Pro-fuel efficiency and anti-Musgrave groups unite in protest

Talking about high gas prices seemed strikingly appropriate on a day when Exxon Mobil posted second quarter earnings of nearly $12 billion, the biggest quarterly profit ever reported by a U.S. corporation.

The irony of the announcement of Exxon’s profits was not lost on protesters who gathered outside a Diamond Shamrock gas station, on the corner of 2501 S. Shields St., on July 31 to protest what they see as Marilyn Musgrave's damaging oil-friendly policies.

The protest was organized primarily by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, a national conservation group based in Washington, D.C. with a local office in Fort Collins, with help from Progress Now Action, a left-wing organization based out of Denver.

They decided that the best place to hold their protest would be somewhere where the increase in gas prices is obvious.

The demonstration was one of three events that day, with two others being held in Longmont and Loveland, each drawing small crowds of ten to fifteen people.

Employees of the Diamond Shamrock were unaware that the protest was going to be held near their business. They threatened to call the cops should protesters stray from the sidewalk and onto company property.

Michael Huttner, of Progress Now Action, said that the protest was held to raise awareness about what he called Marilyn Musgrave’s “government of big oil, for big oil, by big oil.” “Consumers need to be educated,” he said, “she’s focused on oil and gas companies while her constituents bear the burden of high gas prices.”

David Kirk, communications coordinator for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, said that protesters were out there to call attention to discrepancies in Musgrave’s voting record toward fuel efficiency initiatives.

“We’re here to highlight Rep. Musgrave’s hypocrisy when it comes to increasing fuel efficiency standards,” he said.

In 2007, Musgrave co-sponsored a fuel efficiency bill that was ultimately trumped when Congress voted in a bill, signed into law by President Bush in December 2007, that more rigorously raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards.

Members of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund said that Musgrave’s more lenient bill was nothing more than a political ploy to appear favorable toward increased fuel efficiency standards while still pandering to big oil companies.

“We think she’s a flipper and a flopper,” Ed Yoon, campaign manager for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, said.

Yoon said that Musgrave has consistently voted in favor of providing millions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and historically voted against fuel efficiency initiatives that would act against those company’s interests.

“These oil companies do not need millions of dollars in tax breaks,” he said. “Musgrave is clearly in the pocket of big oil.”



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Musgrave’s campaign responded with allegations that the protest groups, not Musgrave’s policies, were actually to blame for high prices at the gas pump.

“It’s the policies and activities of these groups that are responsible,” Musgrave’s Campaign Manager Jason Thielman said.

“It’s this drill nothing, do nothing mentality that is directly resulting in these problems we’re having at the pump. Even more specifically, their tactics have already been labeled as false, misleading, big on spin, and loose on facts. They have a record of doing anything they can to forward their agenda.”

Thielman also said that accusations that Musgrave acted hypocritically in regard to fuel efficiency bills are false.

“The bill that Marilyn co-sponsored was a bipartisan, moderate, reasonable approach to raising CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards,” he said.

Thielman said that Musgrave’s bill was a far cry from a political ploy and that her co-sponsoring of the bill with Democrats Ken Salazar and Ed Perlmutter shows Musgrave’s efforts to be progressive and sincere.

“People are wanting to work in a bipartisan way across the aisle. That’s why Marilyn is so happy not to be associated with these radical groups,” he said.

Lynne Hull, who showed up with her own picket sign to support the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund’s demonstration, doesn’t believe any arguments from Musgrave’s campaign that the congresswoman is in favor of increased fuel efficiency standards.

“I don’t buy it because I know she’s voted for other bills,” she said. Bills that, according to Hull, have shown Musgrave to completely favor and court money from oil companies.

“I’m disgusted and infuriated,” she said. “She’s totally corrupt.”

Gary Wockner, a locally well-known representative and spokesman of Save the Poudre and clean water acts in Fort Collins, was out on the corner with his own sign that read “Musgrave in the Pocket of Big Oil.”

“I’m here as a volunteer for clean water action,” he said. “We are joining up with the organizations like Defenders of Wildlife, united to beat Marilyn Musgrave.”

While Betsy Markey’s campaign against Musgrave certainly has a lot to gain from the actions of groups like the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, who have been launching ad campaigns alongside protest rallies, they emphasized that they are not in any way affiliated with the actions or statements of such organizations.

“They operate completely separate,” Ben Marter, the communications director of Markey’s campaign, said. “We couldn’t say definitively one way or another whether we’re in support of their arguments.”

Nonetheless, Musgrave’s campaign feels that the Markey campaign and groups protesting Musgrave have a lot in common.

“This is an out-of-state, pretty much radical, environmentalist group that unfortunately our opponent Betsy Markey has decided to associate herself with,” Thielman said.

The protest demonstration was one of several sure to follow as the tension heats up in the Fourth Congressional District Race between Democrat Betsy Markey and incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave, which will see added national coverage in light of the upcoming Democratic National Convention held in Denver.

SEE VIDEO OF THE PROTEST HERE