Photo by Commonwealth Media Services
Christopher Nicholas: Our ‘get s*** done’ governor is AWOL during PA’s energy renaissance
Sen. Dave McCormick announced about $90 billion worth of new investments in PA energy, infrastructure and AI-related projects at his summit last week at CMU. Isn’t this exactly the type of event a GSD (Get Shit Done) type governor like Josh Shapiro should have organized?
Yes, indeed.
That successful, forward-looking summit is the exact type of enterprise our GSD governor, deep into his first term and headed toward a re-election race — and an always-being-hinted-at-2028-presidential-run — should have organized…
But of course Shapiro and his entire, sprawling administration did not do that, and couldn’t do that, as he’s been standing athwart the state’s burgeoning energy industry since he became governor.
Rather than working to boost it, or even to just get out of its way, Shapiro’s been fighting to impose more taxes on our entire energy generation system through his foolhardy fight to force PA into RGGI — the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Basically, RGGI is an excuse to impose more regulations and taxes on us via our electric bills. The Shapiro Administration’s unnecessary PUSH for this has for years paralyzed our energy sector to the point where PJM, which manages our grid, recently warned of looming power shortages.
As the Commonwealth Foundation has noted, “Shapiro appealed the court decision that ruled the carbon tax imposed by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) was unconstitutional.”
Rather than get on with his supposed GSD agenda, Shapiro went back to the courts to attempt a redo. Nor did he “lift a finger to fight against federal overreach,” à la former Pres. Biden’s ban on liquefied natural gas.
It’s hard to trumpet Pennsylvania’s home-grown energy abundance when you’re at war with it.
Kudos to McCormick and our home-grown power generation and distribution firms for being able to look past that, and fight through Shapiro’s RGGI-induced inertia and look toward the future and realize our need for increased electricity generation. And welcome as well to the other companies that also announced new investments in the state — it’s a great start.
As several summit participants noted, it just makes sense to locate new electric generating plants here because they are very close to (and in some cases, right on top of) the natural gas that will power many of them.
The sprawling coal-fired Homer City electric generating complex in Indiana County, now being torn down and rebuilt into a sprawling natural gas-powered generating complex, was originally sited there because it was right in the middle of western Pennsylvania’s coal fields.
And the same now goes for the gas-fired plants. Duh!
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Commonwealth is the nation’s second largest producer of natural gas and also the second largest net supplier of total energy to other states. (In both instances only Texas outranks Pennsylvania.)
For decades NEPA’s (northeast Pennsylvania) hard anthracite coal kept the heat on in East Coast urban centers, while the bituminous coal of western Pennsylvania powered the industrial revolution.
There’s a certain logic in moving to ensure the state’s vast natural gas (and other) resources power the next energy-intensive phase of America’s growth. Enter McCormick, as Shapiro has been AWOL.
It’s nice — and appropriate — that McCormick invited Gov. Josh Shapiro to one session at the summit, and equally as nice that Shapiro accepted.
But McCormick was the star of the show, and filled the void unfortunately created by Shapiro’s well-practiced nonchalance toward Pennsylvania’s energy-related sectors.
Both men were playing to type: McCormick, the hedge fund investment manager/dealmaker and Shapiro, the prevaricating career politician who’s never held a job in the private sector – outside a short-term gig at a law firm.
Now the hard part begins — getting those projects McCormick curated and announced across the finish line.
Perhaps Shapiro can be helpful in that endeavor, or perhaps…we need a new governor who is more focused on this, rather than on endless self-promotion. Imagine if Shapiro would devote as much time to spearheading a new energy renaissance as he does to pushing his “cringeworthy” social media strategy.
Yes indeed.
-Christopher Nicholas is a veteran GOP political consultant and President of Eagle Consulting Group, Inc., and writes the PA Political Digest newsletter.
Shapiro got put at the kiddie’s table on this initiative by Senator McCormick and our president, but he’ll be glad to take all the credit for it like the fraud that he is. He went on that ‘dead lib walking’ Colbert late night show last night to appease the TDS inflicted butthurt lefties that are whining about it, to save face with the greenies and try to look presidential, but remember – he still lost out to that moron from Minnesota in the VP sweepstakes. How bad do you have to be to be runner up to a false valor crooked coward Mao worshiper who decided to put tampon dispensers in grade school boys restrooms?
FedUp, there is a link on PhillyVoice about that Colbert show and… at the very end of the show, singer-songwriter Alex G, who is from Havertown, played “Afterlife,” one of the tracks on his new album “Headlights.” The album is Alex G’s 10th, but his first on a major label. His performance seemed nervous, but I have to tip my hat to his pure grit, and the fact he has 10 albums. The beautiful thing about life is not everyone has to like any specific type of art… and without art, Earth would just be “Eh.”
During that Colbert interview, I bet Shapiro forgot to mention his Candy-man, Pill-Pushing, drug dealing policies that would increase exposure to children, cause potential family disruptions, and increase broader societal costs… Did he at least mention his completely disastrous, failure-to-prevail in the courts, energy policy that will soon further spike costs as it continues to cut PA supply?
I didn’t watch the show, which would amount to watching an animal suffering after getting hit by a truck. I’m sure Shapiro’s visit was all rainbows, unicorns and candy canes. He won’t make it past the 2nd democrat primary. I can’t agree with you regarding plant Earth without ‘art’: There is nothing in the art world that can replicate nature, except possibly photos of it. Standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon at sunrise, the back bay at sunset, a quiet walk through the woods after snow, stargazing on a clear night far away from city lights. Music is unique and has always played a big role in my life. Congrats to Alex G.
He will never win the POTUS nomination from his party. I think we all know why.