DV Journal

Not everyone gets to make a living doing what they love, but I’m one of the lucky ones.

For more than 60 years, my family has been in the engine business, starting with my father Don’s work on high-performance race engines. Today, at Bolland Machine in Chippewa Township, Pa., we’ve expanded that legacy to serve industries that rely on internal combustion engines to power the economy—including natural gas compression, transportation and agriculture.

Our shop tackles everything from rebuilding Caterpillar and Waukesha engines to fabricating custom air filtration systems that improve performance and reduce emissions. We even design solutions like Closed-Loop Crankcase Vent Systems, which eliminate oily aerosol emissions to protect the environment. Whether it’s a racing engine or a compressor that keeps gas moving through the pipelines, we’ve built our reputation on solving the toughest challenges for businesses that keep America running.

Growing up in New Brighton, Pa., I’ve spent my life around the precision, power, and potential of engines. I’ve worked on them, owned them, and raced them—from motocross bikes to V8 race cars and more.

To me, being a gearhead isn’t just a passion; it’s a way of life.

But today, gearheads like me and millions of others who depend on internal combustion engines are at risk of losing our livelihoods because of Washington policies that push electric vehicles on consumers. These policies, while aiming to promote sustainability, fail to account for the businesses and communities whose livelihoods are tied to traditional vehicles and the energy sources that power them.

To be clear, I’m not opposed to electric vehicles. I respect the choices of those who want them. However, I believe policymakers should respect my freedom—and that of others—to choose vehicles that fit our businesses and lifestyles. Where I live and in my line of work, that freedom is critical.

Consumer choice is at the heart of sound energy policy. That point was featured during the American Petroleum Institute’s 2025 State of American Energy in Washington, D.C., last month, which I attended as a special guest. The event offered a clear connection between consumer freedom and the strength of our nation’s economy, as detailed in API’s Five-Point Policy Roadmap.

Our natural gas and oil producers provide the fuel millions of Americans rely on for their daily transportation. Without the option to choose proven, reliable vehicles, we could all be forced into options that don’t fit our needs.

Unfortunately, agencies like the EPA and NHTSA have pushed policies that would effectively phase out new hybrid and liquid-fuel vehicles through restrictive tailpipe and fuel economy standards. Tailpipe emissions have even dropped thanks to advances in clean fuels and vehicle technology. New cars, trucks, SUVs and buses run about 99 percent cleaner than models produced in 1970. For businesses like mine, overly restrictive policies could threaten our racing future and reduce demand for internal combustion engines, jeopardizing the livelihoods of workers and others who depend on this technology.

But consumer choice is just one part of the equation.

To ensure businesses like mine and others in energy-dependent industries can thrive, we need smart policies that fully leverage America’s natural resources. This includes streamlining the permitting process, implementing sensible tax policies, and strengthening our geopolitical standing with liquefied natural gas and other fuels to help allies. Combined, these steps will solidify America’s leadership for generations, boosting our economy and supporting nearly 11 million jobs—including the ones at Bolland Machine.

The 2024 election made clear that voters support pro-energy policies. Now, it’s time for federal and state elected officials to act. They’ve talked the talk – it’s time to walk the walk. Rolling back harmful regulations like the EPA’s tailpipe rule and reinstating policies that foster energy growth will help us reach our full potential.

My business and others like it depend on affordable, reliable energy, which natural gas and oil provide. We need to produce more of both – for a stable, successful economy that supports businesses like mine and communities across the country.

As the presidential race comes to a close, Americans are eager to replace division with a sense of unity. One powerful rallying point? American energy. Polls show that the majority of Americans, like so many Pennsylvanians, understand that our nation’s security and prosperity are built on access to reliable, affordable energy. And the bipartisan cornerstone of that foundation is U.S. natural gas and oil – resources that strengthen our economy, support nearly 11 million jobs and offer a path forward for all.

A recent survey across seven presidential swing states, including Pennsylvania, found nearly nine in 10 voters – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – agree that American natural gas and oil help make the U.S. more secure. Watching recent events in Europe and other global hotspots, Americans also understand the inverse: Without reliable energy, it is difficult for a nation to be secure and prosperous.

