Fossil Fuels Make Life as we Know it Possible

“Climate change” extremists typically call for a ban on fossil fuels. (Or they glue themselves to a major city street, block a highway in front of an airport, or pour paint on a famous work of art because…you know… “climate change.”)

Understandably, the debate on fossil fuels usually centers on questions about how we will power cars, heat our homes and literally keep the lights on. That makes sense. We are a mobile society. Everything made needs products and employees. Every product and person needs to get from point A to B. Plus, we need to power-up our phones to tell loved ones we are coming, to confirm the best route to get there, or buy the plane ticket to fly there. Thoughtful Americans are debating whether “green” energy can get the job done alone (it can’t) and whether it is, in fact, “greener” than fossil fuels (it really isn’t).

Politicians forcing Americans — especially Pennsylvanians — to “go green” doesn’t change either of those realities. Plus, since Pennsylvanians are sitting on more natural gas energy than Saudi Arabia has oil energy, it’s economically and environmentally dumb not to use our clean-burning, plentiful natural gas. So, Governor Wolf forcing Pennsylvania into RGGI (“Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative”) was dumb — and Governor Shapiro doubling down is even dumber. Shapiro is suing in court for the right unilaterally to force Pennsylvanians to stay in RGGI to go “green” — and pay “penalty” taxes until we get to “green,” translating to higher energy costs, less Pennsylvania jobs, and probably dirtier air.

But it’s even worse than that: much worse.

Climate extremists often wail that if we don’t stop using fossil fuels, life as we know it will end! Worse, they preach it to our kids. Well, the reality is that if we stop using fossil fuels, we will absolutely end life as we know it.

Life as we know it will end because natural gas and oil are literally part of every facet of our lives — separate from things related to powering our cars, heating our homes or keeping the lights.

Here’s what Biden’s Department of Energy tells us. On their webpage, there is an entire section dedicated to the more than 6,000 products in our daily lives that are made from oil or natural gas.

Heart valves, aspirin, IV bags and tubes, toothpaste and toothbrushes, ammonia, hearing aids, etc., all go away if we “end fossil fuels.” Fertilizers, too.

Taking your daughter to soccer practice? Well, her “Under Armor” shirt, water bottle, cleats, hair ties, soccer ball and the AstroTurf she’ll play on, the phone you gave her to text you when she’s done, and the car you’ll pick her up in (including its dashboard, seats, tires, GPS) all need fossil fuels.

If you don’t care about girls’ soccer, fine. Hospitals and medical centers cease to exist to provide comfort, care or life-saving procedures, from medicines to IVs to computers monitoring our vital statistics to replacement valves, hips and knees.

Forget about fruits and veggies: they’ll only be available for John Kerry

And as left-wing extremists force Democrat politicians to make us “green,” and frighten GOP politicians from objecting, these products could go away. In the transition to going “green,” these products will be harder to find or will become very expensive. Remember the empty shelves of a few years ago?

If you need a refresher course on what happens when politicians limit fossil fuels — by rhetoric, policy, bans or war — allow me to take you back in history…to 2022. Five dollar gasoline, heating bills that tripled, grocery bills that doubled in cost — literally everything that has to be made or transported went up in price.

Most things are still much more expensive than in 2020. Why? In part because Biden and his allies (sadly, including Governor Wolf and now Shapiro) have announced that America is getting out of fossil fuels: we’re going “green.” Far worse, politicians told drillers and explorers that they should get out of the fossil fuel business. In their quest to “save the planet,” it’s apparently okay if we go broke, freeze — or, gramma dies because the hospital ran out of IV bags.

So much focus is understandably on powering our lifestyle — and the cost to do it — that almost no one talks about the practical side: how we live, survive and flourish each day.

By unilaterally signing us into RGGI, former governor Wolf and now Governor Shapiro rushed to virtue-signal by doing all they can to slow Pennsylvania’s natural gas production and, more importantly, the exploration and pipeline construction. So, Pennsylvanians pay a greater cost than even our fellow Americans in Connecticut, for example. We are choking off job growth, spin-off industries, and low cost energy. And making all the 6,000 products artificially more expensive. The impacts have not really even taken effect yet. Just the mere threat of “ending fossil fuels” is already causing inflation.

Again, let’s look beyond power and energy costs. Here’s how “going green” harms our day-to-day lives.

The largest chemical manufacturer on earth — Braskem (based in Brazil) — opened a base of operation in Marcus Hook (Delaware County) a decade ago. They planned to use Pennsylvania’s almost limitless supply of gas to make chemicals and create polypropylene, the plastic foundation of countless products (like IV bags, dri-fit shirts, water bottles, cell phone covers, etc.) Pennsylvania was going to be their North American hub. Their presence alone would’ve created hundreds of jobs at their facility and thousands and thousands of jobs in chemicals, engineering, manufacturing, construction and transportation, and all the white collar spinoffs, too, from accountants to lawyers, banking to HR.

Thousands — if not millions — of products would be made with Pennsylvania gas. All improving the quality of our lives and extending our lives.

After hearing Wolf’s rhetoric and seeing that Pennsylvania was about to enter RGGI, Braskem knew that Pennsylvania wasn’t serious about producing natural gas, or using our gas to create the necessary chemicals or manufacturing products. If you want to learn more, contact Braskem at their North American headquarters in Dallas.

Biden’s mad-rush to “green energy” is weakening our nation’s economy. Sadly, Pennsylvania said: “Hold my beer.”

This cult-like rush to force Americans to end fossil fuels will ultimately risk our quality of life. Pennsylvania could have chosen the commonsense approach. Instead, Wolf and now Shapiro are fighting to unilaterally force the end of fossil fuels in Pennsylvania by ending these industries, and making us pay “penalty” taxes until we reach their unattainable and unnecessary goals.

No aspirin. No computers. No IV bags. No mushrooms from Chester County.

This is madness. Not just because families will go broke paying for energy or those other products. Not because it will kill jobs. Not because it will put China in charge of our batteries. Not because it will make Russia rich. (Yes, all those will happen if politicians force Americans to be “green.”)

Fossil fuels are an essential, necessary, vital part of our lives. Ending them is national suicide.

And not one politician advocating for us tells us this. Either they don’t know or they’re afraid to tell us — they just want to appease the loudest voices.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation. He writes for Broad+Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. Follow Guy @PaSuburbsGuy