I confess to being a bit embarrassed that I didn’t think of this myself. It’s genius. The Left refuses to count Nuclear and Hydro in green energy portfolios even though there are no “CO2” emissions. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who is more Sununu than DeSantis, took that green playbook and used it to declare Natural Gas ‘green energy.’
Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation that broadly expands the ability to drill for oil and gas in state parks and also legally redefines natural gas as a source of “green energy.”
A 2011 state law gave state agencies the authority, if they choose, to lease out state lands for oil and gas exploration and production. The bill signed by DeWine on Friday would change that language to say a state agency “shall” accept a lease that meets certain conditions, instead of saying it “may” do so. In other words, it forces an agency to grant the lease application from oil and gas drillers.
The left is livid.
“Characterizing natural gas as green energy is regressive and a fallacy,” “It’s so ridiculous,” and an “‘egregious assault’ on the public interest and our state parks.”
“The bill also furthers fossil fuel misinformation campaigns designed to brand natural gas as ‘green energy,’ a nationwide effort to delay climate action and the transition to a truly clean energy future,” he said.
It sounds to me like there is room to make a deal, but it’s not one the whiners on the left will like. Admit that nuclear and hydro are green. Embrace language that includes them in any portfolio. Encourage the purchase or development of either in or out of the state by removing regulator burdens if they exist. Do this, and then we can talk about the role of Natural gas in this so-called energy transition you keep talking about, one that is impossible without hydro and nuclear.
Nuclear has, of course, been derailed by federal interference as an option in most instances. They made it too expensive to make wind and solar projects the better place to invest (or should I say tap, the federal printing press). But what was done can be undone. If states embrace the DeWine approach and get buy-in at the local level, they can begin to push that political pressure up the food chain.
No, I can’t imagine it happening to scale such that we find ourselves in a position to add enough nuclear to power the net-zero mythology, but you don’t win if you give up. I like this move by the Governor of Ohio. I’d like to see more of this in actual Red States if it has not been done already.
