Energy for the Masses, Not the Elites (2020 Letter reads well today)

The Open Letter of February 24, 2020, printed in the New York Times (and reprinted by DeSmog), challenged the Climate Industrial Complex frontally.

“Dear Presidential Candidates,

“It would be criminal not to produce the reliable, affordable energy that keeps people warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and gets them to school to learn and work to provide for their families. Without our energy, the lights go dark, and smartphones go silent. Medicines and medical devices cease to cure the sick and injured. Food cannot be grown and grocery store shelves go bare.

“We’re proud to provide the power and raw materials to manufacture the goods Americans use every day, from clothes and shoes to anything with a computer chip. Currently there are no alternatives that do everything that oil and natural gas do. We continue to innovate to produce more energy, reduce costs for consumers, and lessen environmental impacts.

“The clean-burning natural gas we produce helps improve air quality and lowers greenhouse gas emissions. Greater use of natural gas electricity is the number one reason the United States has reduced more greenhouse gas emissions than any other country. By exporting our clean, abundant natural gas, we can help lift out of poverty the one billion people worldwide without access to electricity.

“Were we to be prosecuted, as you promise, and forced to stop providing our life-sustaining products, 10.3 million jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars would be sent overseas to import the energy that Americans rely on. So we will continue to produce the environmentally responsible energy that powers America and enables a healthy, safe, and modern way of life.”