Energy Issues Vital to Pennsylvania Voters

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is ground zero for selecting the next president of the United States. We know that energy affordability is a key issue to voters in making this decision.

Data compiled by The Empowerment Alliance (TEA) shows that Pennsylvania has 3.2 million American Energy Patriots, or about 38% of its 8.8 million registered voters.

We define those voters as people who prioritize energy affordability in their voting decisions. They will support candidates who champion cost-effective energy policies.

Statistics also reveal that the Biden-Harris administration has a negative 31.8% approval rating among this voting bloc.

The state’s importance

• Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, the most among the seven battleground states.
• The state has tended to back the winner in U.S. elections. Only three times between 1933 and 1988 was a candidate for president able to win without carrying the state.
• In 2020, Joe Biden won the state by about 1.16 percentage points (80,555 votes) over Donald Trump.
• Trump claimed a narrow victory in 2016 over Hillary Clinton.

TEA has reviewed both Kamala Harris’s and Donald Trump’s energy policies and records that Keystone State voters should consider before voting.

• Since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, the cost of electricity in Pennsylvania has increased over 33 percent, the cost of natural gas has risen 28 percent, and the cost of gasoline jumped more than 30 percent.
• Despite campaign promises that it would not ban fracking, the Biden-Harris administration let a fracking ban take hold in the Delaware River Basin that covers parts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
• A nationwide fracking ban could cost Pennsylvania 600,000 jobs and $260 billion in lost Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Specifics lacking

Harris has adopted a plan that aides describe as “strategic ambiguity” on energy policy to avoid alienating environmental activists and moderate voters. In fact, it took until early September for her campaign to list any key issues on its official website.

The state’s natural gas producers have pressed Harris on her specific policies, which have been inconsistent or—in some cases—nonexistent.

“We need more details,” said Dave Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, whose members gathered in northeast Pennsylvania last week for an annual conference.

Reuters talked to a dozen natural gas and drilling executives who attended the conference; all said that they are still guessing about Harris’s energy policy.

Various policy changes

• Harris says that she no longer supports a ban on oil and gas fracking on federal lands, which she did support during her 2020 presidential run.

Since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris has backed away from banning fracking, saying she now believes the clean energy economy can grow without having to ban the practice.

• She also backed the progressive wish list of climate goals—including ending U.S. reliance on fossil fuels within 10 years—as a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal legislation in the Senate.
• As vice president, Harris cast the tiebreaking vote on Biden’s climate investment package, which contained about $1 trillion in tax credits, grants, and loans for clean energy.

But as a 2024 presidential candidate, she now says that she no longer backs the Green New Deal.

• As a senator, Harris was a co-sponsor of legislation that called for increasing zero-emissions vehicles, i.e., electric vehicles, and ultimately phasing out all others by 2040.

The campaign said recently that she no longer supports that measure.

By contrast, voters have a much clearer picture of where Trump stands on energy issues.

• His “Drill Baby, Drill” mantra isn’t just campaign bluster to appease oil and gas producers.
• He remains committed to domestic energy production and pipeline expansion, as he was during his first term in office.
• Trump has pledged to broadly dismantle federal regulations, boost domestic hydrocarbon production, and lure “energy-hungry industries” to the United States, if he’s elected again.

Natural gas matters here

Pennsylvania is second only to Texas in estimated total proved natural gas reserves.

• The state’s reserves more than quadrupled from 2011 to 2021 because of increased natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale region.
• In 2021, the oil and natural gas industry contributed $75 billion to the Pennsylvania economy.
• That same year, workers with jobs related to the oil and natural gas industry earned an average of $95,047 annually.
• In 2022, about 3,138,296 residential and business customers used natural gas in Pennsylvania.

Summary

Pennsylvania has a robust and diverse economy. It must protect the jobs and livelihoods of its residents by electing leaders at the local, state, and federal level who will fight for domestic energy with an eye toward consumer well-being.

The economy boasts strong sectors in agriculture, food processing, industrial machinery, and health care, among others. That vibrant economy is fueled by reliable, locally produced energy.

The development of the Marcellus Shale is an American success story, beginning around 2005. It has enabled the extraction of clean, job-creating, American natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shales.

That success needs to continue so that Pennsylvania families, farms, businesses, and industries can continue to flourish.

A Harris presidency will weaken domestic energy producers and make America even more reliant on foreign oil. If the record of her home state of California is any guide, we can expect that as president she will advocate for more green-at-any-cost schemes, such as expensive and inefficient electric vehicle charging stations.

That is something that Pennsylvania’s energy sector, the state’s entrepreneurs, and families can ill afford.