WASHINGTON, D.C. — Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), the leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for families and businesses, issued the following statement today following the confirmation of President Biden’s nominee, Miguel Cardona, to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
“We congratulate Secretary Cardona on his confirmation. As the former Connecticut education commissioner, he will be an excellent leader to help remedy the educational crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic,” CEA President David Holt said.
“The Secretary of Education will play a critically important role in addressing these historically challenging school years. With the projected exponential job growth in STEM fields and future workforce changes, our nation’s economy will need more machinists, engineers, technicians and scientists help keep our energy sector strong and competing on a global scale, especially as we integrate new energy technologies. We look forward to working with Secretary Cardona to keep the STEM talent pipeline flowing to build America’s future workforce.”
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About Consumer Energy Alliance
Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is the leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for consumers, bringing together families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, producers, and manufacturers to support America’s environmentally sustainable energy future. With more than 550,000 members nationwide, we are committed to leading the nation’s dialogue around energy and the environment, its critical role in the economy, and how it supports the vital supply chains for the families and businesses that depend on them. CEA works daily to encourage communities across the nation to seek sensible, realistic, and environmentally responsible solutions to meet our nation’s energy needs.
Mike Butler, Director of CEA Mid-Atlantic, discusses the proposed severance tax on energy producers in Pennsylvania after the industry was deemed “essential” by Governor Wolf.
Imposing a tax on one of Pennsylvania’s most critical industries would be misguided, since the pandemic triggered reduced energy demand and lower natural gas prices that have hit the industry hard. This tax would kill more jobs and make one of our brightest growth industries less competitive over the long term.
Washington, D.C. — Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) Federal Affairs Advisor Michael Zehr released the following statement of support for the bipartisan More Energy, More Jobs Act, legislation introduced by Representatives Brady and Cuellar which would allow U.S. governors to nominate land for offshore oil and gas development off their coasts and help ensure that continued lease sales occur in the Gulf of Mexico region by requiring two lease sales in existing areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
“Thank you to the bill sponsors for introducing bipartisan legislation that will ensure lease sales and offshore energy development occur in the limited areas of the Gulf of Mexico where production is already happening. This legislation will also help safeguard the primary source of funding for conservation, coastal restoration, and parks maintenance included in the Great American Outdoors Act passed last year.”
“Given the Biden Administration’s current pause on oil and gas leasing and the lack of a clear timetable when the pause will be lifted, this legislation is necessary to provide stability to both the industry that responsibly and efficiently produces oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico and consumers who rely upon it. This focused, bipartisan legislation will simply allow for continued development to take place in one of the most regulated and least carbon-intensive basins in the world – all while protecting hundreds of thousands of jobs and providing billions of dollars for conservation.”
“CEA has long supported all forms of energy from oil & gas to renewables and nuclear power. Consumers benefit from a diverse, competitive and ever evolving energy mix. We look forward to working with Congress to improve laws, rules and regulations that will support more energy and more jobs – all while protecting our environment. The More Energy, More Jobs Act is a clear win-win for our economy and our environment – and we urge its swift passage this Congress.”
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About Consumer Energy Alliance Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is the leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for consumers, bringing together families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, producers, and manufacturers to support America’s environmentally sustainable energy future. With more than 550,000 members nationwide, we are committed to leading the nation’s dialogue around energy and the environment, its critical role in the economy, and how it supports the vital supply chains for the families and businesses that depend on them. CEA works daily to encourage communities across the nation to seek sensible, realistic, and environmentally responsible solutions to meet our nation’s energy needs.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), the leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for families and businesses, issued the following statement today following the confirmation of President Biden’s nominee, Jennifer Granholm, to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“We congratulate Secretary Granholm on her confirmation and applaud President Biden for this nomination. As the former Michigan governor who helped Detroit’s auto sector weather a financial downturn by ably balancing environmental and economic priorities, she will be a good leader for the Department of Energy,” CEA President David Holt said.
