Governor Mark Gordon, a Republican from Wyoming, has now come under fire for remarks he made recently in which he pledged to lower carbon emissions in his state and stated that it was urgent to address the “warming climate.”
Gordon promoted the “Decarbonizing the West” campaign he started in his capacity as chairman of the Western Governors’ Association during a speech on Monday at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics in Massachusetts.
Gordon supported all-above energy when he stood for governor in 2018 and has subsequently supported the advancement of green energy.
Gordon went on to mention geothermal technologies, nuclear energy, forest management, and carbon capture and sequestration as further ways to reduce carbon emissions.
The governor was criticized by Republican state representative from Wyoming, Rep. John Bear, who leads the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
Bear claimed the state could not afford to “give an inch” to those who oppose fossil fuels.
“Frankly, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed that our chief executive would go to a pro-Hamas, pro-China school and appease an anti-fossil fuel crowd. I was embarrassed that someone who campaigned as a conservative is ready to close the coffin on coal, oil and gas in his state. He has given in to the AOC and Al Gore hysteria that is, in fact, disputed science.” Bear said during a recent Fox News interview.
Bear pointed out that Wyoming has one of the biggest fossil fuel industries in the country, and it is heavily dependent on it.
With over 12 times more energy produced than it uses, Wyoming is the second-largest net energy supplier in the country, behind only Texas, according to official data.
Since 1986, Wyoming has been the leading state in the country for the production of coal, and as of 2022, it ranked ninth for the production of crude oil.
Overall, coal-fired power stations provided an astounding 72% of Wyoming’s electricity in 2022.
Natural gas contributed another 3.6% to the total, while renewable energy sources including solar and wind power contributed 23.1%.
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