United States Saw Largest Decline of Any Country on Energy-Related CO2 Emissions in 2019

February 13, 2020

Last week, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) proposed the Fracking Ban Act, which would end all U.S. onshore and offshore hydraulic fracturing activities, also known as fracking, by January 2025. Similar legislation is expected to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by fellow “Green New Deal” supporters Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Darren Soto (D-FL).

The eco-left extremists continue to push radical policies that would destroy a critical industry to the American economy without looking at the facts.

According to a new report by the International Energy Agency:

“The United States saw the largest decline in energy-related CO₂ emissions in 2019 on a country basis … US emissions are now down almost 1 Gt from their peak in the year 2000, the largest absolute decline by any country over that period.”

In a previous post, Power the Future cited a Forbes article on the booming U.S. oil and gas sector:

“The growth of the US oil and gas industry, production in particular, has been nothing less than explosive…With no major hurdles in the short-term, it appears continued growth is likely.

The only foreseeable “major hurdle” would be a change in administrations. The natural gas and oil industry is too important to limit, let alone destroy entirely, which much of the Democratic presidential field is proposing to do if elected.

The US oil and gas sector employs about 880,000 workers and contributes about $1.5 trillion towards the US gross domestic product, the growth of which has been heavily driven by shale production. Production of oil and gas hit record levels in 2019…”

The climate change activists paint the energy sector as the “boogey-man” on global warming and frame immediate radical policy as the only solution. Yet, studies have shown in 2019 the U.S. saw the largest decline in energy-related CO2 emissions on a country basis, while production hit record levels.

The numbers don’t add up. Especially on unnecessary policies that would wipe out hundreds of thousands of American energy jobs.