Oklahoma’s Grand River Dam Authority hosted a tour for congressional members on Friday, according to the News on 6 website. Lawmakers explored the Pryor power plant as they learned about Oklahoma’s robust energy strategy.
The tour, organized by Oklahoma Representative Markwayne Mullin and U.S. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, consisted of 18 lawmakers and 70 total participants.
“This is the most efficient natural gas unit in the United States, and to see that right here in Oklahoma, burning Oklahoma natural gas is important to us and is important to our customers,” said Rep. Mullin. “We went to a power plant, they have coal, and they have natural gas. We’re at a hydro dam here, where it’s renewable. There’s wind that they put onto the grid, it’s an all of the above approach and that’s energy security.”
Advocating the GRDA’s energy policy, Oklahoma Secretary of Energy & Environment Kenneth Wagner believes that having multiple methods of power generation makes Oklahoma exceptionally positioned to combat the energy debacles that affected other parts of the United States during the winter months.
“We really are not only a leader in all forms of energy, but we are an environmental leader,” said Wagner. “We’ve actually reduced carbon three times the national average.”