General Spider Marks: A Marshall Plan for Energy Security
Real Clear Energy | By: James “Spider” Marks
The ongoing war in Ukraine has presented the largest unprecedented crisis in Europe since World War II. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has destroyed the country’s infrastructure, displaced millions of people from their homes, killed thousands, and devastated Europe’s energy security.
While the U.S. has led the global effort to support Ukraine with weapon systems funding, we can do more to secure all of Europe’s future—especially when it comes to their energy sector. Just as the Marshall Plan rebuilt Western Europe after World War II, the U.S. should establish a similar initiative, focused on rebuilding Europe’s energy sector by encouraging domestic investments in energy exports.
Many European nations spent the last few years accelerating a transition towards green energy technologies while shutting down their own traditional sources of energy. When Russia invaded Ukraine, those same Western European countries took necessary action to sanction Russia’s energy sector. However, since many countries were over reliant on Russian oil and gas, this created a perfect storm that initially sent energy prices on the continent into a frenzy. Seeking to decouple from Petro-authoritarians such as Vladimir Putin, Europe has imported a record amount of liquid natural gas (LNG) from the U.S, which has helped bring the price down significantly. The U.S. needs to continue this trend and invest a significant amount into expanding its capacity to supply both Europe and other nations with LNG—an energy Marshall Plan.
In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in January, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, urged the U.S. to do just this: “develop a Marshall Plan for global energy.” Dimon is spot on in his analysis, saying “secure and reliable oil and gas production is compatible with reducing CO2 over the long run, and is far better than burning more coal.” Without putting words into Mr. Dimon’s mouth, it’s also far better than losing a war to Russia because we refuse to secure our oil and gas reserves at the exact moment in history when we need them.
A recent issue brief released by the Progressive Policy Institute outlines just this point. If Europe wants to transition its grid to renewable energy technologies as soon as possible, then importing natural gas instead of turning to retired coal plants is the best path forward in the short-term. PPI’s report illustrates that switching from coal to LNG provides a 40 to 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and recommends that the U.S. doubles its LNG exports. To achieve this, the country must increase its domestic production significantly by investing in and expanding natural gas infrastructure, such as pipelines and export terminals – again, an energy Marshall Plan.
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