American energy security allows us to be hopeful about a future built with natural gas and oil and helped by a workforce that is anchored by a new wave of workers. That includes people like Lackawanna County’s Zoey Wright, who while in high school trained as a pipe welder at energy company Coterra. Her drive represents a cohort of skilled workers who will bring energy to the rest of us far into the future.

Politicians at the highest levels are following Zoey’s lead, as a bipartisan consensus has formed around U.S. natural gas and oil. Just look at what Democrats and Republicans have said on the campaign trail: Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz – as well as former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance – have recognized that natural gas and oil are the bedrock of our energy present and future. As Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently noted, Pennsylvania is the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” In essence, we have learned that you can’t be elected president without supporting fracking.

Yet even at the presidential campaign’s 11th hour, there are some unanswered questions about the natural gas and oil role in America’s future energy mix. Now is the time for clarity, not confusion. Answers to some key questions can help.

Should Washington mandate which new cars and trucks Americans can drive – a reality under an EPA tailpipe regulation and new fuel economy standards? When will Washington fully end the ongoing permitting pause on liquefied natural gas export projects? If fracking is to be restricted as some have suggested – restricting American natural gas and oil production amid rising demand – where will they be produced instead?

An American Petroleum Institute white paper helps inform the answers, mapping five actions policymakers can take now to strengthen American energy leadership, protect consumer choice, leverage our natural resources, reform infrastructure permitting and advance sensible tax policy.

As Americans prepare to vote, they deserve to know where the country’s energy policy is going. Natural gas and oil are our leading energy sources today and top government agencies project both to be leading sources in the future. They are essential to an all-of-the-above energy approach – seen in Pennsylvania natural gas production alongside other sources of energy – that is the best way to ensure energy reliability and affordability for all Americans.

America’s energy future is bright. With Zoey Wright and others like her leading the way in delivering the energy Americans count on every day, our country’s big dreams can be turned into reality.

When Pennsylvanians visit the polls, they should vote for policies that uphold our energy advantage and future prosperity. Bolstered U.S. energy leadership and consumer freedom – big points every American can rally around.

As Americans continue to struggle with higher costs, they look to President Biden and former president Donald Trump to articulate their plans to combat inflation during their Thursday debate.

Reliable, affordable energy should be a pillar of any serious plan to fight inflation. Yet, misguided policies and heavy-handed regulations from Washington threaten to undermine America’s existing energy advantage — built on abundant oil and natural gas — and potentially increase costs further.

Here are five actions that Americans watching the debate should be looking for from each candidate.

—Leverage our abundant natural resources. Developing oil and natural gas on public lands and waters is a bedrock of the energy needed to power the economy and help keep energy-related consumer costs in check. It’s also critical to American energy security. For affordability and security, we must harness our vast energy resources, starting with oil and natural gas.

But the current administration needs to do that. For example, its five-year offshore oil and natural gas leasing program offers no sales in 2024 and a maximum of three through 2029. This is the weakest program ever proposed, especially when Americans and the world need more energy.

A more robust and predictable offshore leasing program is essential to an affordable energy future.

—Fix the broken federal permitting system. Building all infrastructure, not just essential energy projects, is too long and cumbersome. And it’s more than potholes and crumbling bridges. Building renewable energy projects, oil pipelines, airports and other needed improvements is nearly impossible due to the broken permitting system.

Reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act already take four and a half years, delaying billions in investment, making it harder to get affordable energy from where it’s produced to where it’s needed, and ultimately affecting families and businesses.

Comprehensive permitting reform is needed to expedite the process and benefit all sectors of the economy.

—Protect consumer choice. When it comes to energy, consumers deserve more freedom, not less. Government mandates don’t work. Over the last four years, Washington bureaucrats have considered banning new gas stoves and furnaces. What’s next?

Now, they’re targeting cars and trucks through the EPA’s recent tailpipe emissions rule and the Transportation Department’s fuel-economy standards — both of which should be rolled back.

If not, the government will force automakers to produce more electric vehicles, even as gasoline-powered vehicles become less accessible and more costly.

—Restore America’s geopolitical strength. Energy security is national security. America’s oil and natural gas abundance is the envy of the world. It should be leveraged to protect our citizens and allies.

