Pipeline opponents continue to wrongly conflate pipelines and their role in the political shift from red to blue in this year’s midterm elections. Phil Heron, among others, are ignoring larger pieces of the picture in attempts to use election results to create more arguments against needed pipeline development. This is typical coming from opposition that rely on spinning false narratives in the absence of facts to support their interests.
First of all, each statewide seat (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General) were already held by Democrats, which is proof of Pennsylvania’s Democratic leaning bent to begin with. The idea that Pennsylvania had a blue wave based on legislative and congressional seats flipping to Democrats is nothing more than a case of ignoring the redrawn congressional maps by the Supreme Court as well as the national recalibration of Democrats winning the suburbs of major cities (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh included). To say that this election was impacted by pipelines ignores what happened in the 49 other states, nationwide. The New York Times does a nice job of breaking down the anticipated effects of the redistricting (which were proven true by this year’s midterms).
Secondly, pipeline opponents are blatantly ignoring the larger Democratic revival across the country. Nationally, Democrats gained a net 32 seats in the House of Representatives (as of this writing). That number could swell upwards as mail-in ballots in western states are counted and recounts are finalized. The ‘blue wave’ gained more momentum with Monday’s announcement of Kyrsten Sinema’s election to the Senate in Arizona.
Yes, historical trends suggest that the sitting President’s party will lose Congressional seats during midterm elections. That trend remains after this year’s midterms.
The success of Pennsylvania’s and the United States’ energy sector should be an entirely nonpartisan issue. New jobs, increased tax revenue for state and local projects like roads and school construction, and greater availability for energy are not reserved for a single political affiliation – they benefit everyone. PEIA will continue to support Mariner East 2, Pennsylvania’s broader energy success, and the United States’ energy resilience regardless of the party in power.