This story first appeared on the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
US Representative Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, repeated on Friday that power cuts in Texas were caused by frozen windmills, that President Joe Biden “with a stroke of a pen” eliminated thousands of jobs and that renewable energy is not reliable.
After a roundtable on energy issues that included only oil and gas advocates at the Grand Junction area Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Boebert blamed the continuous blackouts in Texas, not in exceptionally cold weather or on a power grid defective, but in the windmills freezing.
Texas officials, however, said that state utilities, which rely primarily on natural gas for energy, are not prepared for the extremely low temperatures that freeze everything from natural gas pumping wells to power plants. power generation.
“Texas is clearly showing us that they are unsustainable,” said Boebert of the state’s renewable energy, which accounts for about 25% of its total supply, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, a nonprofit corporation that manages the flow of energy in the state.
According to the council, the rest comes from natural gas (46%), coal (18%) and nuclear (11%).
“I’m pushing for reliable energy and if renewable energy gets to the point where it’s reliable, sustainable and affordable without the government getting in the way and choosing winners and losers with their subsidies, then, for sure, I’ll promote it them, ”said Boebert. “But it is not where we are now. We have not reached the point where we can run away from oil products. We have not reached the point where renewable energies can sustain our way of life ”.
Boebert said that Texas only has renewable energy because it was mandatory, however, it was a Texas Legislature predominantly controlled by the GOP that called for a 10% renewable energy standard by 2025. In addition, all forms of energy, including fossil fuels , receive some form of government help, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a nonprofit group formed in 1984 by a bipartisan group of members of Congress.
Congresswoman Silt, who is part of the Chamber’s Natural Resources Commission, introduced a bill to undo some of Biden’s executive orders, namely the temporary ban on future oil and gas leases on federal land and the revocation of a license for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is expected to deliver tar sand oil from Canada to refineries in Texas.
Boebert, whose husband, Jayson, works in the oil and gas industry, said her chair on the committee will allow her to have a say in what happens to the country’s energy industry and public lands.
“I can have a seat at the table for those issues that matter most to western Colorado people,” she said. “I’m looking forward to talking about the problems. I look forward to showing data that really corresponds to science and showing that we are environmentally friendly and we do it better than anyone else ”.