‘Code Red’ Rally Calls Out Western Energy Alliance and Oil & Gas Industry for Years of Lies
Protest highlights damaging misinformation to deceive the public while knowingly destroying the climate
DENVER, CO, November 8, 2021 – This past Saturday, concerned community members from across the Front Range gathered outside the Hyatt Regency to protest Western Energy Alliance as it held its annual gala – complete with an award ceremony and casino night. The protest highlighted the decades of lies, deceptive tactics and misleading advertisements promoted by the oil and gas industry claiming the benefits of fossil fuels to the environment.
“The vast majority of the world’s scientists have conclusively proven that the fossil fuel industry is the main driver of catastrophic climate change. Despite all the scientific evidence, the fossil fuel industry insists on spewing lies about its role in the degradation we see around us on a daily basis,” said Joe Salazar, Executive Director of Colorado Rising.
“This rally is being held specifically to call out the lies promoted by oil and gas funded organizations, like Western Energy Alliance. Every tool in the government’s toolbox should be used to stop this industry’s lies and to hold them accountable to the public,” Salazar said.
During the protest, concerned participants held red flashing sirens as a nod to the International Panel on Climate Change’s recently issued “Code Red,” which warns world leaders that we must act now to end our dependence on fossil fuels in an effort to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. Rally participants waved banners that read “Stop fracking my mom” and “Natural Gas = Methane = Climate Crisis,” and held cardboard tombstones mourning the loss of our healthy environment. One rally goer even handed out mock menus to gala attendees with items such as Tierra a Flambé and Climate Crisis Cherry Crumble*. Media has reported that since the 1960s, the oil and gas industry has been aware of the connection between fossil fuel extraction and climate change. Since then, the industry has spent billions of dollars to cover up the harm it has caused through disinformation campaigns and outright lies.
The organization, Union of Concerned Scientists, details in a newly-released report titled Colorado Targeted by Fossil Fuel Industry’s Disinformation Playbook, that the deceptive tactics used by oil and gas companies and front-groups are nothing more than an attempt “to sideline science and facts, deceive the public, and buy political influence at the expense of public health and safety.” Each year, the industry spends millions of dollars gaslighting the public with misleading ads about their role in climate change. (Cont.)
Colorado Rising is a statewide, 501(c)4, powering a grassroots movement to protect our health, safety, quality of life and the future of our climate from the harms and impacts of oil and gas operations. www.corising.org | www.corfc.org
