A White House-sponsored climate and energy panel in Germany promoting the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power was repeatedly interrupted on Monday by protesters' singing and shouting.
During the international climate conference event, about 100 people sang to the tune of "God Bless America." The revised lyrics voiced their accusations that U.S. greed is "killing across the world for the coal money," according to Politico.
The protest broke out during opening remarks from President Donald Trump’s energy aide, George David Banks. He said the White House would support the development of more efficient coal plants and renewable nuclear power.
After about 10 minutes of singing and chanting, the protestors marched out of the room where the panel was taking place and continued their protest in the hallway.
"You are liars, you are a bunch of liars," someone in the crowd yelled after the protesters left and the panelists were answering a question on whether Trump was killing former President Barack Obama’s carbon limits for power plants.
"Clean coal is bull***t," another crowd member shouted out.
"This panel is only controversial if we choose to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the realities of the global energy system," Banks said, arguing that many countries will continue to build coal plants, whether they are efficient or not.
In the wake of such challenges, he did not provide details on how the White House might promote the more efficient use of fossil fuels.
Banks further argued, however, that renewable power is not sufficient to serve as nations’ major source of electricity yet. He added that it is "naive" to expect developing countries to use only solar and wind power.