South Carolina Green Party For Offshore Oil Drilling?
Faye Walters, campaigning for South Carolina’s 4th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, at first seems like a typical Green Party candidate. On the subject of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling disaster, she writes:
“The BP oil spill was the nations’ worst environmental disaster, a catastrophe that has killed wildlife, threatened livelihoods to include fisherman and restaurants. (Assoc. Press 7-15-10) It has put the safety of our food at risk and the safety of our wildlife could be threatened for years to come. It is past time that we develop renewable energy sources, provide ways to conserve energy and protect our environment. It is vital that we step into the 21st century, end our dependency on oil and protect and clean-up our environment for the future of our children and grandchildren.”
Reading this, one would think that Walters is a typical environmentalist Green. That’s not the case, however.
On her campaign web site, Walters boasts that she has signed the Energy Freedom Pledge from the American Conservative Union. That Energy Freedom Pledge includes a promise to oppose any national ban on offshore drilling for oil. It also includes the commitment to support the opening of oil shales for drilling, which is associated with the risky practice of hydrofracturing (fracking).
That puts Faye Walters firmly, and proudly, on the side of big oil. It’s not a new position, either. Walters took this position in 2008, when she last ran for the U.S. House of Representatives.
The South Carolina Green Party ought to know about the support for unclean fossil fuels. It’s had two years to catch on, and to find a better candidate for the 4th congressional district. Either the South Carolina Greens aren’t carefully checking their own candidates for high political office, or they don’t particularly care whether their candidates support environmentally responsible policies.
[...] what happened to Faye Walters, a Green Party candidate down in South Carolina’s 4th congressional district. Walters says [...]