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) strengthen our competitive edge against global adversaries. American LNG enables other countries to lower their emissions by replacing dirtier fuels, replicating the success that has made the U.S. a leader in global emissions reduction.

The Energy Department should lift the pause on LNG permits and promptly approve pending export applications to support America’s status as the world’s leading LNG supplier, affirm commitments to allies, unlock billions in investment and create American jobs.

—Advance sensible tax policy. The U.S. oil and natural gas industry supports more than 11 million jobs and drives billions in annual domestic investment. However, capital flows where capital is welcome, and U.S. tax policy must be competitive with other countries to ensure the next chapter of our energy future is written in America.

Specifically, our nation’s tax policy must ensure taxpayers reap the benefits of continued investments in America’s energy resources. At a time when the American people and small businesses feel the sting of inflation, we cannot afford to raise taxes that undermine our economic and energy security.

Moving forward, Americans are tired of the punishing increases in the cost of living and basic necessities.

Our five-point roadmap offers a clear path to strengthen our nation’s energy advantage and deliver economic benefits to the American people. It’s time to work together on solutions that could help mitigate inflation while securing America’s energy future.

The energy landscape in Pennsylvania is rich.  We’ve taken advantage of our huge coal and natural gas resources for more than a century.  More recently, prolific gas production has ensured low heating and power generation costs in Pennsylvania for years.  But the transition to a ‘green’ economy could stop this progress with clean coal and gas-fired generation, and could mean giving up our natural gas appliances too.

The energy industry in Pennsylvania has served us well.  Pennsylvania homes and businesses enjoy energy low prices and good energy jobs.  But now this is being threatened with bad science and misguided politicians.

First, some facts –

• Pennsylvania is the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer after Texas, producing more than 7½ trillion cubic feet each year.
• Pennsylvania is the third-largest coal-producing state, and it’s the second-largest coal exporter to foreign markets.
• Pennsylvania ranked second after Illinois in electricity generation from nuclear power. And since 2019, natural gas has surpassed nuclear energy as the largest source of in-state electricity generation.
• Over half of Pennsylvania households use natural gas as heating fuel; and the state’s 49 gas storage sites — the most for any state – help meet winter demand for the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
• Pennsylvania is the second-largest net supplier, after Texas, of total energy to other states.

Pennsylvania’s fossil fuel industry has been important to our nation – in the past, now, and in our nation’s future.

Today, we also demand that we are better stewards of the environment.  Industry has delivered with improved manufacturing methods and more efficient infrastructure.  The EPA reports that, since 1980, carbon monoxide emissions are down by more than 74%.  Nitrogen dioxide emissions have been reduced by more than 70%.  Sulfur dioxide emissions are off 93%.  And carbon dioxide emissions – CO2 – for all vehicles during the same period – have fallen by 31% – and still trending down .

President Biden is pushing a transition to a green economy.  But the EPA says we are getting greener without borrowing trillions of dollars.  I was always taught If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Don’t force Electric Vehicles on us.  Let us choose what works best now, while we improve on technology for the future.

Biden says green industries can deliver jobs.  But running gas-fired power plants and refineries requires many workers.  How many jobs would Pennsylvania lose under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which, by the way has only increased inflation?  Biden’s plan hopes to create more than 200,000 jobs over the next ten years in Pennsylvania.  What Biden doesn’t tell you is that the good jobs in natural gas and coal go away, to be replaced with taxpayer-subsidized energy justice jobs and environmental justice jobs, whatever that means.

President Biden visited the Philadelphia shipyard to talk about energy jobs, and one particular ship’s components will be built by nine unions across the country.  How do temporary jobs in Philadelphia help develop energy jobs across Pennsylvania?  Biden hopes that workers who lose their jobs in the transition will find a place in the green economy.  But the EV industry, as an example, is a net job loser for us, and a net job gainer for China.

Can Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act produce as many jobs as those we’ll lose?  If your job that is connected with natural gas or coal, or if your job depends on Pennsylvania minerals for manufacturing, then you can understand the damage that will be done if Mr. Biden phases out gas and coal.  You see, after the equipment is built and installed, solar and wind almost runs itself.  Job losses naturally follow.

