miriam ramirez puerto rico

mma<div>as part of a partnership with the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-petroleum-institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">American Petroleum Institute</a> (API), the largest oil and gas lobbying organization in the U.S., Black and Hispanic business groups have been placing op-eds in local newspapers touting the benefits of offshore drilling, as Reuters recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-oil-offshore/big-oil-eyes-u-s-minority-groups-to-build-offshore-drilling-support-idUSKBN1JI2FM" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a>. Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to be opposed to offshore drilling than white Americans, according to a <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/30/more-americans-oppose-than-favor-increased-offshore-drilling/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Pew poll</a> conducted in January. The op-ed campaign is part of an industry-driven effort to make offshore drilling look more broadly supported and to shift minority opinion by enlisting groups that purport to represent communities of color.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Op-eds push oil industry statistics but fail to disclose oil industry connections</h2>Media Matters identified six newspapers in the Southeast that have published op-eds by minority business leaders or political leaders who argue in favor of increased offshore oil and gas drilling along the Atlantic Coast. Most of these minority authors are affiliated with the <a href="https://exploreoffshoreusa.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Explore Offshore</a> alliance, which they mention in their pieces -- but they neglect to disclose that Explore Offshore is a project of API and that many of the talking points and statistics they cite in their op-eds come straight from API materials.API <a href="http://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/news/2018/06/06/bipartisan-explore-offshore-coalition-supporting-expanded-access-to-us-natural-g" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">announced</a> the Explore Offshore alliance on June 6, billing it as a “bipartisan coalition representing a diverse group of community organizations, businesses, and local associations across the Southeast that support safe and responsible expanded U.S. access to oil and natural gas through advanced technologies.” The minority business groups in the coalition are highlighted on the Explore Offshore <a href="https://exploreoffshoreusa.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">homepage</a>, while most other coalition members are listed in less prominent places on the website -- an indication that API wants to highlight Black and Hispanic participation. The minority groups in the coalition include the <a href="http://www.floridablackchamber.com/home.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Florida Black Chamber of Commerce</a>, the <a href="http://www.fshcc.com/about-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce</a>, the <a href="http://nchispanicchamber.org/welcome/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">North Carolina Hispanic Chamber of Commerce</a>, the <a href="https://www.scachamber.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce</a>, and the <a href="https://www.vahcc.com/about-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce</a>, plus one minority religious organization, the Hispanic Pastors Association.Florida:In Florida, <a href="https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/opinion/point-view-offshore-energy-key-for-florida-future/Gwts67Ih9f0P1IhNOlY86M/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Palm Beach Post</a> and the <a href="https://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2018/06/05/offshore-energy-key-floridas-future-opinion/672835002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Tallahassee Democrat</a> published a pro-drilling op-ed written by Julio Fuentes, president and CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/Column-Let-s-explore-safe-offshore-drilling-off-Florida-s-coast_169287083" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Tampa Bay Times</a> published a like-minded op-ed co-authored by Miriam Ramirez, a former member of Puerto Rico’s Senate and a co-chair of <a href="https://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/news/2018/06/06/bipartisan-explore-offshore-coalition-florida-supports-expanded-access" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Explore Offshore Florida</a>, a state affiliate of API's national Explore Offshore coalition.Fuentes and Ramirez and her co-authors took figures from API’s <a href="http://www.api.org/_{/media/Files/Policy/Exploration/FL-One-Pager.pdf}" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">one-pager</a> about the benefits of drilling in Florida’s waters. Fuentes wrote (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">Continued offshore development would put more than 56,000 Floridians to work and add $4.5 billion per year to our economy.</blockquote>API's one-pager says (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">Employment in Florida due to spending by the Eastern Gulf offshore oil and natural gas industry is projected to reach over 56,000 jobs.…Contributions to Florida’s state economy due to spending on Eastern Gulf [Outer Continental Shelf] oil and natural gas exploration and development activities could be nearly $4.5 billion per year by the end of the forecast period.</blockquote>Ramirez and her co-authors wrote (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">Economic studies show that the industry’s spending would bring Florida $1.3 billion per year in government revenue within 20 years of opening up the area for oil and natural gas development.</blockquote>API's one-pager says (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">Florida could see a 37.5% share of the Eastern Coast bonuses, rents and royalties generated which are projected to reach $1.3 billion per year within 20 years.