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On the eve of the Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Robert Redford got some very bad reviews today, not from movie critics but from black ministers. They came from around the country to attack his environmental views and to stand up in favor of oil and gas drilling.
Redford's critics chose the Broadway Theatre in downtown Salt Lake, hoping to draw a few of the cameras that would normally be covering the film festival. The ministers said they were here to speak up for the poor, but critics claim that some of the organizations involved are actually fronts for industry.
It's a national coalition arguing that more drilling would lower energy costs for the poor.
Rev. Gerard Henry, president of the group "Speak Life!" said, "Being able to afford to heat your home with natural gas isn't a luxury. It's an absolute necessity. It can be a matter of life or death."
The ministers, joined by Utah lawmaker Greg Hughes, attacked Redford. In our recent interview, he reiterated opposition to drill rigs near national parks and monuments. At the time of our interview, Redford said, "One rig one day is too much for that beautiful country."
The ministers characterized Redford as an out-of-touch elitist, a radical environmentalist too wealthy to understand poverty.
Elder Sam Malone of the Encampment Church of Cincinnati, Ohio, said, "I would like to bring to your attention Mr. Robert Redford and his amass of wealth."
"This is about why higher energy prices discriminate. This is not about race. It's about class," he added.
But Utah advocates for the poor denounced the protest as phony by groups associated with right-wing and industry causes.
Glenn Bailey, executive director of the Crossroads Urban Center, said, "The issue at hand here is a group that's pretending to advocate for low-income people, funded by the energy industry."
Bailey says oil and gas leases in Utah won't significantly affect prices. He says Exxon-Mobil gave one of the groups $250,000. "They use this issue to try to make political hay. It's really somewhat reprehensible," Bailey said.
Innis, of the Congress of Racial Equality, acknowledges taking money from Exxon but says environmental groups take money from industry, too.
"The implication that somehow our integrity should be questioned on what we've been fighting for three and a half decades is outrageous," he said.
Rev. Harry Jackson of the High Impact Leadership Coalition said, "I don't receive money from any of those groups. I'm here because I'm concerned about the poor."
The black ministers challenged Redford to meet and discuss the issue. They already have achieved part of their goal, getting attention from national news organizations that might otherwise have been covering the Sundance Film Festival.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