According to the DoE, energy jobs in the U.S. grew by 3.8 percent in 2022, half of them being green energy jobs.  But remember – once it’s installed, most of the work goes away.  The green economy can’t replace job losses from refineries and power plants that require 24-hour, 365-day staffing.  And it cannot deliver the same reliable energy!  The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun isn’t always shining.

Thousands of Pennsylvania families have, for generations, made a living in oil and gas and coal.  Now Joe Biden wants to end these jobs and tell workers to find jobs elsewhere.  This delivers serious headwinds to energy with the green transition.  American companies cannot compete with cheap labor in China, which dominates the solar panel business.

I said in the beginning that I would tell you what we need to best develop energy here in Pennsylvania.  We need Donald Trump.  Donald Trump understands energy and real job creation.  He understands competition, and American ingenuity that produces energy from all sources – in a cleaner, and less expensive way.

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For an alternative viewpoint see: Point: Nuclear Fusion Is the Energy Source of the Future

“Still decades and hundreds of billions of dollars away.”

That was the sobering refrain from the recent nuclear fusion announcement that has already taken decades and cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to get to this point of—wait for it—still being decades and hundreds of billions of dollars away.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is thwarting domestic energy development and Congress can’t pass bipartisan permitting reform to make energy siting and transmission more predictable. All this while the nation suffers from the imperfect storm of gasoline and natural gas costs, increasing frequency of blackouts and brownouts, and a greater reliance on foreign energy sources.

Considering the genuine challenges our nation is facing, the U.S. should focus its resources on tangible solutions that are available now.

Around the world, more than 2 billion people live in energy poverty, and millions of Americans struggle to pay for electricity and transportation fuels. Separately, the war in Ukraine has highlighted an over-reliance on Russian natural gas in European countries — a gap that U.S. natural gas could help fill. In fact, the administration has promised more U.S. gas to England and other allied nations despite a history of making it more difficult for U.S. energy companies to extract and transport those resources domestically.

And not only is the federal government an obstacle, but some political and business leaders, like Michael Bloomberg, are underwriting public relations campaigns to end the use of traditional energy sources while they fly on private jets, sail on yachts, and live in mansions. They do not appreciate the struggle for affordable energy, potable water, and good jobs that most citizens of the country, and the world, seek.

The International Energy Administration and the U.S. Energy Information Administration acknowledge petroleum and natural gas will be among the most widely needed fuels for at least the next 50 years, and likely longer. Fuels that are necessary to drive vehicles, heat homes, and cook food.

In addition to leveraging North American petroleum and natural gas supplies, the U.S. has an opportunity to promote the advancement of traditional renewable energy sources. To his credit, President Joe Biden has presided over the largest deployment of solar and wind in U.S. history. Continued investment, coupled with a robust natural gas industry, is the best way to keep our economy strong, reduce carbon emissions and expand our electricity generation capacity.

Biden, working with Congress, secured record investments to accelerate renewable energy sources through landmark laws like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Through his Cabinet, departments have established important goals to build America’s budding offshore wind energy industry and increase the generation capacity of solar to help us reduce carbon emissions by the end of this decade. It is a challenge, but one that is within reach.

It is important that the United States, and specifically the Department of Energy, support new and innovative technologies to help us reach a clean energy future. A future that nuclear fusion may be a part of.

However, it is critical that we leverage our current resources to meet the energy demands of today—both domestic and global—by allowing U.S. energy companies to develop and transport the traditional energy resources that we have domestically. This will help lower the cost of energy, grow our economy and support our allies while greening our environment — all without waiting decades and spending hundreds of billions more dollars hoping for the best possible result from a cool science project.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody and unhinged campaign to topple a democratic nation once subjugated by the former Soviet Union has resurrected the threat of global conflict from its deep, dark Cold War-era grave.

It’s easy to paint the invasion of Ukraine as the delusions of a narcissistic despot desperate to cement his legacy as the man who muscled Russia’s way back to the top of the world superpower list. In doing so, we ignore the uncomfortable truth: Putin spent years bolstering Russia’s economy with oil and gas exports, knowing full well the West’s race to renewables left them vulnerable and dependent.

