America’s Energy Sector Deserves the Same Support It’s Given to Our Country

May 8, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic interrupted the highest ever standard of living in American history. Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate shot up to 14.7 percent in April, the highest level since the Great Depression.

With all that’s going wrong with the world, it’s hard to notice what’s going right. For instance, the Amazon trucks that continue to make deliveries to you in the comfort of your heated home. The ability for workers nationwide to adapt to working from home with reliable electricity and internet connection. These daily conveniences are all thanks to our energy sector that has kept the lights on and hospitals running as we fight the invisible enemy.

As our Executive Director Daniel Turner wrote in an op-ed for RealClear Energy:

Americans have united around efforts to produce as much personal protective equipment (PPE) as possible and any kind of medicine that may be able to keep us healthy. It’s no longer a concern where these products come from or how they are made. There are no protests over the fact that fossil fuels are the foundation for 80% to 90% of the pharmaceuticals we use, or that many of the surgical masks and PPE being created are made from them as well. The usual calls for renewable energy have also fallen silent – there’s no denying the need for fossil fuels, which generates 63% of America’s electricity, when lives immediately depend on it.

It’s hard to imagine what America would do in response to the coronavirus without the power supplied by our energy industry. But, if the calls of many on the left to ban fossil fuels came to fruition, that’s the reality we would currently be facing. Fortunately, President Trump has spent his time in office encouraging the natural gas and oil industry.  

In times of hardship, people take notice of the things they previously took for granted. We hope America and the eco-left come out of this crisis with a new appreciation for the industry that has kept our world running as normal as possible during this time of uncertainty. President Trump knows that we’ll be leaning on the industry to get through this just as much as we will to get out of it as we start opening the country back up.