January 21st, 2022

Newly sworn in Virginia Governor, Glenn Youngkin was busy on his first day in office. Among the governor’s day-one executive orders is his intent to make energy affordable. Executive order number nine includes the state’s intent to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). “Reliable and affordable access to electricity is imperative to the health and safety of all Virginians. Our hospitals, schools, businesses, and homes all rely on this essential service. And the unpredictable and rising cost of electricity poses a significant and immediate threat to our Commonwealth and its citizens.”

Under the RGGI, families have experienced increased monthly bills and the initiative is expected to cost ratepayers over $1 billion over the next four years. This is the first step towards common sense energy solutions for Virginia. Hopefully there will be many more reasons to feature the governor in this section of the CSE newsletter.

Bottom Line: Glenn Youngkin campaigned on lowering the cost of living in VA, and he took a major step towards that on day one as Governor by moving to withdraw from the RGGI.

Bottom Line: Inflation is the cruelest tax of all. Low-cost, domestic energy is the easiest way to stimulate the economy, ease inflation rates, and save everyone money!

Coal use rose across the United States in 2021, pushing “the country even further from meeting its Paris Agreement climate target of reducing emissions.” A combination of factors, several inflicted by the Biden Administration, caused natural gas prices to rise sharply this past year. As prices rose, many Americans found their energy needs being met by burning coal.

This reverses nearly a decade of decreasing coal use for power generation. The steady increase in the use of natural gas for power generation was lowering overall emissions and largely allowed the US to meet carbon reduction targets. Then, an onslaught of initiatives from the Biden administration have throttled natural gas production and access. So, utilities have been forced to meet the demand through other means.

Bottom Line: Well, we can’t say we didn’t warn him. To be clear – restricting access to domestic natural gas will result in higher emissions, because reliable energy has to come from somewhere.

In case you missed it, we recently announced the new executive director of The Empowerment Alliance, Matt Hammond. As former President of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, Matt brings valuable industry experience to the organization. On the most recent episode of the Empowering America podcast, Matt joined us for an in-depth interview. Subscribe and listen today on Apple podcasts or Spotify!