For over the past four months there has been article after article on the Energy Transformation and New Green Age. Many influencers, reporters and writers report their opinion about climate change, and data supported global warming. In their minds much of it caused by humans use of energy. Fossil Fuels have for many become the energy productions demons and are at the root of all our woes. Much of what is written, reported embraces solar and wind power along with electric battery storage to solve all our energy needs. The 2024 Presidential election approaches and the general public now must endure promises and partisan rhetoric regarding our energy future.
It is accurate to say Biden was no supporter of prudent development of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica Appalachian region. He has issued executive orders and fosters administrative department regulations limiting strategic natural gas pipelines, delaying LNG port development, and on the personal level curtail and eliminate natural gas cooking stoves and heating furnaces. It is all about the new age of mass electrification of all aspects of our energy needs and future demand.
However as Biden bids farewell and leaves us with a dubious legacy, election hype will fade, and no matter who wins, the energy reality will remain. To produce all the predicted electrons needed in the next decade, correspondingly many natural gas molecules will be required to meet the electric demand. Besides all the electricity for powering electric vehicles; cars, trucks buses, motor bikes and scooters, huge demands are now being advanced for data centers, Artificial Intelligence (AI) processing, and Bit Coin creation. In Pennsylvania where solar and wind power installations are limited due to sunlight and wind frequency and intensity, relatively clean natural gas would seem to be a logical source of energy; it is abundant, consistent, reliable and cost effective.
Recently we have heard the two presidential candidates making public statements about drilling for gas and oil on Federal lands. Harris has repeatedly said she has changed her opinion and now “will not ban fracking”. Former President Trump is more colloquial and frequently restates “Drill Baby Drill”. Ironically US oil production is at its highest level and leads the world in oil output under the Biden administration.
Back home in Pennsylvania there is little solace knowing drilling on federal lands will most likely continue. Pennsylvania is part of the PJM electric grid. PJM is the largest operating grid in the country providing power to thirteen states and over sixty five million people. Unfortunately scheduled shut downs of coal fired power plants, the pause of construction of new natural gas plants and with no viable green generating replacement PJM has been warning of power shortages in 2025. According to Electrical Generation Reports “wholesale power costs at the recent electricity auction for 2025/2026 was at an all-time high $269.92 /MW per day. The auction price in 2024/2025 was $28.92/MW per day. PJM warns for the consumer it means higher electric prices are coming. PJM also noted how electricity gets generated 48% produced by gas, 21% by nuclear, 18% by coal, 4% by hydro, 1% by solar and 1% by wind.”
In all of this Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro continues to advocate Pennsylvania join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (REGI). An eleven state group dominated by northeast states that have higher electric costs, and all import power from other states including Pennsylvania or Canada. This would place a carbon emissions fee on Pennsylvania non-renewable electric generation facilities. This will most likely result in higher consumer costs as well as force future power needs to come from outside Pennsylvania.
So much for the rhetoric of lower electric costs to us here in Pennsylvania. The highly Biden subsidized Green Wave has yet to arrive, Believe it or not.
Anecdotally a recent quote from a Marcellus Gas website chat box, “you can’t turn things off, before you turn things on.”
A second quote for thought, according to Business Insider, at a recent campaign rally Trump was quoted to have said, “He has no choice but to support electric vehicles because Elon Musk ‘endorsed me very strongly’. (Rumored to be a 45 million dollar donation.)
If it is not energy fact or fiction maybe it’s fantasy?
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