As a natural consequence, any imposed sanctions meant to cripple Russia’s energy sector will reverberate across the globe, cutting countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) the deepest.

This is what I, and many others, mean when we say energy independence is a matter of national security. And this is why short-sighted climate policies – like forcing Pennsylvania into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and cancelling natural gas infrastructure, the Keystone XL pipeline chief among them – are so very dangerous. People across the world, not just in Ukraine, will die from the leverage Russia holds over global energy exports.

How much control does Russia have, exactly? The EU is the largest importer of natural gas in the world and 53 percent of their supply came from Russia in 2020 alone. In the United States, about 11 percent of our crude oil imports came from Russia last year – a smaller, albeit significant chunk that will cause financial pain stateside as the war against Ukraine escalates.

Some analysts believe crude oil prices may reach $150 per barrel this summer, up from roughly $50 just two years ago when American energy policy prioritized independence.

President Trump, love him or hate him, cautioned western Europe about the risks of relying on Russian natural gas. Germany ignored those warnings and closed much of its nuclear and coal generation facilities in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately, Germany now finds itself in a very serious dilemma of failing to recognize the importance of natural gas in its decisions.

Germany isn’t alone in its shortsightedness. Democratic leaders in western nations, acting on behalf of wealthy green energy donors, fail to see the big picture time and time again. It doesn’t matter how many countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement if all of them also allow China to ramp up its emissions over the next decade.

Pollution knows no borders. Renewable energy accounts for less than one third of global energy supply and remains notoriously unreliable. That’s why, in addition to fueling the EU, Russia made a lucrative deal to supply China with 100 million tons of coal.

We can attack Putin’s assets and Russia’s banks all we want, but so long as he’s cornered a sector of the energy market, his imperialist ambitions will not subside.

But all is not lost. The United States can change course. We can ramp up energy production with the same urgency we experienced when manufacturers pivoted to make masks and ventilators at the onset of the pandemic. We can ease Biden-era policies meant to restrict oil and gas production and exports. We can greenlight Keystone and other pipelines. And we can unleash our plentiful gas supply right here in Pennsylvania to help with that mammoth effort.

Pennsylvania, according to the Energy Information Administration, remains number two in natural gas production nationwide and became the largest supplier of electricity in the United States in 2020. In Pennsylvania alone, more than half of households use natural gas to stay warm. Our 49 underground storage sites also remain key to meeting regional demand in winter.

That’s why Gov. Tom Wolf must abandon policies meant to hamstring the industry, like his devotion to RGGI or his alignment with New York on halting infrastructure that could supply New England with cleaner, cheaper Pennsylvania natural gas instead of – you guessed it – Russia’s inferior product.

But Wolf isn’t the only one standing in the way. Our country still bans liquified natural gas (LNG) cargo ships from delivering between domestic ports unless registered in the United States. Of the more than 400 existing LNG carriers, none fly the U.S. flag.

This law, known as the Jones Act, was enacted in 1920 and leaves us entirely dependent on foreign transports to deliver LNG when pipelines aren’t feasible. The same law prevented production facilities in the southern U.S. from delivering to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in 2017.

Think of how much the world has changed in a century, let alone from just a year or two ago. Where is the logic in buying from a hostile nation instead of adopting policies that make it easier to use what we produce ourselves? Is there any recognition of the common good – or are we just nuts?

Russia has now weaponized its natural gas supply and soon it will squeeze ancillary industries like fertilizer manufacturing and ultimately, food production. If you control the food supply, you control the people. It’s a brutal tactic Russian dictators of decades past know all too well.

Our elected officials must set aside their allegiance to green energy lobbyists and turn up gas production so that we can crush Putin’s war machine without setting a single foot on foreign soil. As a nation that prides itself on its staunch defense of liberty, we must not undermine Ukraine’s fight for freedom by bankrolling their aggressor. And natural gas is the most valuable commodity Russia has – for now.

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The soundbites and images were startling. Blackouts. Burst pipes. People dead from extreme cold and carbon monoxide poisoning. This week marks one year since the coldest weather in generations hit Texas.

A year later, energy policy experts in Pennsylvania and across the nation are looking for lessons to be learned from those failures.

