UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State students will gather for a “Rally for Affordable Energy” in protest against the elitist energy policies of the current administration, Feb. 3, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The protest will be held in front of Rec Hall on Penn State’s University Park Campus. The protest is being led by Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative student group, who cite rising energy costs and a lack of progress on domestic energy sources, like the Marcellus Shale, as their leading points of complaint.
The impetus for the protest is a speech by President Barack Obama, who is visiting University Park to discuss his administration’s energy policies. Young voters, however, are already “energized,” though not in the way Obama would like.
“This administration has consistently opted to favor high-cost, impractical energy solutions under the guise of being ‘green,’” said Penn State junior, and YAF chair, Samuel Settle. “This is truly unfortunate, because the people who get hit the hardest by rising energy prices are the poor and the economically destitute—two segments of the population that have increased under this administration.”
Lauren Deroo, YAF treasurer, expressed similar sentiments, calling herself “disillusioned” with the Obama administration. “They really haven’t brought the change I was hoping for.”