Even if the country is “running on empty,” Americans for Prosperity had enough fuel to pull into Kalispell’s Depot Park on Aug. 19, the final Montana stop of the group’s statewide tour.
Americans for Prosperity was established in 2004 to promote limited regulation and smaller government. Last week the group crisscrossed the state with a message that gas prices have risen because of policies established by President Barack Obama, according to the group’s national president Tim Phillips.
“The goal we have here is to make sure people understand that higher fuel bills and utility bills are hurting Americans and how the Obama administration is responsible,” said Phillips, who has worked for various Republican politicians including President George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign.
Phillips said strict industrial regulations created by the Obama administration have hurt the economy and average Americans. The only way to lower fuel prices, he said, is by lifting regulations and supporting more oil drilling across the country.
“There is a plentiful supply of oil here in the U.S. and we need to get it and get it fast,” he said.
But Kyla Wiens, a lobbyist for the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the goal of Americans for Prosperity is to increase the profits of large oil companies and argued that the group is backed by those same companies.
“Their solution is to reduce regulation, but it really distracts from real solutions of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels,” she said. “Their solution is to drill for every drop of oil we have.”
While Phillips supports drilling for more oil in this country, he disagrees with the characterization of his goals.
“Our goal is to drive down gas prices and energy bills by increasing production in this country and I don’t see how that helps their profits … that’s silly,” he said.
Wiens said the tour came to Montana at an interesting time: less than two months after hundreds of barrels of crude oil flooded into the Yellowstone River near Billings.
“Because of that lack of regulation we had this disaster,” she said. “It’s a matter of bad timing and I think people can see right through that.”
But one accident isn’t a reason to stop drilling for oil, Phillips said, a view that was shared by many of the hundred or so people who attended the rally, including Joanne White.
“We’ve been drilling for a long, long time and we’ve done it safely, but things happen,” White said. “(Obama) has put so many regulations on us developing our own energy and is making us dependent on foreigners for our survival.”
Although Phillips said the tour wasn’t a Tea Party event, a strong Tea Party presence was evident at the Aug. 19 gathering. One of the speakers was Tea Party organizer Linda Johnson.
Johnson, wearing a yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” T-shirt, said she believes government has grown too big and the message of the “Running on Empty” tour aligns with the Tea Party’s views.
Those views are what brought White to the event.
“I’m just sick to death of the direction this country is going and the government isn’t listening to the people,” White said. “People have to stand up and fight for their freedom or it’ll be taken.”
Not everyone gathered in Depot Park supported the tour’s message. Cari Bohm of the Checks and Balances Project followed the tour as it went through Montana, touting the message that more regulation was needed for oil companies, especially after the oil spill near her hometown in Billings.
“For me this is about ending the tax breaks and handouts the government gives big oil,” she said. “We’re trying to get the facts out, not their smokescreen.”
But Phillips pointed to the price at the pump.
“There is no reason on earth that gas is $3.72 in Montana right now,” Phillips said, adding that when Obama got into the White House, the national average was below $2.
Wiens countered by saying that the highest gas prices have ever been was three years ago when it was over $4, during Bush’s administration.
Regardless of the differing opinions, all agreed on the importance of energy issues in this country.
“I think it’s important to offer solutions,” Wiens said. “Real solutions.”