Both U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) and Republican challenger Dave McCormick had messages of support for Pennsylvania’s energy sector on Thursday during the Shale Insight conference in Erie hosted by the Marcellus Shale Coalition.
But McCormick made a point of noting that he was on hand to deliver his message in person, while Casey was a no show. The Democrat sent a four-minute, pre-recorded video with his pitch to the state’s petroleum industry.
“Get a load of this: looks like a certain somebody mailed it in for the Marcellus Shale Insight Conference,” McCormick mocked on social media.
And, McCormick argues, his support for Pennsylvania’s energy is more authentic than Casey and other Democrats.
“During the Biden-Harris administration, we’ve gotten a taste of what this anti-fracking, anti-energy agenda looks like, a rationally constraining production and new energy infrastructure at home to satisfy environmental activists,” McCormick said.
In his video message, Casey called for an “all of the above energy approach” to meet America’s energy needs. He advocated for renewable energy — subsidized with hundreds of billions of tax dollars thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act Casey continues to tout. But he also said a strong domestic natural gas industry would keep the energy grid reliable.
The three-term incumbent Democrat also tried to create some space between himself and the Biden-Harris administration, taking a slight dig at its liquid natural gas (LNG) export ban.
“When I learned about the administration’s decision to pause new export licenses for liquefied natural gas, I raised alarms about its potential to threaten Pennsylvania jobs,” Casey said. A federal judge recently put the pause on hold.
He also expressed disappointment at a White House proposal enacting strict rules on a clean hydrogen production tax credit. Casey suggested the proposal would exclude historic leaders in energy but promised to work with the administration to “get this right.”
The McCormick campaign is quick to note that Casey has voted with President Joe Biden 98 percent of the time.
Addressing a friendly crowd at the Bayfront Convention Center, McCormick took a different tactic from Casey’s.
He called the energy sector “the long pole in the tent” of Pennsylvania’s future.
“Imagine a world where we unleash this energy and build infrastructure to get our natural gas to the whole world,” McCormick said.
He framed Pennsylvania’s energy sector as one that could create jobs not just in the Keystone State but across the globe. What’s stopping Pennsylvania energy companies from further growth and job creation? Overzealous bureaucrats, he told the crowd.
McCormick, a former hedge fund manager who served as the Commerce Department’s Under Secretary for Industry and Security said regulators and “weak, weak leaders” are keeping the Keystone State’s energy sector from reaching its potential.
McCormick warned voters not to take Vice President Kamala Harris’s pledge that she wouldn’t ban fracking to heart. He said that would kill Pennsylvania’s economy and cause it to lose more than 300,000 jobs.
Harris was an enthusiastic advocate of banning fracking and ending the use of fossil fuels entirely when she ran for president in 2020. Now she says she would not ban fracking, though she’s quick to add “My values have not changed.”
Pennsylvanian energy activists found her pro-fracking pledge unpersuasive, calling it a “deathbed conversion.”
McCormick suggested the Biden-Harris administration looked to ban fracking without passing a law, and he pointed to the White House’s sweeping new carbon capture rules on power plants as proof. Those rules require all coal-fired plants and new natural gas-powered plants to capture 90 percent of their carbon emissions. Coal-fired plants were also ordered to reduce mercury emissions by at least 67 percent.
Other targets included the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) work on environmental, social, and governance regulations. The SEC adopted rules in March that require companies to release information about climate-related goals. Companies are required to reveal costs related to carbon offsets and renewable energy credits.
McCormick used the recent deal between Microsoft and Constellation to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor as an example of the private sector doing things right.
One thing Casey and McCormick did agree on is the future is bright for Pennsylvania’s energy sector.
Casey said the commonwealth would “lead the charge” in America’s energy renaissance. McCormick said the solutions “will come from capitalism, from science, and from the American spirit of innovation.”
The Casey-McCormick race is one of the most hotly contested in the nation. While Casey has a 5.1 percent lead in the RealClearPolitics poll average, three recent surveys showed the race was tied. The contest could decide whether Republicans have a 50-50 split with Democrats in the Senate, or win an outright majority. If the Senate ends up split, the vice president would cast the tie-breaking vote.
