Mullin' It Over: Rich in Renewables
It’s no secret that Oklahoma and Texas have a rich history in oil and gas.
In the early 1900s, people from all over the country rushed to the two states to drill and communities were built around the oilfields. To this day, thousands of families depend on the oil and gas industry for their livelihoods and the states rely on the economic opportunity it brings.
But what you might not know is that Oklahoma and Texas are also rich in renewables. Yes, that’s right, two of the top oil and gas producing states are also the leaders in renewable power.
We have come a long way in a hundred years and so have our energy resources. Texas is ranked the number one wind energy producer in the nation, generating enough to power over 7 million homes. Oklahoma is ranked number three, generating enough to power almost 3 million homes.
Both states combined have more than $60 billion in total investment from renewable energy and that amount continues to grow. They have also been the leading states in reducing carbon emissions.
Recently, Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have continued to push their Green New Deal, which would require 100 percent of U.S. electricity to come from renewable energy sources in the next 10 years. It would cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and eliminate thousands of jobs, even entire industries.
Oklahoma and Texas are the perfect examples that it doesn’t have to be one way or another. It wasn’t a Green New Deal that forced them to invest in renewable energy. They simply answered consumers’ demands for more affordable energy from cleaner sources and innovated to achieve that goal. Now, these states are home to the most affordable power in the nation.
Americans deserve better than to be on the hook for the Green New Deal’s reckless, expensive, and unattainable goals. While Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talk about what we should be doing, Oklahoma and Texas have already done it through diversification and giving consumers a choice.
Free markets work!
Markwayne Mullin, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, was first elected to
serve the people of Oklahoma’s Second Congressional District in November 2012.
He is currently serving his fourth term in office. Mullin and his wife Christie
have five children: Jim, Andrew, Larra, Ivy, and Lynette. The Mullin family
currently resides in Westville, Oklahoma on the same family farm where Markwayne
was raised.
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