</blockquote>The Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which Fuentes runs, receives <a href="http://www.fshcc.com/trustee-directory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">support</a> from Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light, two large utilities that are <a href="https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/duke-energy-florida-nears-completion-of-state-of-the-art-natural-gas-plant" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">building</a> <a href="https://www.fpl.com/clean-energy/natural-gas/modernization.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">natural gas-fired plants</a> in Florida. The chamber and the two utilities have backed anti-environment campaigns in the past. In 2016, the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce joined <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/florida-amendment-1/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Duke, Florida Power & Light, and other power companies</a> in <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/numerous-florida-hispanic-chambers-of-commerce-announce-support-for-amendment-1-300343538.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">supporting</a> Amendment 1, a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article109017387.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">deceptive</a>, utility-backed ballot measure designed to restrict consumer access to rooftop solar power in Florida. The Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce also receives <a href="http://www.fshcc.com/trustee-directory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">support</a> from Florida-based, third-party energy supplier Liberty Power, a company that recently paid a <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/New-York-State-Reaches-Settlement-With-Energy-Service-Company-That-Illegally-Deceived-Consumers-AG-479440323.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">settlement</a> to New York state for engaging in deceptive practices and is the subject of a cease-and-desist complaint <a href="http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20180420/NEWS01/180429991/ct-targets-liberty-powers-abusive-marketing" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">filed</a> by Connecticut’s Office of Consumer Counsel for allegedly deceiving consumers.The other Florida minority group that's part of API's Explore Offshore alliance, the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce, has fossil fuel ties as well. It is closely <a href="http://www.floridablackchamber.com/sponsors---partners.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">affiliated</a> with the National Black Chamber of Commerce, which has received <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-smog-battle-industry-gets-help-from-unlikely-source-black-business-group/2015/09/28/8c1c7e34-63c8-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">extensive</a> funding from fossil fuel interests including ExxonMobil and Koch Industries. The National Black Chamber notoriously <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/06/26/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-joins-oil-in/204153" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">led minority opposition</a> to the EPA's Clean Power Plan, which would limit pollution from power plants. Eugene Franklin, president of the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce, <a href="http://agenda.myescambia.com/docs/2013/REGBCC/20130321_684/4013_Eugene%20Franklin%20Resume.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">served</a> on the board of directors of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Both the <a href="https://nationalbcc.org/news/latest-news/2811-florida-black-chamber-solar-amendment-release" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Florida chamber</a> and the <a href="https://www.republicreport.org/2016/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-irs-solar-amendment/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">national chamber</a> supported the pro-utility Amendment 1 in 2016.South Carolina:In South Carolina, <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/explore-our-offshore-resources/article_40c3113c-74c8-11e8-9abc-4fe6170831cf.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Post and Courier</a> and <a href="https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/opinion/2018/06/26/opinion-planning-future-requires-exploring-offshore-resources/713896002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Greenville News</a> published a pro-drilling op-ed by Stephen Gilchrist, chair of the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce and chair of <a href="https://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/news/2018/06/06/bipartisan-explore-offshore-coalition-south-carolina-supports-expanded-access" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Explore Offshore SC</a>, the South Carolina branch of API's Explore Offshore coalition. Gilchrist also apparently relied on API statistics in his op-ed, writing (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">Offshore development could … add $3.8 billion to our state budget per year. This could create 34,000 much needed jobs in the state</blockquote>But Gilchrist appears to have gotten one of those API talking points wrong by a factor of 20. He claimed that offshore drilling could add $3.8 billion to South Carolina's budget each year, but API’s <a href="http://www.api.org/_{/media/Files/Policy/Exploration/SC-One-Pager.pdf}" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">South Carolina one-pager</a> claims the $3.8 billion would come in over a 20-year period (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">Employment due to offshore oil and gas development activities on the Atlantic Coast in South Carolina could reach over 34,000 jobs within 20 years…The cumulative effect on the state budget from 2020-2040 is projected to be over $3.8 billion.