As numerous Democrats clamor to take on Corbett in the November election, the Republican governor’s plan touts the state’s place as a big producer of natural gas, coal, nuclear power and renewable energy, and expresses support for all of those sectors.
“Whether from the well pad to the corner grocery store, the expansion of our energy sector has made Pennsylvanians better off and made our commonwealth really the vanguard of American energy independence,” he told a small audience at Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Earth Science Center in Lycoming County. The county was among the leaders in new unconventional drilling permits last year, his report said. Shale drilling over the past decade made Pennsylvania the country’s second-largest producer of natural gas.
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The report says his “all-of-the-above” policy is guided by embracing free markets to allow customers to choose their energy sources, promoting the state’s diverse energy portfolio, pushing industries to use cheap energy produced here and protecting the environment. It calls for supporting new technology that reduces emissions from coal-fired plants, making natural-gas vehicles more commonplace and backing the redevelopment of refineries for the natural gas industry.
A critic said the policy misses a chance to seize on the high-growth natural gas industry that took hold in shale-rich areas from the southwestern to northeastern corners of the state.
“A policy that embraces the status quo doesn’t get us there,” said John Quigley, a former state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources secretary. He said a good policy would promote building an infrastructure around renewable energy sources — wind, solar and water — backed by natural gas-fired power plants that can back up the grid with fewer emissions than coal.
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