{"id":339551,"date":"2024-08-14T08:52:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T06:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339551"},"modified":"2024-08-14T08:52:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T06:52:05","slug":"energy-should-play-key-role-in-2024-pennsylvania-and-us-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339551","title":{"rendered":"Energy should play key role in 2024 Pennsylvania (and US) elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Ritter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman thinks energy won\u2019t be at the forefront<\/a> of his constituents\u2019 voting decisions this year. But he\u2019s not accounting for the difference between 2020 and 2024, or the clear connection between energy costs, jobs and inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation, illegal immigration and crime are key voter concerns in the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While energy may have had a marginal effect in Pennsylvania\u2019s 2020 election cycle, it has risen in prominence because of its direct (and immutable) connection to higher prices for virtually every product and service, and because the Biden-Harris near-four-year war on fossil fuels \u2013 leasing, drilling, mining and fracking \u2013 is driving up inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent survey of 800 registered Pennsylvania voters<\/a> found that more than two-thirds named inflation as an impediment to maintaining their standard of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, by prioritizing a debatable \u201cclimate emergency,\u201d the Biden-Harris administration has made energy production much more difficult and costly, while injecting 400 billion borrowed Green New Deal dollars<\/a> into wind, solar, battery and other \u201crenewable\u201d energy technologies. Add to that the (so-called) Inflation Reduction Act and its billions in new spending on \u201cgreen\u201d infrastructure. Finally, crushing regulations on the energy industry add fuel to the inflation fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those actions have sent prices higher for everything we make, grow, ship, drive, eat, wear\u2026 the list of products derived from fossil fuels is nearly endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump will make the opposite argument to Pennsylvania\u2019s voters. Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick will too, by attacking incumbent Senator Bob Casey\u2019s support for vast Green New Deal spending and anti-fossil-fuel Biden-Harris energy policies, all driving up inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most importantly, while Bob Casey has been less than vocal on just about everything, he has been the deciding vote for a tiny Senate Democratic majority which has wholeheartedly supported the full range of inflationary Green New Deal, anti-fossil-fuel regulation and spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casey\u2019s one, tepid, politically expedient objection to his Administration\u2019s multi- trillion dollar, fossil-fuel-killing energy agenda was a statement issued by his office \u2013 not even a vote \u2013 expressing concern about a Biden-Harris ban on new exports<\/a> of liquefied natural gas, which a court later overturned. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The McCormick campaign notes that Pennsylvania gas production has been suppressed<\/a> by federal policies that impede pipeline construction. McCormick points out that, \u201cunder Biden\u2019s energy policies, rubber stamped by Bob Casey, we haven\u2019t been able to access clean natural gas,\u201d because pipelines are essential for bringing fracked gas to end users. Casey, McCormick emphasizes, \u201csupports policies that are costing us jobs and driving up energy prices even more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrat nominee for president Kamela Harris, contrary to leaks to the press from her campaign staff, has been enthusiastically vocal about her opposition to fracking and has voted for inflationary Green New Deal spending on numerous occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compounding the Casey-Biden-Harris effect in the Keystone State is Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro\u2019s support for supposedly \u201cgreen\u201d energy. His proposals for a $499-million carbon tax<\/a> and expanding expensive, weather-dependent, unreliable, part-time wind and solar energy would add to the already considerable burdens on families and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claims that wind and solar costs are steadily falling ignore the huge costs (likely many trillions of dollars<\/a>) of backing up their intermittent electricity generation with expensive coal or gas power plants (or huge banks of wildly expensive batteries) that kick in whenever the wind and sun don\u2019t cooperate with energy needs \u2013 which notably happens some 60-70% of every month and year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shapiro offers \u201cnot just disastrous energy policy\u201d but \u201cexpensively disastrous energy policy,\u201d says David Taylor<\/a>, CEO of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers\u2019 Association<\/a>, which educates and lobbies on behalf of 550,000 workers in America\u2019s fifth largest manufacturing state<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, both state and federal policies are to blame for causing many coal-fired plants to close and coal\u2019s share of Pennsylvania electricity generation to drop from more than half to less than on-fifth over the past decade. Pennsylvania\u2019s largest such generator at Homer City<\/a> closed a year ago, and two more have announced early retirements within a few years. Plans for natural gas power plants have been shelved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natural gas now produces more than half of Pennsylvania\u2019s electricity, but gas generation and electricity affordability have also suffered under costly government regulations<\/a> and the threat of more to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of that adversely affects manufacturing costs, jobs, and the price of goods and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the ten years prior to 2019, when a carbon tax was first proposed, $14 billion worth of gas-fired plants were built in the state, reports Shawn Steffee, a Boilermakers union business agent<\/a>. However, none have been built since, and two $1-billion proposals were canceled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is highly unlikely that we will build another,\u201d says Steffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s gas plants not being built or coal plants being closed, both jobs and power grid reliability take a hit. The threat of recurrent blackouts is rising, and we are getting closer than ever to having electricity when it happens to be available, instead of when we need it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, government<\/a> and industry<\/a> overseers