Energy workers oppose climate change measure

By TOM FOWLER Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

The message was clear to the 3,500 people attending the Energy Citizens rally in downtown Houston Tuesday: stop the climate change bill expected to come before the Senate this fall.

“The Senate should stand up and tear up this plan,” National Black Chamber of Commerce President Harry Alford said to a cheering crowd that was heavy with energy industry employees. The House of Representatives “wrote 1,100 pages of junk,” he said, referring to the climate change bill that passed that chamber this spring.

The event was the first of more than a dozen planned throughout the country in the next few weeks, pushed by a number of companies and business organizations but organized in Houston largely by the American Petroleum Institute. Several companies, including Woodlands-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., bused employees to the event at the Verizon Wireless Theater, while others encouraged workers to attend.

Despite the emphasis on the effect of the legislation on the energy industry, none of the speakers came from that field.

The keynote speaker was Drayton McLane, owner of the Houston Astros and chairman of the McLane Group, which operates food distribution enterprises and military services. The master of ceremonies, Bill Bailey, is best known for his work as announcer at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

McLane said low-cost fuel helped build the American economy and noted how improvements in production and distribution had lowered the share of household budgets that go into food.

“We need to preserve this way of life,” McLane said.

None of the speakers mentioned political parties or the debate over whether humans are responsible for climate change, a talking point for many in the industry.

They also avoided details about the bill other than what they see as its potential consequences for consumers and the energy industry.

Among other things, it would set caps on greenhouse gas emissions by refiners, power plants and others and require companies to purchase emission permits.

Bailey warned that if the bill pushed gasoline prices up, it could force communities to make cuts in police and fire protection. Alford argued it would endanger jobs.

Perry Courville, an employee of oil field services giant Halliburton Co., said he was against the bill long before the rally but that the strong turnout was reaffirming.

John Torgersen, an employee of ConocoPhillips, said he generally doesn't get involved in politics but that the more he learned about the bill, the more he felt that it would affect his work.

“I was feeling like someone drew a little circle around me with the bill and said, ‘Let's go after this guy over here,' ” Torgersen said.

Anyone looking for a debate on the issues found little outlet at the rally.

David Bowdle, who stood on the sidewalk in front of the event holding a sign reading “Global Warming is a Hoax,” said organizers didn't allow him in.

Neither was a small group from Public Citizen who handed out copies of a study that said the bill will create jobs.

Matthew Tejada, executive director of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention, did manage to get in. His summary of the event's message: “Stall, block, delay and don't change.”

“It's a knee-jerk rejection that panders to people's most common fears of losing jobs and costing more money,” Tejada said. “What's happened in the past with new laws is we adjust, develop new technologies, absorb and lower the costs, and then move on.”

The rally's message, he said, “will serve neither the future of this city nor the future of this country very well.”

tom.fowler@chron.com