Dealing with extreme energy prices, America needs to boost oil and gas infrastructure.

Right before the turn of the new year, Mike Butler, Mid-Atlantic Director of Consumer Energy Alliance, and PEIA member, had a letter to the editor published in PennLive. Butler’s piece outlines the heavy burden of increasing energy prices for American families, businesses, and those living in poverty.

Americans’ winter heating bills are set to rise by at least $13.6 billion based on last year’s numbers. With the right policies, Butler asserts this massive issue can be resolved.  He writes, “We must continue to add more clean energy sources and build on America’s environmental leadership as the world’s largest reducer of emissions for two decades. Yet to do that without tanking our economy or creating unacceptable California- and Texas-style blackouts, we need to recognize that oil, gas and infrastructure are all essential to a thriving economy, energy security and part of the path to meeting our Paris climate goals.”

Of the same vein, an Op-Ed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette written by Stephanie Catarino Wissman, Executive Director of the American Petroleum Institute, calls out the misguided policy decisions that have led our economy to this high-pressure, high-cost, over-inflated energy environment. Just as Butler called for American-made energy, Wissman writes, “What is needed now is more domestic supply and the infrastructure to deliver it, as well as smart policies at the state and federal level that support American-made energy.”

State and national legislation which bolsters domestic production and encourages reliable, affordable and cleaner energy, is essential to long-term economic growth and stability in places like Pennsylvania and the Appalachian region where natural gas development is a game-changer.