Groups gather to protest gas prices, mock oil executives

Oil and gas protest by environmental and labor groups. (Photo by Matthew Reichbach)

Labor and environmental groups gathered in a high-traffic location in Albuquerque to protest high gas prices and blame the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., for the current gas situation.

The Sierra Club and the Defenders of Wildlife Action teamed up with the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 18 for the protest on the corner of Lomas and San Pedro in Albuquerque Thursday afternoon, just as rush hour began.

Members of the groups and volunteers dressed as oil executives (suits, top hats and monocles for the men, ball gowns for the women) to "thank" McCain and Pearce for helping the oil companies and oil executives receive record profits. One sign read, "$11.68 billion," which is the record profit that ExxonMobil posted in the second quarter of this year.

When asked why the groups decided to mock the energy executives in this fashion, Sierra Club conservation organizer Shrayas Jatkar told the Independent, "When you hear about ExxonMobil making $11.68 billion in the second quarter alone, it’s so absurd you kind of have to laugh at that." Jatkar went on to say that translated into $5 million of pure profit per minute.

Joshua Sabato of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund said Pearce is complicit with the oil companies in the current gas price situation.

"The reason that we’re opposing Congressman Pearce is really because time and time again he’s voted against the increase of fuel efficiency standards," Sabato said. "We have to start moving in this direction; I mean, it’s clear."

During the event, the group members dressed as executives toasted each other, thanking Pearce and McCain for voting with them on every key vote. "And it was cheap, too!" one man dressed as a Texas oilman said. "Only cost us $655,000 in campaign donations!"

"He wants to raise oil efficiency standards to 50 miles per gallon!" Jatkar said of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the Democratic presidential candidate, during the event while giving a toast, satirizing what the oil executives might be saying: "He wants to invest money in clean energy! Clean energy? That don't exist!"

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