With this backdrop, let me explain why we gathered to protest environmental activists’ vehement opposition to exploration of clean-burning Utah natural gas. Actor Robert Redford and others have been fighting to stop the sale of leases to oil and gas companies in Utah, claiming that 110,000 acres should be conserved because of a high concentration of prehistoric archaeological sites and rock art. But restricting the supply of natural gas in the Rockies can raise prices for home heating fuel across the nation.
For example, it is estimated that approximately eight billion cubit feet (BCF) per day of natural gas flows east out of the Rockies. Utah's production comprises about one BCF of those exports to the East. The greater Chicago area alone consumes over four BCF of natural gas per day. Utah gas ends up flowing to many cities like Chicago to help families heat their homes.
It is possible that Redford himself does not understand the impact of his environmental grandstanding. Therefore, we asked for a summit meeting with him to discuss our concerns and explain how energy prices disproportionately impact low-income families. Unfortunately, Mr. Redford has not yet accepted our invitation to have a dialogue. It is easy for well-to-do people like Redford to attempt to save face by justifying inconsistent or hypocritical positions.
In fact, we chose the day before the kick off of the Sundance Film Festival to hold our protests because it would give us a forum to inform the nation of Redford’s hypocrisy. He flies hundreds of people to the festival yearly, using a huge amount of fuel on private jets. The price means nothing to him. While he complains about the way the rest of the nation uses energy, he forces others to sacrifice for his energy vision. While Mr. Redford can afford to heat his 13,000-square-foot, Utah mansion no matter how high heating prices get, grandmothers on a fixed income and single mothers dependent upon public assistance cannot afford to pay their energy bills. They count on energy production in states like Utah to continue so that heating costs stay as low as possible.
Between his Utah mansion and the Sundance Resort, Mr. Redford and his business partners use more natural gas in a month than a single mother of two in South Chicago uses in a year. I would like to challenge Mr. Redford to live in a middle class neighborhood for just two weeks before he makes any additional energy recommendations. An alternative is to allow CORE and the Cornwall Alliance arrange for his team to talk to 100 people from Cabrini Green in Chicago, the southeast section of DC, or the Church Hill community in Richmond.
I am delighted whenever celebrities “weigh in” on the moral issues of our day. I would be even more delighted if these entertainment heavyweights were more informed. I am sure that our national respect for them would go through the roof, if they walked a mile in our shoes before they speak out. We need Hollywood actors to become advocates for people who are living really difficult lives now because of the high cost of living, joblessness and the economic recession. Our cultural icons need to open their eyes a bit and see beyond the lure of quick environmental headlines.