During a House subcommittee hearing this week, Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin highlighted the role nuclear power plays in reducing carbon emissions across the country and warned the U.S. is headed down the same damaging steps taken by Europe.
He also questioned the ability of the U.S. to achieve net zero emissions in its electricity production without both nuclear power and natural gas being part of the portfolio.
The Republican Representative from the state’s 2nd Congressional District made his pointed claims during a joint Environment and Climate Change and Energy Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
“When you start looking at what’s happening, we’re wanting to do away with nuclear, too,” Mullin said. “So if we’re trying to end nuclear, then we’re going to have to have natural gas to fill that gap. We’re running down the exact same path that Germany has and we’re thinking that we’re going to have a different result. I don’t see that happening, I see it being the definition of insanity.”
He pointed to damaging actions taken by countries in Europe.
” Europe is experiencing a self-inflicted energy crisis due to their rapid decarbonization. Germany banned fracking for natural gas in 2017 and they are shutting down coal and nuclear plants by 2024 and 2038 respectively. Now, they are having to import natural gas from adversaries, like Russia, to fill the gap in their energy needs, resulting in high energy costs for consumers and an unstable energy grid.”
You can watch full video of Mullin’s remarks here.