of our high-voltage transmission system have warned of energy shortages resulting from ill-timed closures of fossil fuel plants that increase the share of far less reliable wind and solar. Significant regional blackouts across much of the Atlantic Seaboard are not out of the question. They would be deadly amid heat waves and deep freezes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would certainly dim the electoral outlook of politicians supporting green energy. Far more important, though, is what it would do to jobs, factories, hospitals, schools and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the effect of job losses, one need only read a Washington Examiner<\/a> account of federal officials meeting with Homer City citizens affected by last year\u2019s plant closing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe vast divide between the government\u2019s understanding of the needs of the people they serve and the people themselves was never more excruciatingly apparent than at the meeting,\u201d the article began. It then presented wrenching personal stories of unkept promises to furloughed workers whose lives were \u201cuprooted forever\u201d \u2013 and talked about a slide show at the meeting that extolled the \u201cgood intentions\u201d of federal agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That seems to be a constant refrain of politicians and bureaucrats. Good intentions drive ill-advised policies that bring the opposite of what their authors claimed would happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump and Dave McCormick will make the case for redirecting federal policies and funding away from the life-changing \u201cgreen\u201d energy and economic agenda \u2013 and toward traditional abundant, reliable and affordable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At stake on November 5 are the House, Senate and Presidency, and the deciding votes could well come from Pennsylvania energy consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Ritter is a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania\u2019s Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman thinks energy won\u2019t be at the forefront of his constituents\u2019 voting decisions this year. But he\u2019s not accounting for the difference between 2020 and 2024, or the clear connection between energy costs, jobs and inflation.<\/p>\n

Inflation, illegal immigration and crime are key voter concerns in the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":339553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691830140,691820710,691818128,691821012,691830141,691830142],"class_list":{"0":"post-339551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-2024-elections","9":"tag-biden-harris-administration","10":"tag-energy","11":"tag-liquefied-natural-gas-lng","12":"tag-manufacturing-costs","13":"tag-price-of-goods-and-services","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0philadelphia-pennsylvania-skyline-schuylkill-expressway-1600x533-1.jpeg?fit=1600%2C533&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1qkD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":227254,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=227254","url_meta":{"origin":339551,"position":0},"title":"NY and PA: Midterm Election Energy Lesson","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"With\u00a0energy\u00a0dominating the national discussion, look no further than\u00a0Pennsylvania and New York as examples of failure and fortune.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-139.png?fit=577%2C583&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-139.png?fit=577%2C583&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-139.png?fit=577%2C583&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":338125,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=338125","url_meta":{"origin":339551,"position":1},"title":"Don Ritter: The Green New Deal may decide the election \u2014 in the Republicans\u2019 favor","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"31\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Sen. 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And now I\u2019m more concerned than ever before.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Joe Manchin III)\u201cI can\u2019t make that decision basically on taxes of any type and also on the energy and climate because it takes the taxes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-129.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-129.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-129.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-129.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":298967,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=298967","url_meta":{"origin":339551,"position":3},"title":"In 2024, Americans Must Decide What Energy Costs Means to Their Vote","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"As 2024 unfurls, it\u2019s worth putting a few things in context. While we may have seen a slight dip in gasoline prices, we\u2019re still paying prices last seen 12 years ago. Add in persistent inflation that still\u00a0brings sticker shock\u00a0at the grocery store and interest rates last seen in the 1980s,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blackout worries\"","block_context":{"text":"blackout worries","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackout-worries"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01200x0-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01200x0-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01200x0-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01200x0-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01200x0-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":213403,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=213403","url_meta":{"origin":339551,"position":4},"title":"The \u201cInflation Reduction Act\u201d Will Do Almost Nothing That Joe Manchin Says It Will","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The very name of the \u201cInflation Reduction Act\u201d and nearly everything Joe Manchin has said about it is a farce that betrays his\u00a0promise\u00a0to support \u201cthe everyday hardworking Americans we have been elected to serve.\u201d","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-467.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-467.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-467.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-467.png?fit=1024%2C513&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":208906,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=208906","url_meta":{"origin":339551,"position":5},"title":"Senator Manchin punctures Biden\u2019s climate agenda \u2013 again","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/07\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Inside the rotunda of the West Virginia statehouse in downtown Charleston stands about a nine-foot\u00a0statue\u00a0of the late U.S. Senator Robert C. 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