By now, every Virginia should know – but probably doesn’t because the media refuses to do its job of informing the public – that Glenn Youngkin is a pathological liar, just like his cult leader Donald Trump. Just listen to any speech by Youngkin, and pretty much if his lips are moving, you know he’s spewing out b.s., misdirection, deception, distortion and/or flat-out/wild lies.
The latest example of Youngkin’s relentless dishonesty? This morning, the Virginia Mercury reported:
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has joined a group of nine other Republican governors who are advocating for “energy choice,” intending to “minimize permitting and other regulatory barriers” and “limit expensive energy mandates,” among other goals. Some clean energy advocates said the term is a euphemism for the continued use of natural gas that pollutes the planet and drives climate change.
Called the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Choice, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu announced the group in a press release Tuesday.
Take a look at the statement by these right-wing “Energy Choice” governors – including some of THE WORST governors in America (e.g., far-right puppy-killer Kristi Noem of South Dakota, odious Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, right-wingnut Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, etc.) and see how many lies, distortions, etc. you can find. For instance (fact checks/comments in green/bold/parentheses).
- “…states that enhance energy choice also enjoy lower energy costs, increase reliability, and attract businesses and employment opportunities” (Sounds good, but first of all, what do they mean by “energy choice?” Pretty much, with these corporate/dirty energy tools, it’s code for FOSSIL FUELS FOREVER! Second, is there ANY evidence that “states that enhance energy choice” – whatever that even means – “also enjoy lower energy costs, increase reliability, and attract businesses and employment opportunities?” Highly doubtful, although to the extent it’s true, the reality these days is that the cheapest forms of new power are utility-scale solar and onshore wind, definitely NOT fossil fuels…which is obviously what these right-wing governors favor)
- “High energy costs driven by government regulation are crushing middle income families already burdened by inflation.” (Now that’s just a bunch of WILD lies right there by NH Gov. Chris Sununu. For starters, right now in the United States, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), natural gas prices are pretty low for the industrial and commercial sectors, low in terms of the “city-gate price,” and pretty average historically for the residential price – also down from 2022 and 2023. As for oil and gasoline prices, they’re pretty normal right now on a historical basis, low as a percentage of family income. So who knows what Sununu is blathering about? As for electricity prices, according to EIA, they “generally mirrored the rate of inflation over the past decade, increasing by less than 1% in inflation-adjusted terms between 2013 and 2023.” And to the extent it’s a problem, the fact is, “the states most reliant on natural gas for electricity generation were among those with the highest rate of retail price increases.” That’s right, natural gas, which is exactly what these right-wing governors love so much! LOL Also, to the extent energy prices are high – which they aren’t, particularly, if you look at wind, solar, oil, etc. – “government regulation” certainly isn’t the problem. So…yeah, this is all a bunch of bullsh**.)
- The governors claim to want “energy policies…focused on affordability, reliability, and good stewardship.” (We actually agree! So these right-wing governors must want energy efficiency, utility-scale solar, onshore wind, etc., because those are by far the cheapest energy sources, also ones that actually practice “good stewardship,” as oposed to climate-heating/planet-trashing fossil fuels, which these right-wing governors love so much? Hmmmm…)
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
