Black Conservative Tells Congress Obama’s War on Fossil Fuels is “Bad Plan for Our Economy, Jobs and Hardworking Americans”

Calls White House Energy Policy “Wealth Transfer” From Poor and Middle Class to Favored CEOs

Washington, D.C. – Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli testified today before the full U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources about the inordinate financial hardship the Obama war on fossil fuels imposes on poor and middle class American households.

Borelli’s congressional testimony was presented as part of the “Harnessing American Resources to Create Jobs and Address Rising Gasoline Prices — Part III: Impacts on Seniors, Working Families and Memorial Day Vacations” oversight hearing.

A video of Borelli testifying at the hearing is available at http://youtu.be/QoYzxlD3xDg.

Some remarks from Borelli’s prepared statement as submitted to the House Natural Resources Committee:

  • “[O]ur country’s natural resources are under assault by environmentalists, business interests and progressive politicians. Their plan is to raise the price of fossil fuels to make renewable energy sources more economically competitive.This is a bad plan for our economy, jobs and hardworking Americans.”
  • “Tragically, President Obama’s energy policy is contributing to the economic pain being experienced by hardworking American families. Instead of having a policy that would take advantage of our abundant supply of domestic natural resources – coal, oil and natural gas, which currently provide about 85 percent of our energy needs – the President is waging a war on fossil fuels.”
  • “By forcing the cost of traditional forms of energy higher, President Obama wants to make renewable energy sources cost-competitive. It’s a command-and-control energy policy where the federal government takes an active role in picking energy winners and losers…”The winners in President Obama’s energy policy are the well-connected corporate and social elite while the losers are the hardworking Americans who will have to suffer the economic consequences of higher energy prices, slower economic growth and jobs moving overseas.It’s fundamentally a wealth transfer mechanism from the middle- and lower-income households to the pockets of corporate heads and billionaire investors who want to profit from renewable energy.”
  • “Clearly, President Obama’s anti-fossil fuel energy policy is on a collision course with the attitudes of the majority of Americans.The President needs to shake loose from the corporate and environmental activist special interest groups that have influenced his policy and reverse course and adopt a pro-growth energy strategy.”

Borelli is a columnist for FoxNews.com and the Daily Caller and a regular contributor to the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network as well as a frequent guest on talk radio. Borelli is also a regular speaker at tea party events from coast to coast — including the major September 12 rallies in Washington, D.C. in 2009 and 2010.

Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives since 1992, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (https://nationalcenter.org).

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