“The Secretary of Energy plays a critically important role in ensuring families and businesses have access to affordable, reliable energy – both from an environmental and economic perspective. We look forward to working closely with Secretary Granholm to develop America’s environmentally sustainable energy future, while also promoting energy’s critical role in the economy and the support it gives to the supply chains vital to families and businesses that depend on them.”
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About Consumer Energy Alliance Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is the leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for consumers, bringing together families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, producers, and manufacturers to support America’s environmentally sustainable energy future. With more than 550,000 members nationwide, we are committed to leading the nation’s dialogue around energy and the environment, its critical role in the economy, and how it supports the vital supply chains for the families and businesses that depend on them. CEA works daily to encourage communities across the nation to seek sensible, realistic, and environmentally responsible solutions to meet our nation’s energy needs.
As Texas begins to recover from mass power outages, CEA’s David Holt looks at the necessity of designing a robust energy system that delivers affordable and reliable service, using the best each form of energy generation has to offer.
In recent years, whether California blackouts last summer, energy shortages in Massachusetts winters, or now disruptions in America’s energy capital in Texas, the need to take politics out of our energy policy to focus on affordability, reliability, environmental stewardship and what’s best for public safety are now more important than ever. That begins with ensuring the availability of a variety of energy choices, including foundational fuel sources like natural gas and the infrastructure necessary to move it when energy is needed most.
Louisville, KY – Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), the leading energy and environmental advocate for families and businesses, applauded the Kentucky House of Representatives for overwhelmingly passing HB 207, bipartisan legislation which would protect the rights of consumers to keep their existing energy services that are allowed by the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
“CEA thanks House Natural Resources and Energy Chairman Jim Gooch and the members of the Kentucky House of Representatives for passing this important legislation that will protect our hard-working families, seniors and small businesses from ill-conceived and irresponsible prohibitions on the use of reliable, safe and clean fuels like natural gas in homes or communities,” said CEA Vice President of State Affairs Brydon Ross.
“As I testified about during a recent house committee hearing on HB 207, here in Kentucky, over 40% of households use natural gas or propane for home heating needs. Therefore, an energy ban could require the replacement of major appliances and the installation of a heat pump. Along with the equipment and other wiring and labor costs, that change could top out at more than $10,300 for an average Kentucky household. While we all agree on the need for continued energy diversity and environmental stewardship, with Kentucky having one of the highest poverty rates in the country, a reckless and unnecessary energy prohibition could have a ruinous effect on the Commonwealth, and especially on those struggling to get by during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery.”
“We look forward to the Kentucky Senate considering and approving this commonsense consumer protection measure to help get our Commonwealth to a cleaner future, and protect our families, seniors and businesses’ right to make their own energy choices, free from obtrusive dictates.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), the leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for families and businesses, issued the following statement today following the confirmation of President Biden’s nominee, Tom Vilsack, to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We congratulate Secretary Vilsack on his confirmation. As the former Agriculture secretary in the Obama administration and former governor of Iowa, he will be an excellent leader to focus on rebuilding the rural economy and ensuring farmers have access to affordable, reliable energy supplies,” CEA President David Holt said.
“The Secretary of Agriculture plays a critically important role in addressing the challenges facing the agriculture industry today, as well as working to help alleviate the nation’s hunger and farm issues that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. With energy serving as one of the top expenses for American farmers each year, we look forward to working closely with Secretary Vilsack to support America’s environmentally sustainable energy future, while also balancing the impact of energy costs on America’s families, farmers and small businesses.”
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About Consumer Energy Alliance
Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is the leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for consumers, bringing together families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, producers, and manufacturers to support America’s environmentally sustainable energy future. With more than 550,000 members nationwide, we are committed to leading the nation’s dialogue around energy and the environment, its critical role in the economy, and how it supports the vital supply chains for the families and businesses that depend on them. CEA works daily to encourage communities across the nation to seek sensible, realistic, and environmentally responsible solutions to meet our nation’s energy needs.
