Obama routinely ignores the fact that natural gas has driven CO2 emissions from power production to a 22-year low

From Mark Perry.

"From my op-ed this week in Investor’s Business Daily — “Obama’s Blind Faith In ‘Clean’ Energy Will Cost Plenty“:

The other big development on the energy front is natural gas. Although the surge in the use of clean-burning natural gas has driven U.S. carbon emissions from power production to the lowest level in 22 years (see chart above), you’d never know it from listening to the administration. Obama routinely ignores this important accomplishment or treats it as an inconvenience.

The U.S. is one of the few countries that has decoupled GDP growth from emissions growth. As the shale revolution demonstrates, the innovative use of new energy technologies along with improvements in energy efficiency not only reduce carbon emissions but also greatly benefit the nation’s economy. Yet the administration continues to hamper natural gas production on public lands, while extending tax credits and incentives for solar and wind power, even though they’re not nearly as effective in carbon mitigation.

Renewables won’t be able to get us even halfway to achieving Obama’s target — reducing U.S. carbon emissions over the next decade to a level at least 26% below what they were in 2005.

Nuclear power and natural gas aren’t the problem. What should be recognized is that they’re actually two of the key energy sources that will cost-effectively reduce carbon emissions in the United States and worldwide. Together with investments in advanced energy technologies, increasing the use of nuclear power and natural gas — as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy — could have a major impact on containing global greenhouse gases.

MP: It’s important to note that the reduction in CO2 emission from electric power generation to their lowest level since 1993 wasn’t part of any Washington-based energy plan or policy, and didn’t involve any Congressional fuel mandates or taxpayer subsidies. It happened because of America’s petropreneurs, operating in the private sector with private capital and largely on private lands, who pioneered the development of revolutionary “Made in the USA” drilling and extraction technologies that were able to access the oceans of shale gas miles below the ground in states like Pennsylvania, Texas and North Dakota."