Forrest Wilder | The Texas Observer

So, the Houston energy companies had their big company picnic yesterday in opposition to the climate change bill. The event was closed to everyone but energy company employees (or as the signs said, “Energy Citizens”). But Sarah McDonald, of Public Citizen, managed to sneak in and posted this report.

Another interloper was Matthew Tejada, of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP). He had this to say about the rally:

“Stall, block, delay and don’t change.”

“It’s a knee-jerk rejection that panders to people’s most common fears of losing jobs and costing more money,” Tejada said. “What’s happened in the past with new laws is we adjust, develop new technologies, absorb and lower the costs, and then move on.”

The rally’s message, he said, “will serve neither the future of this city nor the future of this country very well.”

One other thing: the Big Oil organizers wouldn’t even let in tea party types, according to McDonald. So, does that make this rally less or more astroturf?