By Sean Hackbarth
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Beating up on coal Americas most-used source for electricity wasnt enough for the Sierra Club. They have now declared war on natural gas. The
Sierra Club is intensifying its natural-gas reform campaign and renaming it Beyond Gas" a spin-off of its decade-old Beyond Coal" campaign seeking the phaseout of coal-fired power plants.
As we push to retire coal plants were going to work to make sure were not simultaneously switching to natural-gas infrastructure" Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune told National Journal in an interview on Wednesday.
Brune declared that his organizations mission is about emphasis mine preventing new gas plants from being built wherever we can."
This is a classic bait-and-switch. Not long ago the Sierra Club pushed natural gas as an alternative to coal. It would be a bridge to renewable energy like wind and solar. In 2008 Carl Pope then executive director told Oil and Gas Investor Report that the Sierra Club was all for natural gas emphasis mine: Among the fossil fuels natural gas is at the top." He went on to say Theres a lot of opportunity -- people in the natural gas industry tell me -- to produce more natural gas domestically by using new technologies and were in favor of that."
In the last few years weve witnessed a boom in natural gas production. The Marcelleus Shale in the Northeast Barnett Shale in Texas and other areas across the country are producing millions of cubic feet of natural gas and creating thousands of jobs. However the Sierra Club switched course. Now natural gas is a villain.
This is rich.
When their friends in EPA drop job-killing rules to make coal power plants extinct the Sierra Club moves the goalposts and wants to eliminate the replacement.
They oppose coal they oppose oil and now natural gas is off limits.
To them its wind and solar and thats about it. But if they have their way and we start to get more of our electricity from wind and solar expect them to move the goalposts again. In fact maybe they already have.
Local Sierra Clubs have been and continue to work to block solar and wind projects in Maryland Texas Florida all over California and elsewhere. Theyll say anything to appear to be reasonable but in the end their answer is No no no."
The Sierra Club is simply anti-energy and has no credibility.
The honest answer to our energy problems lies in using all of Americas energy resources: coal; oil; natural gas; wind; solar; hydro; and nuclear. Not limiting ourselves but wisely seeing how each energy source fits in the marketplace and the environment will protect jobs and ensure we have enough affordable energy to keep America moving.
Sean Hackbarth is a conservative online communicator who frequently appears in the Washington Post ChamberPost and other recognized news outlets while writing for Free Enterprise.
