(A News and Sentinel Op-Ed - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

West Virginia State Treasurer Larry Pack’s column in last weekend’s Parkersburg News and Sentinel titled “Powering America’s Future from West Virginia” consisted of the same empty energy platitudes and industry talking points regarding natural gas that have been tirelessly rebuked for years by scientists and expert analysts, with just a splash of partisan political nonsense (I appreciated that it was only a splash — had the piece been written by Pack’s predecessor it would have contained nothing but partisan rancor and childish culture wars rhetoric).

Pack called energy derived from natural gas “reliable, affordable, and flexible.” Wrong on all counts by comparison to renewables.

“The secret that nobody wants to hear about fossil fuel companies is that they want us to waste as much energy as possible — not little dribs and drabs like water dripping from a leaky faucet, but huge amounts every hour of every day, 365 days a year. That is what powers their quest for new oil and gas deposits that can be extracted, refined, distributed and burned to create ever more profits–and waste.”

The above quote is from technology and sustainability writer Steve Hanley writing for CleanTechnica in a piece titled “The Key to Fossil Fuel Profits? Waste as Much Energy as Possible.” About 60% to 80% of energy from fossil fuels combustion is lost to waste heat. For natural gas, depending on the application, the loss to waste heat is between 55% and 69%. Solar and wind energy produce waste heat as well, but it can be fairly easily and cheaply captured and used in other processes without the devastating public health and environmental impacts of natural gas throughout its entire life cycle. We pay for the waste of finite fossil fuels. Solar and wind aren’t finite (hence “renewable”).

Solar and wind are far cheaper to build and maintain even than combined-cycle gas and with the vast majority of solar and wind being tied to power purchase agreements (PPAs) that last, on average, about 20 years, they are not subject to the crazy price volatility of fossil fuels. Even with the costs of batteries and other energy storage and delivery methods to solve for intermittency, no fossil fuels can compete on affordability with renewables.

I’m not exactly sure what Mr. Pack meant when he said natural gas is “flexible,” but I assume he meant it has numerous uses and potential uses. Not nearly as many, though, from an energy perspective, as solar and wind with multiple storage and delivery options. I’ll agree with Mr. Pack that we do need some federal regulatory reform — the kind of reform that speeds renewable energies onto the grid and makes the grid “smarter,” while maximizing energy efficiencies.

I most certainly disagree with Mr. Pack’s assertion that “our greatest threat” is “the Chinese Communist Republic.” I literally laughed out loud when Mr. Pack stated that “West Virginians understand better than most the link between energy and prosperity.” Mr. Pack should spend some time, as I did in August, at the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan. The Museum offers quite a powerful perspective on what West Virginians know about energy and prosperity.

West Virginians in Tucker and Mingo counties are fighting water-and-energy-guzzling, majorly polluting data centers to try to protect their communities. AI may have many important and interesting uses, but without careful and considerate regulation and oversight it could be a nightmare for humanity, so we need to slow down on its deployment. MonPower and PotomacEdison customers like us folks in Parkersburg don’t need a new 1,200-megawatt gas plant; we need a cleaner, safer, healthier future with energy we can afford (preferably energy we ourselves generate) and “jobs and opportunity for our people” that don’t keep our state an extraction colony and sacrifice zone.

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Eric Engle is a Parkersburg resident.