Lou Barletta and AREC Visit NEPA
At the Oct. 21 regional meeting of America’s Rural Energy Coalition, Lou Barletta, a former state representative and mayor of Hazleton, was one of six gubernatorial candidates to address a standing-room-only crowd.
“Promoting Pennsylvania energy will be one of my biggest priorities as governor,” he stated. “We’re going to be ready to turn on our energy agenda on Day 1.”
We asked Lou what he feels has stood in the way so far in getting natural gas to market from the shale fields, and he was unwavering in his opinion that state agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection are the biggest obstacles. “DEP has been used as a weapon to stop this industry, and we’re going to stop that,” he stated.
At the same time, Lou stressed that Pennsylvania’s innovation on natural gas and renewables is unsurpassed, noting the irony that Gov. Tom Wolf would sign us into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) when the natural gas industry as a whole has already been responsible for reducing emissions well below national standards. “Pennsylvania is the only energy producing state in the consortium,” he remarked.
Further addressing the environment, Lou suggested a plan for cleaning up abandoned coal shale sites for the purpose of recovering rare earth minerals (REM) needed for batteries for electric vehicles, rather than continuing to rely on China which supplies 80% of the world’s REMs.
Lastly, Lou touted the Lackawanna College School of Petroleum & Natural Gas in Tunkhannock as the future of the industry. “We need workforce development, because we need to have the workers here,” he stated. With the location of this state-of-the-art school in Pennsylvania, he added, “We will be able to attract industry and manufacturing.”