A favorite movie of millions is The Wizard of Oz. The magic dissipated when Frank Morgan’s character the Wizard was revealed to be a fraud, exposed by Dorothy’s dog Toto, who pulled back the curtain of his throne room to reveal the theatrical illusions used to impress the locals. Where is Toto when we really need him?
I speak of Measure G, an upcoming November ballot measure that would ban all new oil production along with fracking in SLO County. We need Toto to pull back the curtain on this fraudulent measure that will do significant harm to county, city, and school district budgets, not to mention taking some $60-plus million out of the local economy.
This initiative is being promoted as a purely local affair, generated by local concerns about oil spills, air pollution, and the desire to jettison all fossil fuels and adopt 100 percent renewables (solar and wind). We are told that the science that generates the global warming/climate change crisis requiring such drastic action is settled, and all dissenters have the moral credibility of those who deny that the Holocaust occurred. This worldview has been adopted and incorporated into official state policies to be enforced by various edicts handed down by unaccountable regulatory agencies, such as the California Air Resources Board. The Legislature adopted AB 32 mandating reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to levels not seen since the early 1990s; economic impacts were deemed irrelevant or dismissed. Accordingly, the cost of energy in California continues to climb even as the rest of the nation sees declining energy prices and expanding economic opportunities. Silicon Valley is seeing growth, and the state has strong economic prospects in the Bay Area and greater LA, but large sectors of the state are experiencing stagnant growth or even Depression-like conditions. The middle class is squeezed and the working poor hammered as their cost of living escalates even as their buying power diminishes. In Sacramento, legislators and Bay Area elites yawn, some even suggesting the state would do better without middle-class burdens on the economy.
On a national scale we’ve been inundated with breathless stories about collusion of the Trump campaign with the Russians: still no evidence produced that any collusion occurred but the feds are still looking. Surely there must be a crime somewhere out there, and they will find it even if they have to create it. If they only looked behind the green door, the environmental door that is. Apparently, the Sierra Club Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council have been caught with their fingers in the Russian cookie jar, (wittingly or not) taking $10 million from the Sea Change Foundation, a Bermuda company congressional investigators have linked to Russian front groups whose mission was to sabotage American energy production.
A Congressional Report from the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, “Russian Attempts to Influence U.S. Domestic Energy Markets by Exploiting Social Media,” dated March 1, 2018, documents Russian efforts to sabotage U.S. energy markets. Didn’t hear about this? No headlines in the local paper or lead stories on the local TV station? Don’t hold your breath, you won’t.
According to the report, “Russian-sponsored agents funneled money to U.S. environmental organizations in an attempt to portray energy companies in a negative way and disrupt domestic energy markets. … Documents … confirmed that Russian agents were exploiting American social media platforms in an effort to … suppress research and development of fossil-fuels, and stymie efforts to expand the use of natural gas.”
The congressional report found that between 2015 and 2017, the Russian front company Internet Research Agency, (a Russian company based in St. Petersburg) made more than 9,000 posts to social media (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) disparaging fossil fuels, pipelines, and heavily targeted fracking of shale deposits used to increase natural gas production, and hyped alarmist views on climate change to disrupt U.S. energy production. Could it be that Measure G is partly a result of this subversive effort?
The Russian effort to suppress U.S. natural gas production is critical from their perspective because the Kremlin’s national security and their geopolitical agenda is jeopardized by expanded U.S. natural gas production. Their ability to modernize and expand their strategic nuclear forces is dependent upon keeping international fossil fuel prices high since their economy is supported by large fossil fuel exports. Expanded American natural gas exports undermines their global influence and especially their hold on European countries dependent upon Russian natural gas exports to power their economies. America stands on the brink of becoming the leading exporter of oil and natural gas, driving down international fossil fuel prices, thereby undermining Russian military expansion without firing a shot. Accordingly, the Russians consider it vital to sabotage any American expansion of domestic oil and gas production.
For proof of these charges, the congressional report states, “In January 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report that contained ‘clear evidence that the Kremlin is financing and choreographing anti-fracking propaganda in the United States.’”