Earth Week is just around the corner and if you’re looking for ways to get involved and do your part on April 19-24, 2021, we’ve got an idea for you. While some will commemorate the occasion by posting their favorite outdoorsy photo on social media, we hope that you will join us in taking positive action to affect this beautiful planet we all call home.
Did you know that one of the most impactful (and easiest) things you can do to improve our environment is to plant a tree? Trees are important to the health of our ecosystems, wildlife, and the air we breathe. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, in one year, a mature tree will absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen in exchange, and one large tree can provide a day’s supply of oxygen for up to four people!
While there are plenty of initiatives working to strategically plant trees within our national forests, parks, and watersheds through public and private partnerships, there is much less effort to plant trees in cities and towns throughout the country. So, this Earth Day, we urge you to take it upon yourself to make your neighborhood greener. Grab a friend or family member and plant a tree in your own yard, or call your local officials to determine where a tree can be planted on public land.
Imagine if everyone in your city did the same…think of how much cleaner the air you breathe in every day would be! Not to mention the habitats you will create for wildlife to thrive, and the beauty you’d be creating around your home.
We would be remiss if we didn’t also mention how trees can help you save energy. Strategically placed trees around your property can help to keep your home at your desired temperature by providing shade or deflecting winds. In fact, implementing energy-conserving landscaping strategies around your home can save up to 25% of the energy used by a typical household, according to the U.S. Department of Energy!
While we see trees nearly every day, it is easy to forget all that they do for our planet, and us. This Earth Week, we hope you take just a few hours to plant a tree. If you don’t have the space to plant one, we hope that you can give to an organization dedicated to doing so. Just in case, we’ve found a few reputable organizations you can donate to who are planting trees across the U.S. and even the world!
National Forest Foundation plants one tree for every dollar you give, with a goal of planting 50 million trees.
USDA Forest Service will plant 10 seedlings within a U.S. National Forest, for every $10 donation. The Forest Service also cares for the trees as part of their normal reforestation activities.
American Forests will plant one tree in a wildland restoration project within a threatened ecosystem for every dollar donated.
Arbor Day Foundation has pledged to plant 50 million trees. For every dollar you donate, one tree will be planted in a National Forest where reforestation is desperately needed.
One Tree Planted helps plant trees across the U.S. and globally. Every dollar donated is a tree planted. You can also choose the region of the world you wish to give to.
Every day, we are subjected to a new crisis by media and loud political voices. It can be wearisome and unbearable. They often channel Chicken Little, who exaggeratedly thought the sky was falling because the bird felt an acorn hit its head. It has become the narrative of both political extremes, left and right.
This manipulative approach is so effective that polls in early 2021 actually revealed most Americans fear other Americans more than foreign powers who have shown hostility to the U.S., climate change, or COVID-19. That says a lot about our domestic state of mind.
Energy policy suffers significantly from this communications environment. That is particularly true at this moment with pipelines, the prime national example being the Inaugural Day executive order to cancel the Keystone XL permits.
After achieving energy self-sufficiency, the country is returning to the days of importing more than we export. No matter. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and we’re going to kill jobs. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are threatened. These jobs are held by the very people doing the dangerous work to keep America moving during the pandemic so we can stay safe at home.
They may have been designated “essential workers” earlier in 2020 by the U.S. government, but too many are now essentially unemployed. Not all of them will be energy workers either – though that will be the largest bunch. They’ll also be from the gas station, the restaurants, and the hotels. Killing job-creating employment does not solve unemployment.
And many of these people are in these professions for a reason, either by financial need or by skill. You can’t always just change careers the next day. It’s disingenuous to say, as some do, that only temporary jobs will be lost with pipeline cancellations. It’s also impolite to tell skilled pipeline workers to “go build solar panels” or “learn to code.” If you’re going to school to run heavy equipment or weld, you likely did so because you didn’t want to code.
That’s probably bad advice, anyway. In Minnesota, after years of gaining jobs in renewable energy, Minnesota lost 11,000 clean energy jobs in 2020 because of the lockdown.
