Appeared in the Ft. Collins Coloradoan on May 5, 2010

On April 19, a representative of Americans for Prosperity was in Fort Collins on a publicity tour claiming that the Environmental Protection Agency was out to ticket people at family barbecues and impose fines on anything with a motor.

This appearance was covered by the Coloradoan, which failed to point out both the absurdity of these claims and the self-serving nature of this attack on the EPA by a Koch Industries-supported group. Koch is the second-largest privately held corporation in the United States and produces oil, gas, petrochemicals, cement and fertilizers. The February issue of “The Hightower Lowdown” exposed the AFP as a front group for Koch Industries.

With Congress stalling progress on an already weakened climate bill, the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions is critical in efforts to reduce the U.S contribution to global climate change. Effective climate policies could create many more jobs in Colorado’s clean energy economy, which already employs about 17,000 people.

We ask readers to call on Congress and the Obama Administration to vigorously oppose attempts by the fossil fuel industry and its front groups to weaken the EPA. We also encourage readers to call on Congress to stop stalling the process to craft and pass a strong climate bill. We support the recommendations of the Union of Concerned Scientists to reduce carbon emissions by at least 35 percent by 2020 compared to current levels.

Reiner Lomb,

Fort Collins Sustainability Group