“There were multiple errors, but green energy failed at a critical time, and we no longer had fossil fuels and baseload power systems to back them up,” says H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., a Texan serving as senior fellow on environmental policy for the Heartland Institute.

“What led to the crisis and the blackouts is 20 years of bad policies pushed by politicians on both sides of the aisle from Washington, D.C. and here in the state of Texas that were propping up one form of unreliable variable generation over another, which is good natural gas and clean coal thermal generation that has been diminished because of these market-distorting policies, subsidies if you will,” said Jason Isaac, a four-time Texas state representative now serving as director of Life: Powered at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF).

“That’s why we’ve seen this incredible growth in this variable generation that’s now a third of our grid in the state of Texas in wind or solar that we’re dependent on when the wind blows or the sun shines, and there’s no backup generation requirements for those sources of electricity generation,” he said.

Solar was virtually non-existent in terms of electricity generation at the time of the storm. Wind dropped to 1.5 percent of the electric generation.

“It’s, again, 33­­ percent of our grid,” said Isaac. “That’s unbelievable, and over 90 percent was coming from the other 66 percent of the grid, natural gas, coal, and nuclear.”

“There’s a reason we never had something like this before in the middle of winter,” said Burnett. “That’s because we never had so little reliable baseload power as part of our system.”

It should serve as a wake-up call for other states, especially at a time when federal and state legislators are pushing the Green New Deal and related measures.

“The national takeaway on the crisis that we experienced in Texas, the energy capital of the world, if you will, is that we need good, reliable natural gas, coal, and nuclear,” said Isaac.

The Sunrise Movement, a youth movement to “stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process,” sees things differently. Sunrise said in an email it is “building an army of young people” to make climate change an urgent priority across America.

“(We want to) end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people,” according to its website.

And Sunrise has its eyes on Texas, where a primary election is scheduled for March 1.

“We have an opportunity to send our own — Jessica Cisneros and Greg Casar — to Congress to fight for us and win a Green New Deal,” Sunrise said in an email to supporters. “Republicans, corporate Democrats, and Big Oil want you to forget what happened one year ago in Texas, but we’ll never forget.”

Pointing to the remarks from Sunrise, Isaac said they are laughable at best.

“The Green New Deal is about controlling everything we do in our lives and increasing the cost of energy, and expensive energy hurts the poor more than anyone else,” said Isaac. “If we had the Green New Deal here in Texas, our electric bills would be triple what they were, the reliability of electricity would be laughable, and deaths last year would have been much more horrendous than they already were.”

“Sunrise wants to double down on the policies that created the very problem,” said Burnett. “We had 200 people die last year during this weather.”

The indoor temperature of Burnett’s home was in the 50s after he lost power.

“The Sunrise Movement wants more wind and more solar, and that’s great, unless the wind stops blowing like it did last February and snow falls and covers all your solar panels,” said Burnett. “To be fair, the wind came back up, but by then, the turbines had frozen, (and) you don’t want turbines turning on and throwing icicles across highways.”

Isaac holds firm to his position on the need for natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy.

“Wind and solar is habitat and environment destroying technology that increases the cost of electricity, does nothing to improve the environment, and just winds up hurting the poor most,” says Isaac. “It increases the unreliability of our grid and the instability.”

It was a close call in Texas last year, one that should cause other states to wake up to what Isaac calls a “cult-like fascination with decarbonized electricity.”

“We were nearly four minutes away from a complete grid collapse because renewable energy was not producing any electricity,” says Isaac. “That would have been completely devastating to Texas. We would still be rebuilding today. Millions of people would have fled the state because of this, and just thousands of people would have died.”

“ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) made some terrible decisions,” says Burnett. “After the power outage, they wanted to get the lights on immediately, so they said, ‘natural gas plants, you have to ramp up,’ but then they cut off power to switching stations for natural gas and for storage for natural gas, so there was no power heating the pipelines or the switches and the plants were using gas at an enormous rate, and those pipelines and switches froze.”

“That would not have happened with a coal plant because coal typically has six months of capacity sitting around in a stockpile,” says Burnett. “They’re not going to run out if the switching stations freeze, but those coal plants had closed, so there were multiple errors.”

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