"Sorry, We Can’t Sit in the Dark While You Fly Around in a Private Jet"
Indian energy analyst @VijayJayaraj_CC has written an excellent open letter to @JohnKerry. Here are some excerpts.
Let's encourage Mr. Kerry to respond.
Indian energy analyst @VijayJayaraj_CC has written an excellent open letter to @JohnKerry. Here are some excerpts.
Let's encourage Mr. Kerry to respond.
"back in 2004, when I was supporting you to win....350 million people in India were without electricity. The U.S population in 2004 was around 292 million. So, literally, you had more people in India without electricity than the entire population of the U.S."
"India muscled its way through in its fight against energy poverty. Coal, oil, and gas together alleviated energy poverty. By 2017, India began producing surplus electricity, and by 2019 it electrified all of its villages."
"Today, we are an energy superpower, and much of the credit goes to the thousands of tireless workers at Coal India Ltd, the state electricity authorities...LPG cooking gas distributors, and various organizations involved in the extraction and refining of oil and gas products."
"Mr. Kerry, you have asked India to reduce its dependency on these life-saving fossil fuels! But your policy recommendations to my country of 1.3 billion people threaten the energy security and livelihood of my people."
"300 million in our country still live in poverty, and many more do not have uninterrupted electricity. A vast majority of my people still use unsafe, highly polluting solid cooking fuels like wood and dung and have yet to transition to clean sources like LPG."
"We’re every bit as human as you and your fellow Americans. So, why should we be starved of the same energy sources you have enjoyed for two centuries—and still do?"
"How is it okay for my people to go back into an era of power blackouts when you can fly your oil-guzzling private jet to Iceland to accept an award—and call it "[the] only choice for somebody like me.”
"Well, Mr. Kerry, I have to let you know that the only choice for India to fight against energy poverty is to use reliable, affordable fossil fuels, not unreliable, expensive, toxic wind and solar."
"But why would [you] be against 300 million people, most living in some of the poorest living standards, getting uninterrupted, affordable electricity access? Instead, you should stop promoting renewable energy as renewable and clean."
"There is no wind turbine without coal, and renewables have increased the price of electricity in every grid to which they’ve been introduced. Besides, I am sure you remember your own blackouts in California and Texas this year, thanks to renewables."
"Please...leave the developing countries alone....do not hurt us by preaching the climate gospel. Don’t force us to remain in darkness. You are talking about saving the world, yet you are asking leaders in the developing world to risk their own energy security and harm millions!"
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