Tim Wirth to Natural Gas Execs | Climate Progress & Denver Biz Journal

From Climate Progress:

[I]f a serious climate bill passes the Senate in the next several months — and I believe it will — then activism by the natural gas industry may prove decisive. If so, the speech former Colorado senator Tim Wirth gave last week at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s huge annual meeting my turn out to have been the turning point. ... And it always bears repeating, ... natural gas is the critical low-carbon “firming” resource that can enable deep penetration of both windpower and concentrated solar thermal power.

From the Denver Biz Journal

“You don’t have the right to sit back and do nothing [about climate change],” Wirth told a crowd of nearly 2,000 people at the Colorado Convention Center, responding to a question about what the industry should do about climate change legislation in the U.S. Congress. “We are in very deep trouble, the edge of catastrophe, and you can help.” ...

Natural gas is a domestic fuel, that can support the grid and provide electricity in when renewable sources such as the wind or the sun don’t operate, and which emits less CO2 than coal or oil when burned, he said.

Wirth laid blame for the lack of natural gas elements in the House bill on a fragmented national industry that failed to focus on a single, coherent message or land Congressional supporters to push that message.

“The natural gas industry missed the biggest national commitment to generate a host of new energy jobs, to move toward a low carbon economy, to sharply grow the industry, and become a major player in the future of energy policy,” Wirth said.