</blockquote>Gilchrist has cultivated questionable alliances that many African-Americans in South Carolina would not be comfortable with. In 2015, Gilchrist invited Donald Trump to an event for Black entrepreneurs that was co-hosted by the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce. The crowd at the event was “predominantly white,” <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/archives/trump-rally-lets-down-entrepreneurs-black-business-owners-expecting-advice/article_8cf14110-73d8-53c5-bd7f-4b62c694672b.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">according</a> to The Post and Courier. In late 2017, Gilchrist <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/steve-bannon-tells-black-business-leaders-in-south-carolina-to/article_c1c53456-c684-11e7-b124-a77fbbd40d48.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">invited</a> his friend Steve Bannon, former Trump advisor and <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/heres-how-breitbart-and-milo-smuggled-white-nationalism?utm_term=.fqVKAbzkgq#.fppnrK7RAN" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">white nationalist sympathizer</a>, to a minority business roundtable sponsored by his group.Virginia:In Virginia, the <a href="http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/local-voices/dp-edt-oped-sears-watson-0620-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Daily Press</a> published an op-ed co-authored by former state Del. Winsome Earle Sears, an <a href="http://ww2.odu.edu/ao/news/index.php?todo=details&todo=details&id=2086" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">African-American</a>, who now serves as co-chair of <a href="https://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/news/2018/06/06/bipartisan-explore-offshore-coalition-virginia-supports-expanded-access" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Virginia Explore Offshore</a>, API's Virginia coalition. Like her cohorts in other states, she drew talking points right from API materials. From her op-ed (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">With the exploration and potential for development of offshore energy resources, Virginia could gain 25,000 jobs, many with an average salary of $116,000 — more than double the commonwealth’s average. We’re also projected to attract $1.5 billion per year in private investment</blockquote>From API’s <a href="https://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/news/2018/06/06/bipartisan-explore-offshore-coalition-virginia-supports-expanded-access" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">announcement</a> of its Explore Offshore coalition in Virginia (emphasis added):<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; list-style: none; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">By 2035, the oil and natural gas industry could create over 25,000 new high-paying jobs in Virginia</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Offshore development could result in $1.5 billion in private investment into Virginia ...</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; list-style: none; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">The average salary for oil and natural gas exploration and development jobs is $116,000.</li></ul></blockquote>The Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which is part of API's Explore Offshore coalition, joined a number of oil and gas trade associations in <a href="https://www.api.org/_{/media/Files/News/Letters-Comments/2017/State-Coalition-Letter-to-BOEM-2019-2024-RFI.pdf}" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">signing</a> a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management urging the agency to allow more offshore drilling. The Virginia Hispanic chamber has also <a href="https://www.dominionenergy.com/about-us/values-commitments/diversity/supplier-diversity/supplier-partnerships" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">partnered</a> with Dominion Energy, Virginia’s <a href="https://wtop.com/virginia/2018/01/facing-new-scrutiny-powerful-utility-turns-to-old-friends/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">largest and most powerful</a> utility.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Conservative groups with anti-environment agendas and fossil-fuel ties have a history of trying to co-opt minorities</h2>API is mimicking a well-worn strategy in which polluters target minority and low-income communities with industry-funded research and disinformation about energy. For example, in recent years, Americans for Prosperity, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Heartland Institute, among many others, have waged a <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/energyandpolicy/pages/472/attachments/original/1438288015/Energy-and-Policy-Institute-Attacks-on-Renewable-Energy-Policies-in-2015-Final.pdf?1438288015" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">campaign</a> to hinder the growth of solar energy at the state level. That effort has included the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/14/myths-and-facts-about-net-metering-for-solar-en/205519" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">false</a> claim, often <a href="https://grist.org/climate-energy/big-energy-has-tried-to-turn-people-of-color-against-solar-power-since-forever/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">advanced</a> via minority politicians and front groups, that net-metering policies designed to make rooftop solar power more accessible would harm minority and low-income people.Fossil fuel industries and their allies, including the National Black Chamber of Commerce, also <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12082015/minorities-targeted-misinformation-obama-carbon-clean-power-plan-national-black-chamber-commerce" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">targeted</a> minority groups with <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/05/05/wash-times-touts-industry-allies-to-deny-black/203535" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">misinformation</a> about