Perry critical of climate change
Perry says the developing world should get cheap and plentiful energy from fossil fuels to help populations escape from poverty
Energy Secretary Rick Perry attacks climate change policy at CERAWeek, arguing efforts to shift away from fossil fuels were “immoral,” denying developing nations plentiful, cheap energy.
E NERGY Secretary Rick Perry attacked climate change policy Wednesday, arguing global efforts to shift away from fossil fuels were “immoral” because they will deny developing nations the plentiful, cheap energy needed to lift people out of poverty.
“Look those people in the eyes that are starving and tell them you can’t have electricity,” he said, “because as a society we decided fossil fuels were bad. I think that is immoral.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly challenged a growing consensus among world leaders that society must quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Perry, appearing at the CERAWeek by IHS Markit energy conference Wednesday, made the case that the growing body of climate change regulations threatened to curtail a global energy boom.
In a sprawling speech, the former Texas governor declared that the United States has entered an age of a new “energy realism,” in which the country would increasingly supply the world with oil, natural gas, coal, wind turbines and other forms of energy.
“America is now on the cusp of energy independence, but the president wants to see this go further. He wants to share America’s energy bounty with the world,” Perry said. “We’re going to be exporting multiple fuels, and we will export the same technologies that made us a clean, abundant energy producer.”
The oil industry faces an increasingly uncertain future, not only from climate regulation but technological breakthroughs in fields from electric
cars to battery storage to solar panels. And Perry’s comments played to those in the industry who are skeptical of the predictions that oil’s days are numbered.
Among many U.S. energy companies, the more immediate concern is that the Trump administration will slow global trade through protectionist policies, such as the proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, said Karen Harbert, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute.
“Trade and tariffs. That’s what could blow up our newfound energy abundance,” she said. “Let’s hope we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”
During a meeting Wednesday with energy ministers from Canada and Mexico, Perry worked to assuage such fears, saying it was in U.S. interests to maintain a close trade relationship with its neighbors, even as negotiations to revise the 24year-old North American Free Trade agreement create some “uncomfortable” conversations.
“It’s in our best interest to remove as many barriers as we can to trade, to send this message around the world that this is a region of people with common interests, common resources, that we are developing together,” Perry said. “Incredibly close relationships are uncomfortable from time to time.”
Many government officials and clean energy supporters are concerned that the Trump administration is not doing enough to transition from energy sources that have made the U.S. one of the world’s largest contributors to climate change.
Since taking office last year, Perry has promoted an “all of the above” strategy toward lowering energy costs and growing the U.S. economy — a script he largely stuck to Wednesday. But his department also has shown a predilection for aiding the coal sector.
In September, he proposed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission increase rates to prop up coal and nuclear power plants that have shuttered at a fast clip in recent years. Commissioners ultimately rejected the proposal earlier this year.
Republicans and Democrats criticized the plan as a government giveaway promoted by coal magnate Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy.
The Energy Department has also proposed slashing funding for carbon capture research and development, potentially slowing a technology believed to be critical in the fight against climate change.
“They could be doing more on clean fossil, in my opinion,” said Rich Powell, executive director of the ClearPath Foundation, a conservative group advocating for clean energy. “I think there’s still some convincing to be done.”
Perry seemed to avoid the term “climate change” Wednesday, a controversial topic within the administration since President Donald Trump last year pulled out of the Paris agreement, an accord among nearly 200 nations to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But the topic hung over his appearances, as he was asked whether the administration might reconsider leaving Paris. Perry responded it was “a conversation worth having.”
But he also made the case that emissions would come down faster without government regulation, citing the decline in U.S. carbon emissions between 2005 and 2014 because of the switch from coal to cheaper, cleaner natural gas.
“The lesson’s clear we don’t have to choose between growing the economy and caring for the environment,” Perry said. james.osborne@chron.com twitter.com/osborneja