Americans for Prosperity has been conducting a
state-by-state "Hot Air Tour" to draw attention to the dramatic
economic harm that would be caused by global warming alarmists'
"solutions." Today they were scheduled to launch their
attention-getting hot-air balloon over Al Gore's home near
Nashville, after getting their permits all lined up, but I just got
this message from AFP director of policy Phil Kerpen:
The Nashville Parks Department is
denying us permission to launch the balloon, citing the fact that
our permit says balloon rides but not specifically the word
"launch." This despite the fact that we have explained to them on
the phone multiple times our precise flight plan and before today
there was no indication that there was a problem or any defect in
our permit. Clearly, Gore is calling in favors to stop the
embarrassing visual and negative coverage surrounding our event and
ratcheting up the beating he is taking over his home energy
use.
Yes, clearly this would represent
too much embarrassment in one week
for the former veep.
UPDATE 3:30 p.m.: From Phil Kerpen, and
AFP's blog,
UPDATE 3:00 pm Eastern time: Roy
Wilson at the Nashville Parks Department must not have liked our
earlier post, since he just completely revoked our permit -- even
though his department's own rules state that he can't do that
unless we break a law or one of the department's rules, which we
haven't done and have no intention of doing. Then he hung up on
our legal counsel. In the meantime, good news to report -- we've
secured a private location for this afternoon's event. We'll be
in a field at the corner of Sneed and Vaughn Roads -- just about a
mile and a half from the original event location.
Sounds like lawsuit potential. Meanwhile, Nashville Parks Dept.
Contact info:
http://www.nashville.gov/parks/administration.htm
Centennial Park Office
Nashville, TN 37201
Phone: (615) 862-8400
Fax: (615) 862-8414
UPDATE 4:00 P.M.:
Per a phone conversation I had with AFP's Phil Kerpen, he
explained that AFP acknowledged a defect in the permit application
to Nashville Parks Dept. So AFP agreed to limit its activity in the
park to what it outlined in its application, not fully launch a
hot-air balloon, and keep it to tethered rides, and let the event
go on. That was not good enough for the Parks Dept., who refused to
permit AFP at all to hold an event, and demanded that they leave.
Kerpen said the Parks Dept. knew all along what AFP was going to
do, to the point that they were asking for insurance information
for the balloon rides yesterday afternoon.
Why? Curt Garrigan of the Nashville Parks Dept. told me, "they
did not submit an application for the event that was accurate. For
that reason we did not issue a permit for the event." So I asked
him, why not still issue the permit if they were willing to comply
with the guidelines they laid out in their application. Garrigan's
answer: "They sent out a media release to the public that said they
were launching from that site."
So, apparently the Parks Dept. refused to allow AFP to hold any
event at all based upon what they perceived to be public deception.
Great public servants at work here: upending a well-publicized
event in which they knew all the details, but dismissed on a
technicality.
topics:
Global Warming, Law, Energy