the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which, if fully implemented, would have <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2016/09/23/the-clean-power-plan-a-public-health-imperative/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">prevented</a> thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of asthma attacks each year.These tactics are especially insidious because research consistently shows that minority and low-income communities suffer disproportionately from the burning of fossil fuels and the impacts of climate change. The third U.S. National Climate Assessment, released in 2014, <a href="https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/human-health" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">found</a>:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">Climate change will, absent other changes, amplify some of the existing health threats the nation now faces. Certain people and communities are especially vulnerable, including children, the elderly, the sick, the poor, and some communities of color.</blockquote>In early 2018, EPA scientists published a <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304297" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">study</a> in the American Journal of Public Health that <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/nidhisubbaraman/epa-environmental-justice-air-pollution?utm_term=.tfvDvpNAXR#.lcOeX1aM80" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">found</a> people of color in the U.S. are exposed to more air pollution than white people are, with African-Americans exposed to the most. A number of <a href="http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/files/The_Toll_from_Coal.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">other</a> <a href="http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/files/Gasping_for_Breath.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">studies</a> have documented the negative health effects of air pollution on minority and low-income communities. A joint <a href="http://catf.us/resources/publications/files/FumesAcrossTheFenceLine.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">report</a> released in 2017 by the NAACP and the Clean Air Task Force found that natural gas facilities in particular are harmful to Black Americans:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; list-style: none; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">[M]any African American communities face an elevated risk of cancer due to air toxics emissions from natural gas development: Over 1 million African Americans live in counties that face a cancer risk above EPA’s level of concern from toxics emitted by natural gas facilities.</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; list-style: none; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">The air in many African American communities violates air quality standards for ozone smog. Rates of asthma are relatively high in African American communities. And, as a result of ozone increases due to natural gas emissions during the summer ozone season, African American children are burdened by 138,000 asthma attacks and 101,000 lost school days each year.</li></ul></blockquote>Blacks and Hispanics also suffer disproportionately from climate change impacts such as extreme weather. Just last year, Hurricanes <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/05/only-26-percent-of-hurricane-harvey-survivors-have-had-fema-aid-request-approved-survey-finds/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8df8a88e0315" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Harvey</a> and <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/09/puerto_rico_is_experiencing_a_crisis_created_by_environmental_injustice.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Maria</a> devastated African-American and Latino communities in Houston and Puerto Rico.Polls have shown that nonwhite people in the U.S. are more <a href="http://www.langerresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/1173a5ClimateChange.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">concerned</a> about climate change than white people are. A 2015 poll of African-Americans found that 60 percent of respondents <a href="https://www.greenforall.org/poll_shows_african_americans_strongly_back_climate_action" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ranked global warming as a serious issue</a>, while a 2017 survey of Latinos found that 78 percent of respondents were <a href="http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-latino-mind-may-2017/4/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">worried about global warming</a>.Surveys have also <a href="https://www.greenforall.org/poll_shows_african_americans_strongly_back_climate_action" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">documented</a> strong support among minority groups for clean energy solutions. A 2015 poll <a href="https://www.greenforall.org/poll_shows_african_americans_strongly_back_climate_action" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">found</a> that 66 percent of African-Americans believed that using more renewable energy would create new jobs, and 57 percent believed that shifting to clean energy would decrease their energy costs. A separate poll conducted in 2015 <a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/poll-latino-opinion" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">found</a> that 84 percent of Latinos believed that the U.S. should mandate greater use of clean energy sources like solar and wind power.Clearly, minority communities <a href="https://climateaccess.org/blog/lessons-field-climate-views-frontline-communities" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">understand</a> the risks of climate change and want clean energy solutions to mitigate those risks.But API has chosen to partner with minority business groups to erode support for clean energy solutions and promote pro-fossil fuel arguments that would harm the very communities these organizations purport to represent. And, in a decision that demonstrates just how out of touch Explore Offshore is with minority communities, API recruited former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/jim-webb-confederate-flag-stance-119379" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">confederate apologist</a>, to be a national co-chair.Newspapers in the Southeast and around the country should not be letting oil industry allies spread propaganda and claim to represent minority interests. Op-eds that more accurately represent Black and Latino aspirations would point out that these communities have the most to lose from expanded offshore drilling and the most to gain from a shift to clean energy.
