The years-long push to phase out fossil fuels has run headlong into a new reality. That's the conclusion of energy industry leaders, who are heralding a shift back toward traditional sources of power. Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, recently told Breitbart News that an "energy reality has finally taken hold in the United States," replacing the left's climate narrative that called for transitioning away from oil and gas. "We are not transitioning from anything to anything," said Sommers. "We are going to need more kinds of energy going forward, and that is going to include a lot more oil and gas in the future."
The reality Sommers refers to is the skyrocketing demand for energy in America. The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, and other new technology has raised projections for energy use in America by 25 percent in the next five years, and by 50 percent by 2050. That type of energy demand simply cannot be satisfied with wind and solar.
Karr Ingham, president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, agrees with Sommers, noting the left's dream of a fossil fuel-free utopia was never realistic. "This idea that we were going to transition away from petroleum and natural gas energy and have wind and solar be a much greater share of the mix, those ideas have gone out the window at this point," says Ingham. "It is simply not possible to power the future with renewables."
Ingham tells KTRH he is not against alternative energy sources, but their development must be market-based, not forced on the industry. "Simply allowing markets to work means that oil and gas are going to fare extremely well for a long time," he says. "I'm not worried about renewables, but I am worried about policies that artificially distort markets, that ultimately harm consumers, and make energy more expensive, less abundant, and less reliable."
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