August 9th, 2024

• Stay up to date on all things energy by visiting the TEA Newsroom.
• America needs Affordable, Reliable, Clean energy security.
• Republicans mull energy priorities for reconciliation.
• America isn’t making electricity the way it did two decades ago.
• Energy expert: Global power demand is soaring.
• America needs energy resilience, not Biden-Harris activist ideology.
• Green-energy flops revive bets on natural gas.
• Biden wants to ban the federal government from using plastic cutlery.
• Silver lining of a slow economy: cheap gas.
• 18 GOP members ask Johnson not to target IRA tax credits.

The issue: There really is no debate required with natural gas. In this piece, the head of the Marcellus Shale Coalition makes several excellent points about this energy source — and why it is critical to America’s energy portfolio.

Why it matters: Producing nearly 20% of America’s natural gas, Pennsylvania exemplifies how embracing natural gas leads to generational economic, consumer and environmental progress. In the 20 years since the first horizontal well tapped into the Marcellus, the state’s natural gas resources have attracted new opportunities to the region and uplifted existing industries, all while reducing energy costs, emissions and reliability concerns.

The Empowerment Alliance has long advocated for natural gas and why it is so essential to an Affordable, Reliable and Clean energy future.

Consider:

• This is a bipartisan issue, with pollsters noting over 68% of Republicans and Democrats in The Keystone State support continued investment in natural gas. Here’s why:
• About $2.7 billion has been generated in tax revenues directly from natural gas development; thus, the entire state benefits from the shale region’s good fortune.
• 123,000 state residents hold high-paying jobs in the industry.

Energy independence and security come through Affordable, Reliable, Clean American energy. This is fundamental to our independence and our nation remaining the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Bottom line: An energy secure nation is powered by affordable, reliable, clean energy. There’s no debate: natural gas checks all three boxes.

The issue: Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris’ pick for vice president has championed climate as Minnesota’s governor. The selection of Tim Walz is another example of the green-at-any-cost philosophy driven by the party’s power hungry left wing.

Why it matters:  Most notably, in 2023, Walz signed a law requiring Minnesota to generate all of its electricity from wind, solar and other carbon-free sources by 2040, eliminating the climate-warming pollution generated by coal and gas-fired power plants. Nearly 40 other climate initiatives were pushed through the state legislature.

The Minnesota law is also more ambitious than a similar standard that President Biden tried, but failed, to include in his 2022 climate law. Activists have said they see it as a model for future climate legislation — at either the state or national level.

Consider:

• In June, Walz signed a law designed to speed up the implementation of the 2040 clean power mandate, by streamlining the permitting of renewable electricity projects.
• Walz campaigned on passing new wind and solar mandates requiring 50 percent of Minnesota’s electricity to come from these resources by 2030.
• A year later, he lurched again to a 100 percent carbon free mandate by 2050. Then he said let’s just do it by 2040.
• He has become a climate champion, despite its negative impact. Under his watch, Minnesota electricity prices have increased faster than the national average and they are about 20% higher than when he was first elected.

Walz and the Democrats also refused to legalize the construction of new nuclear power plants in Minnesota, which would have allowed them to meet their carbon-free goals for far less money and prevented blackouts.

In 2022, he unveiled a plan to fight climate change that called for increasing sales of electric vehicles to 20 percent by providing purchasing incentives for consumers and dealers, expanding the state’s E.V. charging network, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by the end of the decade.

Emissions-free energy sources — including wind, solar and nuclear power — provide more than half of the power produced in the state.

But Walz is trying to accelerate that transition even more. His efforts put Minnesota on track to transition to clean energy even faster than California, which for decades has been at the vanguard of efforts to tackle climate change.

Bottom line: As governor, Walz copied California’s green-at-all-costs energy policy, and he would do the same as VP. The result? Higher prices, more green mandates, and a less reliable electricity grid.

Another week, another drop in gas prices. The national average for a gallon of gasoline decreased 3 cents since last Friday, now at $3.45. Recession fears were sparked earlier this week by a market downturn, which sent oil prices to their lowest point in the past 3 months. The silver lining to a stagnant economy? Cheap gas!

Nothing on the calendar for next week as Congress is still in recess!

“If we are facing more extreme weather — hotter, colder, or more extreme temperatures for extended periods — then it’s the height of foolishness to make our most important energy network, the electric grid, dependent on the weather. We should be building power systems that are weather resilient, not weather dependent.”

-Energy Expert Robert Bryce, on Twitter/X.