The hype will continue, facts will be lost in the frenzy of a political campaign. Hopefully, voters will see through the fog, pull back the curtain, and expose the fraud before further economic damage is inflicted upon the county. ∆
Al Fonzi is an Army lieutenant colonel of military intelligence who had a 35-year military career, serving in both the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Send comments through the editor at clanham@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Pride 2018.
There’s Al Fonzi employing his expertise in spreading propaganda against his perceived enemy… In this case, the supporters of clean air and water. Millions of new jobs await our country’s workforce in Clean Energy, benefiting everyone’s health — especially for the poor — which in turn saves us money. However, the status-quo Dirty Fuels industry is back-stopped by huge government subsidies, lobbyists galore, and politicians who can do the Oil & Gas industry’s bidding in the dark corners of government (like the committee mentioned by Al Fonzi above). BTW: The issue actually did make the mainstream press: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-…
Otherwise, it’s getting exactly the coverage it deserves — Not much.
Why does New Times run missives by this raging fool who spouts outrageous bullshit from an alternative universe? Fonzi says there’s no collusion between the Russians & Trump’s regime but it’s obvious Trump is guilty as hell. If he weren’t he & his minions wouldn’t be so desperate to stop Mueller’s investigation . Asshat Al goes on turning reality on its head by accusing environmental groups of being helped by Russia. My god, what utter stupidity! Fonzi reminds me of the demented neo-Nazi John Birch Society idiots back in the day who said the civil rights movement was a communist plot to destroy America & that Martin Luther King Jr rather than the Ku Klux Klan ordered the deadly 1964 bombing of an Alabama church that killed four little girls in order to draw sympathy to his cause. Today, fascists like Fonzi spew over the top lies blaming decent people for crimes committed by Dear Leader & his surrogates.Trump supporters are not ignorant or mistaken. They are simply evil.
Wow, why the hate on LTC (Ret.) Fonzi? He makes claims about Congressional and ONI reports which are quantifiable. Either the reports were issued and make the assertions he claims they do, or they weren’t. Why do certain perennials on this site have such a viscerally hateful reaction to anyone who’s a conservative? If you’re confident in your positions, one would assume that you could approach the debate with some equanimity. Apparently not. One begins to wonder if the Leftists are really sure of themselves. Certainly there’s no grace or tact in much of the spittle-flecked ranting which passes for dialogue on these boards. Let’s all calm down. Jeez. Talking about how anyone who dares disagree is evil is just silly. Let’s talk about the impact of windmills on raptor populations. Let’s talk about the destruction of large swaths of unique desert habitats for gigantic solar farms. Let’s talk about the impact of rare earth metals extraction (vital ingredients in panels and batteries) on ecosystems in Africa and Tibet, where the PRC is ravaging everything in its path. Let’s debate honestly and hopefully without childish and empty threats of poisoning people’s food with jimsonweed. So, LTC Fonzi, I say keep going. This NCO has your back.
To suggest Russians are behind Measure G is ludicrous. Go ahead and pull back the curtain! You’ll see the local activists who started this effort, and the local volunteers who collected signatures to put it on the ballot (I was one of them). This is a spurious argument which makes me wonder if Fonzi is taking donations from the oil industry. I hope the voters will look past his smoke and mirrors.
So here is a cogent excerpt from the Washington Post article which reported on it.
“The House Science Committee report offered an extensive account of what it says were covert Kremlin efforts from 2015 to 2017 to use inflammatory social media posts to distort online discourse about U.S. energy markets, pipeline development, fracking and climate change.
The equal-opportunity hacking was meant to raise tensions on both sides of the U.S. debate.
“By posting content that supports positions held by both liberals and conservatives alike, the Russians used social media to instigate and inflame discord in the United States,” the report states. “Russian social media manipulators intentionally injected foreign propaganda into American political discourse.”
We do know the Russians hacked our Presidential election in favor of Trump–who glories in the fracked glut of American oil now being sold around the world and making billions in profits for his cronies–which is probably not in the Soviet interests. Rest easy Al, any check we get Vladamir will be returned. Yours however will not. You can chip in to support the transition to a clean energy economy and safe groundwater at http://YESonMeasureG.org