Developing . . .
An anti-fracking activist and self-proclaimed Environmental Protection Agency employee and whistleblower with close ties to Colorado fracking ban efforts compared oil and gas development to slavery Monday night at a debate in Colorado.
Weston Wilson charged that the industry, and all activities that burned fossil fuels, possessed “an ethical problem” that equated to slavery when he spoke at the campus of Colorado Christian University and the Centennial Institute Monday night, according to video.
Wilson, speaking alongside Phil Doe in opposition to hydraulic fracturing, responded to the notion of economic benefits associated with oil and gas development–namely jobs, economic development, and tax revenues–in his concluding statement on the question of whether or not Americans should ban fracking.
“You know, slavery had a lot of economic benefits, but it had an ethical problem,” Wilson declared.
“Outrageous,” Josh Penry, one of the other panelists, interjected.
“Burning fossil fuels is an ethical problem. You can’t put under the seas Bangladesh or Micronesia because of our collective burning of fossil fuels. That’s what’s happening,” Wilson continued.
At the 4:50 mark:
Wilson advocated a one hundred percent renewable system by 2030, at the earliest.
“We can do this. This is our silver lining. This is our wakeup call,” Wilson said.
Both Doe and Wilson have spoken at a number of anti-fracking events around the country.
Wilson appeared in a “Frack Checked” video from Frack Free Colorado, a group that supported several fracking ban initiatives across a handful of communities in Colorado in 2013 and is leading the charge this year for a statewide constitutional amendment that would end hydraulic fracturing and other oil and gas activities under the guise of “local control.”
Doe spoke most recently at a fracking debate held in Denver and co-sponsored by the Independence Institute and the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado.
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