilling ... is insane." Sustainable South Bronx runs Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training, a job training program that works with low-income residents, many of them former drug offenders, to teach green roof maintenance, river bank restoration, hazardous materials handling and other hard skills that can be used for local remediation projects. The program also teaches soft skills crucial for winning, and keeping, a job. Chase said addressing climate change rarely makes it into the program's pitch to would-be participants, who are more focused on landing a paycheck and doing something about the pollution and environmental degradation that hurt living standards in their neighborhoods. Now, with oil prices high, the group is expanding to start a new arm of the program focused on energy efficiency retrofits and alternative energy installations, he said. "By the time you're up to getting oil out of shale, you could employ millions of Americans to completely retrofit and green up our cities" and never need that oil. # # # Who pays the insulting Mr. Chase to say such outrageous things about a decent and honored civil rights leaders? Here are some of Mr. Chase's major supporters and the cash they have poured into his intolerant organization, according to GuideStar's Grant Explorer, available at www.guidestar.org. Funders of Sustainable South Bronx |
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