The fiasco that is Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is proving not just that Russia is a paper empire — imperial ambitions combined with a desperate reliance on international trade.
It is also proving that Pennsylvania will play a pivotal role in determining whether Europe freezes in place once Russian either shuts off its supply of natural gas or dissolves into domestic chaos that will shut off the pumps whether they want to or not.
The key is making sure that the political left doesn’t do Mr. Putin’s job for him. When the West, led by the Keystone State, unleashed its economic power by harvesting the Marcellus Shale reserves, Mr. Putin openly campaigned against us.
The head of Gazprom, the Russian state oil and gas company, said he didn’t think “European housewives” supported an energy source harvested using hydraulic fracturing. He used the very language of the anti-carbon crowd to protect Russia’s hegemony over Europe’s energy supplies. Russia drills gas, sells it to Europe and doesn’t want competition from a more competent state.
A 2017 report by the director of National Security noted Mr. Putin’s efforts to undermine fracking in the United States.
The Kremlin-controlled RT cable channel put special emphasis on glorifying the anti-fracking movement here.
Mr. Putin isn’t an environmentalist. He’s an imperialist. And yet self-appointed environmental saviors spent their time abetting him. Many of these people are now in the streets protesting the invasion of Ukraine, oblivious to the fact that they may be Mr. Putin’s last, best hope of regaining the European market for Russian petroleum.
He may yet succeed. And with the Biden administration buckling on vital projects such as the Mariner East and Keystone XL pipelines, we’re giving him a chance.
In Pennsylvania, the political left has halted the very kinds of projects that will allow Pennsylvania to export its gas to what could soon be an energy-starved Europe.
The anti-carbon crowd continue to take every shot they can at proving what people once thought unprovable: that natural gas is somehow unclean, even when it replaces coal.
Never mind the facts. They act as if, with enough mirrors and windmills, we won’t need the very energy that has kept Pennsylvania’s economy from tanking.
Gov. Tom Wolf has offered what could amount to the biggest contribution yet to this morass — and by diktat to boot, a way of governing he learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Wolf dragged Pennsylvania into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a liberal fantasy that will add a carbon tax to Pennsylvania with the notion that it will somehow reduce greenhouse gas output.
Never mind that Pennsylvania’s carbon emissions have fallen like a stone in the past two decades as coal fired plants switch to natural gas.
If you have any doubts about the efficacy of this strategy, think about why you can cook on your gas stove indoors, but keep the charcoal grill outside.
As an Army veteran, I know that success on the world stage requires a solid economy at home.
We’re throwing that away if we cave to political fashionistas who take their energy advice from Yoko Ono.
Pennsylvania is the largest generator of electricity in the nation. It is also a major source of natural gas and can be an energy exporter on the level of Texas — if we allow it to be.
With Europe standing firm against Mr. Putin, we should as well.
Let’s keep the energy flowing, and end the political posturing. We’ve been weak on the international stage for more than a year now. Let’s not surrender to domestic opponents who think any sign of economic opportunity should be treated with suspicion and disdain.
Stacy Garrity is treasurer of the state of Pennsylvania and a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.
Author: Stacy GarrityPublication: Post-Gazette
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