Political Quotes

“I agree with my friends that we cannot deny that climate change is real and that humans do contribute to it. However, we also cannot deny that we will continue to rely on fossil fuels for decades to come, including for the bulk of our electricity. Coal, specifically, is one of the only two baseload fuels we have that we are able to run 24/7, rain or shine. With new regulations, we are facing more pressure on our baseload coal. Last winter during the polar vortex, the PGM system that provides electricity for West Virginia and the electricity we are using right now in DC will be running full capacity. We saw a record number of plant outages when they were most needed. Further threats to our reliability could result in rolling blackouts, which puts the lives of the most vulnerable, the elderly, the sick, and the poor at risk. The Fossil Energy Research and Development Program at the Department of Energy supports a group of 1,000 projects, including $7 billion of private sector investment, representing 55,000 jobs across the United States. Research supported in this program has led to cleaner burning plants over the past decade, and we have reduced pollutants and increased the efficiency of coal-fired powerplants. Right now, DOE has $8 billion of fossil energy loan guarantees that need to be utilized.…”