J. Anthony Jastrzembski, Minot

Big oil and coal and other polluting industries staged The Energy Citizens rally in Bismarck Aug. 27 as part of a push to stop clean energy legislation.

This event is anything but a grassroots uprising, in fact, a memo leaked by American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard revealed a coordinated effort on the part of corporate polluters. Twenty-one of these rallies have been staged across the U.S., and we've seen corporate employees being bussed in, fed hot dogs, and preached to about why we shouldn't support climate legislation. Ron Ness, who orchestrated the Aug. 27 event, is a former lobbyist for big oil hardly an unbiased party.

As a native North Dakotan, it upsets me to see our climate threatened by corporate money and an outside agenda. It's time to get serious about protecting our crops, wildlife, and water from climate change by jumpstarting clean energy and reducing pollution. We cannot hope to solve the climate crisis when the companies that profit from emitting are pulling the strings. We need to say "no" a national corporate agenda to continue polluting, especially when it poses as grassroots action.