Green groups to take 'CarnivOIL' on the road next week

A large coalition of environmental and other groups is launching a three-week anti-oil industry “CarnivOIL” to draw attention to what it calls “The Greatest Addiction on Earth.”
 
The 25-city campaign by Clean Energy Works, which includes about 80 groups, will feature carnival games, including one that involves knocking down oil barrels rather than the more traditional milk bottle. There will also be a dunking booth where contestants aim to drop a turtle into an oily pool of water.
 
“Obviously, not a real turtle,” coalition spokesman David Di Martino emphasized.
 
Other games: a boxing match between soon-to-be-former BP CEO Tony Hayward and a giant sea turtle and a “name the oil company CEO’s salary” game. Prizes will include a Hayward action figure.

The campaign — designed to spur public resentment of the oil industry's influence in politics — follows an initial “ CarnivOIL” staged one July morning at Washington’s Union Station, the Metro stop for many congressional staff.
 
Exact cities for the on-the-road version have not been announced, though the coalition is looking at states that are home to swing senators, including Missouri, Colorado, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, North Carolina and possibly Florida and South Carolina, Di Martino said.
 
The events come as the oil industry's main trade association is starting a series of "citizen rallies" in September to convince the public that scaling back tax incentives for the industry would harm the economy and job growth.
 
At the same time, Clean Energy Works is participating in two other events to round out its message heading into the fall congressional debate, including a three-week bus tour environmental and labor groups began Monday promoting passage of climate and energy legislation as a way to lower the unemployment rate.
 
There will also be a series of four town-hall meetings organized by coalition member Operation Free — a group of veterans and natural security organizations pushing for legislation promoting greener energy production — that begins Aug. 24 in Norfolk, Va. There will be one town hall a week for four weeks in different parts of the country. While senators will be invited to attend, “the goal is about raising public awareness, not necessarily getting congressional involvement in the event,” Di Martino said.