Chairman’s Corner           

                                       Remarks

                      by Roy Innis

                                       before the

                        2011 International Conference on Climate Change

                                         March 9, 2011 - New York City

CORE Partners  with

United Nations to host

Global Forum on

 “Our Common Humanity

 in the Information Age”

      Leaders from Government, the private sector, science and technology, media, entertainment and sports from around the world gathered at the United Nations to convey the message that the global community is one family with common values. 

CORE Co-hosted Global Forum at United Nations 

      Speakers at the forum included former President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, actress Julia Ormond; bestselling author Dr. Mehmet C. Oz; Google Foundation President Larry Brilliant; and BBC News Washington correspondent Katty Kay.

      The premise of the day-long event was that the six core values of the Millennium Declaration -- freedom, solidarity, equality, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility have not been given enough prominence.               

     continued on page 2.

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  My organization, CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality is today fighting a new Civil Rights battle for all Americans.  That battle is access to affordable and reliable energy. 

    We believe that the civil rights challenge of our time is to stop extreme environmental policies that drive up the cost of energy and disproportionately hurt low income Americans and the working poor. 

    Energy gives us the means to enjoy our civil rights. Abundant, affordable and reliable energy makes exercising of our freedom possible. Without it hope, opportunity and progress is hobbled.

     Let me give you one statistic that shows why this is indeed a civil rights struggle.  This finding was made by the American Gas Association. 

* The average median income family in America devotes about a nickel out of every dollar of income to energy costs. 

* The average low-income family has to devote 20 cents of a dollar to energy. 

* And the average family below the poverty line has to devote as much as 50 cents of every dollar to buy the energy they need.

    Therefore, rising energy prices discriminate against the poorest among us. It is a defacto regressive tax on the activity of life. 

    In fact, those politicians and environmental extremist groups that push policies that raise the cost of energy are waging an outright war on the poor. And, some of the very politicians in Washington, D.C. who are pushing policies to raise the cost of energy are members of the Congressional Black Caucus. 

    I am hopeful that some day soon my brothers and sisters in the Caucus will wake up to what they are truly doing to minorities across this nation. 

    Now, how does all of this relate to our discussion today of climate change and climate solutions?   Because our government is about to blow the price of energy through the roof with so-called “climate solutions.” 

    Now, I don’t subscribe to the theories of climate catastrophe put forward by the political left.  And I certainly don’t believe that fossil fuel energy use is the prime driver of climate change. 

According to the United Nation’s own scientific assumptions and climate formula, if the United States were to shut down every single fossil energy power plant in the country, and keep them off for the next 100 years, we would reap a benefit of only seven one-hundreds of one degree Celsius in reduced global temperature.  That is a “benefit” that is all but immeasurable.   

    Compare that to the catastrophic costs that virtually all experts say these climate policies will cost us. And remember, that calculation is based entirely on Al Gore’s science! 

    Now, I think it is fair to say that most Americans believe it is a good thing to reduce the amount of all man-made emissions we pump into the atmosphere. That is, if we can do it while also create new jobs, stimulating our economy and maintaining our national security. But in Washington, D.C., they just don’t get it.

     Right now, politicians, environmental extremists and even some industry leaders are positioning themselves for what will be the single largest feeding frenzy of tax dollars this nation has ever seen – all in the name of “climate solutions.” 

    These people are preparing to raid consumers’ wallets for close to a trillion dollars through one of two policies:  a cap-and-trade scheme or its close cousin, a carbon tax.

     A cap-and-trade scheme is nothing more than a cap-and-tax on every American -- a tax that will hurt poor families the most. A carbon tax would so the same.  As we all know, it will be the poor who will suffer the most under either of these policies. 

    But guess what?  We are in luck!  Politicians in Washington are now saying that they intend to give back some of that money to the poor and to low-income families.  So, let’s get this straight.

     First, they plan to tax the hell out of us. Then they will give us back some of our own money so that we can pay for the higher cost-of-living that they themselves forced upon us. You know what that’s called?  It’s called ENERGY WELFARE.

     People of color and people with limited means DO NOT WANT ENERGY WELFARE.

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