Veterans stop in state capitol to promote domestic energy
By Andrew Guevara
For the Show-Me Institute
A group of veterans traveling across the United States in an effort to promote climate change legislation and to discourage U.S. consumption of oil from foreign countries stopped in Jefferson City on Wednesday. The group, Operation FREE, describes itself as “a coalition of veterans and national security groups working together to raise public awareness about national security threats posed by climate change and our reliance on fossil fuels.” Its tour began on Oct. 12 and will end in about two weeks.
The biodiesel-fuelled bus in which the group is traveling is painted with the tour stops on one side and the words “More jobs. Less Pollution. Greater Security.” on the other. The group said it has also purchased carbon offsets to make the tour carbon neutral.
“Every time we pollute, we create a possible threat,” said Billy Froeschner, an Iraq veteran from Missouri. Froeschner said that “threat minimization,” or “reducing threats before they happen,” is one reason they embarked on the tour.
In all, six veterans spoke about the negative consequences that they said could result from global warming, including increased global wars for resources, increased weather disasters, and disgruntled, displaced populations.
Furthermore, they said, the United States is at war for the wrong reasons.
Raf Noboa, an Iraq veteran from Colorado, said that he “thought [Americans] were there to secure a democratic regime,” but began to realize that this was not the case. Noboa said he believes that the military maintains its presence there in order to secure the oil in the region.
Ed Maye, a disabled veteran from Indiana who served in Operation Desert Storm, later echoed Noboa’s statement. “We were there to protect the oil for Americans,” Maye said.
One reporter asked Noboa whether the tour has anything to do with the current climate bill in Congress, the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
He responded, “That’s part of the debate.”
“We’re way at the beginning of the process,” Noboa said. “What the bill looks like now will be different at the end.”
He also said that the United States spends $1 billion per day on oil that goes to unfriendly regimes. According to figures cited by Noboa, the average Missouri household spent nearly 6 percent of its annual income, or about $2,000 per year, on gas.
In addition to the cross-country tour, Operation FREE has launched television advertisements, met with White House officials, visited 26 U.S. senate offices, and stood on a podium with 12 U.S. senators as they introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Other stops in Missouri included Richmond Heights and Springfield on Oct. 12, and Kansas City.
Andrew Guevara is a student at the University of Missouri–Columbia.