Utah Legislators to Brainwash Youth for Fossil Fuel Industry

Indoctrination. That is what Utah state lawmakers decided to implement last week.  A state committee voted unanimously to recommend the Mineral and Petroleum Literacy Act.  This bill would use oil, gas, and mining revenues to develop an elementary school curriculum to teach young children “the virtues of mineral industries.”

Republican state Rep. Jack Draxler outlined the intolerable situation that left him no choice but to sponsor the Mineral and Petroleum Literacy Act: “Few elementary school-age children can say how important oil, gas and coal are to Utah’s economy or for paying for their educations.”

Cosponsor Rep. Mike Noel, also a Republican, elaborated on the necessity of fighting back against the “misinformation” disseminated by environmental groups.  He simultaneously highlighted and dismissed growing concerns about natural gas fracking as proof of environmental overreach.

Draxler agrees that Utah students should be taught that fracking is safe, noting, “it’s just a public perception problem.”  He's right—the public does perceive the problems associated with fracking.  Instead of addressing those problems to safely deploy the technology, though, Draxler’s solution is to mindlessly indoctrinate children so they won’t believe that any risks exist.

Obviously, this is grossly inappropriate. Teachers should determine what is taught, not lobbyists. It is not the slightest bit egregious that first graders are not energy policy experts. When they are older, they will learn, as we did, that fossil fuels provide cheap energy but cause pollution. That’s not controversial, it’s a fact. School is for learning, not political propaganda or corporate spin.

Unfortunately, this is part of a broader, disturbing trend.  Stephen Colbert once said, “reality has a well-known liberal bias.” That was clearly meant as satire, but as conservatives increasingly reject the solid science behind climate change, evolution etc., they are indeed finding themselves at odds with reality over and over again.

In order to pursue policies that lack objective support, conservative politicians are getting creative.  They’re trying (and not failing) to discredit scientists and science itself.  And that works with some of their base, but obviously it cannot gain national traction in an educated electorate. So, with an eye on the future, they are setting their sights on children.

That’s why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a nationwide “education” program for middle school students called “Shedding Light on Energy.”  That’s why the West Virginia Coal Association is trying to get into classrooms and distributing “Let’s Learn About Coal” coloring books.  That’s why conservatives are maneuvering onto state Boards of Education (notably Texas and Kansas) so that they can wage crusades against science and history.

This is disgusting. Enough is enough. Fossil fuels cause pollution. Yes, that stops planet Earth from being an industrial utopia, but that’s reality. The correct response to this situation would be cleaning up these technologies as much as possible.  Denying problems exist and implementing Orwellian campaigns to brainwash our children is literally the most irresponsible reaction fathomable.

Elected officials in industry’s pocket are one thing, but the Utah state entity responsible for regulating these industries, the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, has actually come out in support of this propagandizing curriculum. Sign this petition to tell the executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources (who was an educator for 15 years) that cheerleading industry efforts to indoctrinate elementary school students is entirely unacceptable.

Photo credit: woodleywonderworks via Flickr

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