Energy execs concerned, not alarmed, by Biden comments
HOUSTON — Joe Biden’s promise that he would “transition” the country away from oil and natural gas might hurt him politically in Texas and Pennsylvania, but it did not come as a surprise to many in the energy industry.
Oil and gas executives have been keenly aware that the world is starting to move from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, although they argue that their industry will continue to provide cheap and plentiful energy for decades to come.
And several of them said that while they did not like the comments Biden made in last week’s presidential debate, they were not alarmed by them either.
What ultimately matters to the industry is not whether there would be an energy transition, but how rapid it would be and whether the companies would be allowed to exploit oil and gas reserves by offsetting their environmental impact by capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions.
Large European oil companies are embracing the change Biden called for as concerns over climate change grow and investors begin to shun fossil-fuel businesses. For example, BP has announced that over the next decade itwill shrink its oil and gas production by 40% and increase investments of renewables tenfold, to $5 billion a year.
But the U.S. oil industry, which has donated much more to President Donald Trump’s campaign than to Biden’s, has been more reluctant to change its business models.
Executives note natural gas is rapidly replacing coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. Gas also complements renewables by providing power when the sun does not shine and the wind is still. Some energy executives have even endorsed levying a tax on the emissions that are causing climate change, arguing that it would create incentives for carbon capture and storage, which would reduce emissions.
“There needs to be a large workhorse, and ultimately that is what we are,” said George Stark, director of external affairs for Cabot Oil and Gas, which has extensive natural gas operations in Pennsylvania. “We complement wind and solar. You need something that can run on an ongoing basis.”
Stark said he found Biden’s comments concerning, but stopped short of criticizing the former vicepresident harshly. “The opportunity will be there for a greener dialogue that has to take place regarding this whole notion of a transition,” he said.
In last week’s debate, Biden said hewould seek to replace fossil fuels with renewables “over time,” noting that the oil industry “pollutes significantly.”
But he had previously said he was against ending hydraulic fracturing of shale fields, a common practice in Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio.
And some oil and gas executives said they liked parts of an energy plan that Biden put out this summer.
Biden later sought to clarify his remarks by saying fossil fuels would not be eliminated until 2050. In remarks that seemed designed to appeal to Democratic progressives and working-class voters who rely on fossil fuel jobs, he added that he wanted to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
“Of course we were disappointed in the vice president’s comments,” Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s leading lobbying group in Washington, said in an interview. “You can’t just snap your fingers and get to a place where you are suddenly no longer using natural gas.’’
But Sommers also noted that Biden had expressed enough ambiguity that a rapid change in oil and gas shale fields was not likely.