===see sunshine stae news BS//https://floridapolitics.com/archives/271837-explore-offshore/law lobby banner ads in story?American Petroleum Institute thinks there’s a case to be made for expanding offshore drilling. And API offshoot “Explore Offshore,” billed as a “bipartisan coalition,” is poised to make that argument.The group, rolled out just hours after POLITICO reported an industry interest in drilling within 75 miles of shore, has some star power associated with it. Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson is national co-chair.State co-chairs are likewise known quantities, in former Puerto Rico Sen. Miriam Ramirez and former Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp.Kottkamp and Ramirez both offered enthusiastic advocacy for drilling, with Kottkamp noting the importance of lobbying local elected officials.“Affordable energy is critical to our quality of life in the Sunshine State. We are speaking with our local leaders throughout Florida to discuss ways to maintain our state’s natural beauty and meet the energy needs of our growing population of over 20 million residents and 110 million annual visitors,” Kottkamp said.Ramirez noted that “we can support thriving tourism industries here in Florida all while developing offshore energy resources that could create high-paying jobs in our state.”The effort, Nicholson says, is not limited to Florida.“As we plan ahead as a country, access to our offshore energy resources is a key part of the nation’s economic future and national security, and that is why I am pleased to chair the national Explore Offshore USA coalition. Uniting supporters from Virginia to Florida, we will continue to work to ensure access to our offshore energy resources to support reliable, affordable energy, boost national security, and assure a strong United States economy,” Nicholson asserted.This effort comes at a time when Florida’s political scene has been roiled by mixed signals regarding whether or not offshore oil rigs are in Florida’s future, including opposition from many Congressional Delegation members to expansion of industry prerogativesSen. Bill Nelson has already dubbed his potential general election opponent, Gov. Rick Scott, as “Oil Slick Rick” after what he and political allies deem to be flip-flopping by Scott on the issue.Scott took credit for taking the issue “off the table” after a January meeting with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, even as no such assurance has been memorialized in law or departmental directive.Scott, meanwhile, has attracted strong interest from the energy sector as a Senate candidate.The Tampa Bay Times reports that Scott has raised at least $880,000 from energy interests well outside Florida.In that Times piece, a Scott spokeswoman decried any implication that the donations are transactional on this issue.“Anyone who contributes to Gov. Scott’s campaign does so in support of his candidacy, which includes priorities such as protecting Florida’s natural treasures by keeping drilling away from our coastline,” Lauren Schenone said. “It was Gov. Scott who worked to have Florida taken off the table for oil drilling.”Jonathan Webber, Deputy Director of Florida Conservation Voters, added in a statement, “In Florida, our environment is our economy. Any proposal for expanding offshore oil drilling puts our economy and environment at serious risk.“How many so-called ‘foolproof plans’ now sit on the trash heap of history? Floridians learned a harsh lesson from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which coated Panhandle beaches in noxious black tar and hurt local businesses up and down the Gulf coast. No one can ignore that this outdated practice is unsafe. Climate change and sea-level rise are already causing enough dramatic consequences for Floridians.“We should be investing in Florida businesses that offer clean energy alternatives, like solar power. Members of Florida’s Congressional Delegation are elected to office for moments like this. Now is the time for them to speak up in Washington and publicly oppose this plan. Offshore drilling is a risk that our state cannot afford.”Nicholson, however, contends many concerns about drilling are misplaced.“There is little to no chance of this exploration being visible from the coastal lands, and the miracle of new science and technology has made the chances of a disastrous accident like that of the BP Deepwater Horizon in 2010 nearly impossible,” Nicholson said during a news conference at the Florida Press Center.David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, said that because of technological advances since 2010, “we’re at a safer point than we’ve ever been.” Still, he said, there are no guarantees that another oil rig blowout will never occur.“I think there are some of us who would like an absolute guarantee. I’ll be transparent with you: There are no absolute guarantees in the activities of mankind,” Mica said. “But we must try to improve our technologies with the very best and brightest. And Florida is producing many of them.”Some material from the News Service of Florida is used in this article with permission.A.G. GancarskiA.G. Gancarski has been a correspondent for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. In 2018, he was a finalist for an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies "best political column." He can be reached at AG@FloridaPolitics.com</div>