With a generally shrinking economy and non-residential construction already struggling, canceling pipeline project after pipeline project sounds will almost certainly have a knock-on financial effect on our economic fortunes.
Additionally, stopping a pipeline does eliminate the need or demand for oil. It just changes how it gets transported to market, or where we source it. That’s the law of supply and demand.
Just look at how shutting down other pipeline projects has destroyed jobs and economic progress and think what building Enbridge Line 3 in Minnesota would bring. How about $35 million in annual property taxes, $162 million in local construction-related spending, 8,600 jobs worth $167 million in payroll, and $2 billion in total economic activity.
Those are the benefits of installing a new pipeline of a few hundred miles across Minnesota. Multiply those numbers, and you can see why killing Line 3 in the middle of a pandemic when people need jobs is a bad idea.
The Economics of a Pandemic
In Minnesota’s pandemic year, the state set a new record, albeit not one to be proud of: The highest unemployment rate in the state’s history of 9.9%. Of all the times to keep jobs on the table, this is it.
Adding energy-related unemployment onto the pandemic job losses is already taking a huge personal toll on families Half of the adults who lost their jobs because of COVID-19 are still unemployed. Older workers are having a much harder time than younger laid-off workers finding another job. People are already struggling with many other daily stresses outside of being unemployed, like the stress of homeschooling and mental health.
Fighting pipelines and shutting them down is as callous, mean, and un-American as any actual policy the Trump Administration ever put forward. Moves against Keystone and other pipelines like Line 3 tell the men and women of this country, who made the delivery of every necessary product possible in the past year, that their jobs don’t matter.
The Realities of Line 3
Minnesota’s Line 3 is vital to the state but also to the rest of the country. According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), 30% of all crude oil imported to the U.S. comes into the country through Minnesota. That is staggering when you think of what moves through the U.S. Gulf Coast and Texas – especially when you consider that Minnesota has zero oil and gas production.
There are vital jobs at Minnesota’s two oil refineries and 18 ethanol biorefineries that rely on that energy to process lower-carbon transportation fuels. Minnesota is one of the only states in the country that does not produce oil but has refineries, including the most significant one located in Pine Bend. To keep these refineries up and running, everything must be brought in, which is why it is so vital to maintain the state’s pipelines.
Without these pipelines into Minnesota, all that Canadian oil goes somewhere else. It also means that energy would need to be replaced. Instead of Canada, we’d have to import it by ship from a foreign nation and then by truck or train back to the refineries, increasing the cost of energy for everyone.
The St. Paul Park refinery manufactures gasoline, distillates (think heating oil and diesel), propane, and asphalt to fix those winter-stressed Minnesota roads. Each of those associated industries has its own network of people dependent on their jobs, and they’re not happy about the idea of Line 3 being stopped, either.
Developing Energy Sources
Energy sources take time to develop, especially if they’re going to be required to take on a more dominant role in the energy mix. Wood was the chief energy source before the 1880s when coal took over. Coal dominated until about 1950 when petroleum and natural gas rose to the top of preferred energy sources. Whether we like it or not, oil is still one of the most efficient and reliable energy sources to meet consumer demand. As we continue to develop renewables, panic and fear won’t drive them into existence any faster – but rushing forward on promises instead of tangible solutions will hurt our economy and leave people vulnerable to higher prices and financial uncertainty.
The problem is the binary nature of the argument offered by activists – it’s either we do this or else this terrible thing will happen.
Fear is a great sales tool, but for something as important as energy, we need to take fear out of the discussion and stop treating it as an either-or .
We should think wider than that and remember that life is not black or white; it is filled with color – and all of them produce the beautiful hues that we see each and every day. We need all of them to get a clear picture of what we’re looking at – the same could be said for our energy policy.
So as you formulate opinions about our nation’s energy, challenge yourself to think about all sides and come to the table as a more informed energy consumer. If we all looked at this policy with both eyes and minds open, we might actually be able to get to yes – for our communities, our economy, and most of all, for our environment.
