Oil leader cautions Oklahoma about following flawed model of becoming dependent on renewable energy

 

As the new President of the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma, Brook A. Simmons has some words of caution about renewable energy in the state.

“What we have to make certain we do in Oklahoma is that we don’t follow the flawed model,” he told OK Energy Today in referring to the mistakes made by California in becoming overly dependent on renewable energy.

It’s not that Simmons doesn’t believe in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar sources that recently landed California in trouble. It’s the extent of dependency on those renewables.

“I believe we’re on the cusp of a more healthy conversation about what the real impact of the–I’m gonna say the false promises that some have been making regarding renewables,” he explained. “And those chickens are coming home to roost. So we have to make certain (what) we do in Oklahoma is that we don’t follow that flawed model.”

Rolling blackouts hit California on August 14 and 15 and cut off power to several hundred thousand households during the pandemic and a record-breaking heat wave. Critics blamed California’s heavy reliance on solar and wind energy and questioned whether the state’s residents will be left with unreliable electric power.

 

Simmons sees a transformation underway when it comes to energy and its reliability and cost, and based on what happened to California, it’s time to have a more serious conversation. The millennials, who make up the largest portion now of the U.S. labor force throw in a third component and that is virtue or what Simmons calls the cause-related purpose in value.

California currently gets more than 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, primarily solar and wind, but not counting large hydroelectric dams. Under its 2018 climate law, the state plans to increase the renewable contribution to 60 percent by 2030. By 2045, 100 percent of its electricity is to be “zero-carbon”—but under the law that last 40 percent may include large hydro and even nuclear, if any is available.

“Now we’ve also seen the limitations of that application and we’re seeing it played out in front of our very eyes in California where all of these policies that are based upon emotional components instead of more rational factors such as bank loans, reliability and cost are starting to see the negative impact and the actual harm that it causes to humans,” Simmons explained.

The Petroleum Alliance President says it will be critical for the oil and gas industry to produce the cleanest hydrocarbon molecules in the world and be efficient in the application of technology.

“I think that all of us are going to have a robust conversation about what that really means when it comes to rethinking how we used to value energy itself.”

That robust conversation might carry over to the Oklahoma legislature where Simmons wants legislators to remember what the industry brings to the economy of Oklahoma. One third of the entire state’s GDP, one out of every 3 dollars in earned income and one out of every five jobs and one out of every four tax dollars spent in the state comes from the oil and gas industry.

“I think there have been times in the past where policy makers have forgotten that. But folks now are paying a little bit more attention to the fact  to nurture the industry as long as Oklahoma is going to have a highly selective economy based upon oil and gas,” said Simmons.