Oct. 10, 2023
By Rep. Jamie Barton, 124th Legislative District
I am heartbroken, horrified and angry following the massacre and kidnapping of countless Israelis by Hamas. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and the many Pennsylvanians with family in Israel.
The Commonwealth’s ties to Israel go beyond bloodlines. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lived in Montgomery County for several years during his youth. He graduated from Cheltenham High School. While he wasn’t born in the Commonwealth, I’m even crafting a resolution to make Netanyahu an honorary Pennsylvanian.
These close ties just amplify my sadness and frustration at the reality that Pennsylvania, and the wider United States, have indirectly helped to weaponize Hamas.
By demonizing and attacking the fossil fuel industry, Pennsylvania and the Biden administration are accountable for tens of billions of dollars in energy revenue that flow into Iran every year. And each year, Iran sends hundreds of millions of those dollars to Hamas.
Both the Biden administration and Pennsylvania’s former governor have proposed and enacted policies that hurt our fossil fuel industry. Here in Pennsylvania, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) would enact a carbon tax on energy producers.
These kinds of policies will allow other nations, like Iran, to raise energy prices as they see fit. This doesn’t just hurt American wallets. I believe that money is being used to massacre Israelis.
We don’t have to continue down this road. Pennsylvania is the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer. We’re the third-largest coal-producing state in the country. And I bet that if we support our energy sector, we could produce even more. We can create more jobs, we can provide a boost to our economy and, most importantly, we can cut into the tens of billions of dollars Iran is pulling in every year. That will decrease the funding Iran can pass on to Hamas.
Now is the time to embrace our energy natural resources here in the Commonwealth, and the wider United States. I am pleading to Gov. Josh Shapiro to abandon RGGI. Stop empowering the Middle East with harmful domestic energy policies. Embrace energy independence. Ignite our country and our Commonwealth!
Rep. Jamie Barton
124th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
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