The Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli once wrote, \u201cNever waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis.\u201d\u00a0 As we all grapple with the pandemic known as coronavirus, it is important to know that many will heed Machiavelli\u2019s advice and see an opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week a price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and\nRussia that pushed the price of crude oil into its steepest single-day nosedive\nsince 1991. The oil companies operating\nin the United States \u2013 the world\u2019s largest producer of oil \u2013 immediately took a\nhit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The news of that financial shock hit while the nation was\nreeling and still trying to absorb the reality of the mushrooming coronavirus pandemic. Few in the nation were paying close attention\nto the oil war between the Saudis and the Russians, but the Trump\nAdministration and its fossil fuel allies saw an opportunity in the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump Administration, which has as cozy a\nrelationship as any have had with the oil, gas and coal sectors, last week offered\na bail-out \u2013 a bail out to an industry that has made enormous profits while it\nwas lying to the American public about global warming, an industry that used\nits public relations expertise to undermine and discredit the science of\nclimate change, an industry which has used its enormous wealth to push its\ncandidate into the White House and the leadership of the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is the industry being asked by the Trump Administration\nto pay for the mess that they have caused? \nNo. Instead, while the nation was\nengulfed in the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic, the Administration pushed to\nprotect Big Oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some were<\/em>\npaying attention. Environmental groups and conservatives opposed to bailouts\npulled together to block the bailout plan. \nBut in the end, the oil companies got some help when the President directed\nthe U.S. Department of Energy to purchase crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum\nReserve in an effort to support the energy companies. No requirement that they help stop the world\ncareening toward a global warming catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here in New York, there is no love for the fossil fuel\nindustry. The Cuomo Administration has\nblocked fracking and has committed to develop alternative,\nnon-fossil-fuel-powered energy sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this week lawmakers return to a changed state Capitol,\nthe seat of state government trying to chart a path with a looming budget\ndeadline amidst a crisis the likes of which has not been seen since 1918. Adding to the tension: It was reported over\nthe weekend that at least two lawmakers have tested positive for the\ncoronavirus. As a result, the Capitol\nwas closed to the general public and closed discussions\nbegan on how best to arrive at a budget agreement this week \u2013 two weeks before\nthe state deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the circumstances, the speed is reasonable. A key strategy in minimizing the impact of\nthe coronavirus is to reduce meetings of lots of people \u2013 people who could\ninfect others. Wrapping up the budget\nearly minimizes the likelihood that public officials or their staff members who\nmight be positive for the virus will spread the contagion to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But debating a budget is the most important action state\ngovernment will take. And a closed,\nsecretive process increases the likelihood that those with the most hotwired\nlobbyists will have their voices heard, not members of the general taxpaying\npublic. The shadows are where special\ninterest groups are often most effective, where their ability to leverage a\ncrisis is heightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We all agree that hammering out a state budget is hard in\nthe best of times and will be even more difficult during these trying\ntimes. But it is incumbent on the\ngovernor and state legislators to take additional steps to open up their discussions\nto the public at large, for example, by offering daily public updates by the\nleaders on the progress of negotiations, publishing with specificity the\ndifferences in policy and spending choices among the leadership of the Senate,\nthe Assembly, and the Executive. And\nensuring that legislation is in its final form and reviewable by the public for\nthe constitutionally-required three days before final passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only would the public be informed, but it would limit\nthe ability of the well-heeled, powerful interests to undermine the public\ninterest. And maybe, just maybe, force\nthe oil companies to pay for the environmental damages that they have caused to\nNew York. When it comes to the public\u2019s\ninterest, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the best of times, Albany\u2019s budget-making is marked by\nsecrecy and policy horse trading. We do\nnot live in the best of times. During\nthis new challenge, Albany can show the nation not only how to aggressively\nattack the coronavirus, but how to do so while improving its budget making. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli once wrote, \u201cNever waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis.\u201d\u00a0 As we all grapple with the pandemic known as coronavirus, it is important to know that many will heed Machiavelli\u2019s advice and see an opportunity. Last week a price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2374,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions\/2374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}