The Campaign Update: Living in Texas Seems to be Rubbing off on Elon Musk
Welp, living in Texas must be rubbing off on Elon Musk. The founder and CEO of Texla, er, Tesla put out the following extraordinary tweets Friday evening:
And there you have it: The visionary of the electric vehicle (EV) industry appearing to admit that “sustainable”, i.e., renewable energy sources are useless in an emergency. Just like they’ve been useless to Germany and much of the rest of Europe during their energy emergency since last summer; just like they’ve been useless to Californians in keeping the lights on during weather emergencies; just like they were useless to Texans during last year’s major winter storm emergency.
Since moving to Texas more than a year ago, Mr. Musk has become increasingly outspoken and pointed with his public statements and his Twitter feed. I don’t think that is an accident or a coincidence. It’s obvious we’re rubbing off on him.
Cool.
But here’s the thing: The U.S. oil and gas industry can’t respond to this crisis immediately, either, though it can respond far more quickly than wind and solar could. After all, this is an industry that increased U.S. oil production by 2 million barrels per day in just a 12 month period a few years ago: It could add a million barrels per day in a few months.
Contrary to a recent statement by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, the U.S. industry can’t just “flip the switch” to turn on more production. It’s a capital-intensive industry whose big projects involve obtaining permits, building roads, leveling drilling pads and installing major infrastructure - real infrastructure, not the fake kind that will be mostly funded by last year’s infrastructure bill - before production can take place. That takes time, and it takes money. Real money.