Samantha Gross - Mentions and Appearances
Those pushing to end fossil fuel production now are missing the point that fossil fuels will still be needed for some time in certain sectors … Eliminating unpopular energy sources or technologies, like nuclear or carbon capture, from the conversation is short-sighted. Renewable electricity generation alone won’t get us there — this is an all-technologies-on-deck problem.
It would be great if we could find some bipartisan things to do, and if [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell should see the light or if it should become politically expedient for him to do something on climate. But I don't see us being ready just yet. It's hard to imagine Mitch McConnell giving in and allowing climate legislation to go forward. That's why the makeup of the Senate is so important [for climate policy going forward].
We still got a way to go and the Saudis recognise that [good vaccine news today does not mean demand recovery tomorrow, next week or even next month]. The vaccine news is good but we’re seeing a resurgence in the [United] States and in Europe and that says to us that demand is not coming back quickly. Prices may bounce a little on vaccine news but they will go back down when people realise that it will not fix the problem immediately.
[On the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.] It’s difficult to get out of the agreement. It’s quite easy to get back in.
[On opportunities for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Agreement] The real question is how to do it credibly and have the world listen to us again.
[On environmental deregulation] The Trump administration focused on undoing, root and branch, all of President Obama’s climate legislation.
[On energy density and challenges in the energy transition] Pound for pound, gasoline or diesel fuel contain about 40 times as much energy as a state-of-the-art battery.
[On challenges in the energy transition] It’s going to take time to replace these uses where fossil fuels are hardest to replace. We aren’t going to be completely out of fossil fuels for a while. The idea that we could stop using fossil fuels right now means that the economy comes to a screeching halt, and we don’t really want that. The idea is to halt climate change for people so that we can continue to have the kind of lives that we’re accustomed to, and leave this environment that we enjoy to our kids and our grandkids. Halting the economy isn’t the way to do that.
[On the U.S. coal and why environmental rollbacks have not helped the industry] The problem there is, if you’re really focused on ‘We’re going to bring this resource back,’ then you don’t help those communities; [instead] you tell them their jobs are coming back.
The U.S. public is continuing to become more concerned about climate change. There are certainly a few other politicians thinking about what a Republican stance on climate change would look like, but president Trump is not. But it is an issue that voters care about. The electorate in some ways is leaving the party behind.