Shadowing the so-called "Running on Empty" tour in Colorado

Below are high resolution photos from the demonstration at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont, Colorado. Usage freely allowed, please click through for full-resolution images where indicated. For your convenience, today's previous photos and press release for events in Greeley and Ft. Collins are attached. For additional information, contact Executive Director Kjersten Forseth at 719-641-4674.

ProgressNow Colorado's rolling billboard, "End Big Oil Tax Breaks," parked at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont as progressive demonstrators gather.
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

Progressive demonstrators march to the Americans for Prosperity "Running on Empty" tour in Longmont.
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

Progressive demonstrators outnumber Americans for Prosperity supporters in Longmont.
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

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More Photos from Today's Protests Against Big Oil, "Running on Empty" Tour

Northern Colorado Progressives swamp right-wing front group in Fort Collins

Below are additional high resolution photos of today's counter-demonstrations in Northern Colorado against the "Running on Empty" tour organized by Americans for Prosperity. Usage freely allowed, please click through for full-resolution images where indicated. For additional information, see our original press release below, or contact Executive Director Kjersten Forseth at 719-641-4674.

Progressives protest against Americans for Prosperity's "Running on Empty" tour in Ft. Collins.
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

ProgressNow Colorado's rolling billboard, "End Big Oil Tax Breaks," parked at the Americans for Prosperity "Running on Empty" tour in Fort Collins.
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

A mix of some conservatives and many lively progressives listens to Jeff Crank of Americans for Prosperity in Ft. Collins. ProgressNow Colorado's rolling billboard, "End Big Oil Tax Breaks," is parked in the background.
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

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Big Oil funders of Jeff Crank's front group are not "Running on Empty"

Demonstrators rally against Americans for Prosperity "Running on Empty" tour in Greeley, CO. 
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 
CONTACT: Kjersten Forseth, Executive Director at 719-641-4674

GREELEY: As the oil industry-funded tour by right-wing front group Americans for Prosperity arrived in Northern Colorado today, ProgressNow Colorado, clean water activists, and progressives of all stripes questioned the absurd basis of their message with lively counter-demonstrations.

ProgressNow Colorado's rolling billboard "End Big Oil Tax Breaks" is following the AFP's tour. Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

"The Koch brothers and other Big Oil funders of Jeff Crank and the so-called 'Americans for Prosperity' are not running on empty," said Kjersten Forseth, Executive Director of ProgressNow Colorado in Greeley today. "Since oil companies have reaped over $67 billion dollars in profits so far in 2011 alone, they can pay Crank and his friends all they need to tour around the country with their absurd and deceptive message."

ProgressNow Colorado, in addition to organizing progressives at AFP's tour stops, has deployed a rolling billboard truck to shadow the "Running on Empty" tour throughout the state. One side shows a recent gas station price sign over $4 a gallon, with the caption "End Big Oil Tax Breaks (They Get Enough Of Our Money)." The other side asks, "Big Oil Gets Tax Breaks--Grandma Gets Medicare Cuts?"

"A recent study indicates that despite the false political claims made by the right wing, oil and gas drilling in the United States is at a twenty-year high ,"1 said Forseth. "And oil companies are reaping billions of dollars in profits--and massive tax breaks. Meanwhile, the very same Jeff Crank on stage today will tell you that Medicare has to be cut!"

"The choices that some of our representatives are making today are totally unacceptable," said Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action. "These are the people who say we must roll back clean water protections, turn a blind eye to destructive industry drilling practices, and harm local communities in the name of massive oil industry profits. This fundamentally misleading 'Running on Empty' tour would be laughable if there wasn't so much damage occurring to Colorado's landscape, wildlife habitat, and water."

"Fortunately," said ProgressNow Colorado's Forseth, "we've had a great turnout so far today of concerned Colorado citizens who aren't misled by Crank's ridiculous spin. Back in reality, Coloradans know who is benefiting from higher oil prices: the same people who paid for his blow-up gas pump. And before he asks for one more dime to be cut from America's vital institutions like Social Security and Medicare, Big Oil needs to give up a few tax breaks on their billions of dollars in profits."


ProgressNow Colorado's rolling billboard near AFP's "Running on Empty" tour in Greeley. 
Photo by Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado. Usage freely allowed, click here for a high resolution image.

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1. Headwaters Economics: Drilling Rig Activity Nears Twenty-Year High
Available online: http://headwaterseconomics.org/wphw/wp-content/uploads/RigCounts.pdf