And the end of last week, there were over 3 million homes and businesses in Florida without power in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. At the same time, nearly 100,000 were still without power in North Carolina and Georgia from Hurricane Helene that landed over two weeks ago.

For family’s in these areas, weathering the storm is only the first battle. Increasingly, trying to put their lives back together without electricity or the other basic necessities of life is a second lingering struggle.

That’s why reliability is such an important step in the Energy Security ARC—the common-sense energy path that Americans need to be safe and successful. Storms will come, that is inevitable. But with a resilient electrical grid and energy sources like American natural gas that we can depend on, we all have a better chance of weathering those storms. Here’s some facts:

• Over 43% of U.S. electricity generation comes from natural gas.
• On the coldest day of the year, the natural gas system delivers three times more energy than the electric system delivers on the hottest day of the year.
• Only 1 in 650 customers are expected to experience a natural gas outage in any given year. Electric distribution systems have an average of one outage per year per customer.
• The U.S. has enough natural gas to power the nation for nearly a century—and the potential for even more.

Americans have always been about common-sense solutions that work. The green-at-any-cost movement would have you believe that we need to sacrifice reliability in the here and now to save ourselves from some future doomsday. But, the fact is, with investments in a more resilient grid and energy sources that work, we can reliably power our lives now and in the future.

The American Energy Security ARC works, and we need leaders that want to embrace its common-sense agenda for the future and not leave us all in the dark.