CEI stages “Celebrate Coal” counter-rally on Capitol Hill today

Despite the fact that the DC area was just clobbered with snow last night and this morning, hundreds of left-wing environmentalists descended on Capitol Hill today for a global warming protest. The proximate object of ire was the nearby coal-generated power plant. Mostly hippie-influenced college students, from the look of the crowd, they grouped around Longworth House Office Building with their professionally printed, matching, corporate-looking signs. Chanting various slogans, such as like “power to the people” and “green jobs now,” they marched down several blocks to the power plant at New Jersey and E Street, SE.

Not to cede the day to the patchouli-and-dreadlock crowd, CEI, with representatives from Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, was on-hand to meet the anti-energy message with one championing affordable energy. AFP energy policy expert/activist Phil Kerpen was hilariously improvising his own chanted slogans ridiculing the no-economy, no-jobs policies championed by the other team. Stay tuned for photos and videos from the event. And read Iain Murray’s write up of the greens’ “magnificent display of self-delusion.” Meanwhile, the Greenpeace truck fitted with massive, snow-covered solar panels was a special visual treat. They painted it green and blue, with a windmill, so you KNOW it has to be all benevolent and green. How does the thing generate power when covered in snow? I’ve no idea! One of the other team’s protesters waxed romantic about the vehicle as he walked by, saying it brought back good memories of a past protest. (Warm and fuzzy feelings associated with a Greenpeace truck? Really?)

Another visual treat: a woman with a motley collection of stuffed animals festooned to her back and luggage. No idea what that was all about. Anyone?