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00:05 - Welcome to PMA perspective, your weekly half hour news

00:09 - program on Pennsylvania business, government and politics.

00:12 - I'm your host, David Taylor,

00:14 - president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association.

00:17 - Last week's program, we saw a full recap of the 2026

00:21 - Pennsylvania leadership Conference,

00:23 - the statewide meeting of right of center activists and leaders.

00:27 - PMA is a long time sponsor and participant in that event, and this week's show

00:32 - will highlight the PMA team and the work that we did at the conference.

00:37 - PMA perspective starts

00:40 - your watching PMA perspective, a statewide source

00:43 - for business, government, and policy news.

00:56 - Newsmaker interviews with your host David and Taylor

00:59 - and reports from the field with PMA Carl Moreira and Joy Johnson.

01:05 - Now for a special

01:07 - episode of PMA perspective.

01:10 - Thank you very much, Lohmann, and thanks to all of our conference.

01:14 - Attendees and participants.

01:15 - It's wonderful to have you here.

01:17 - I have the great privilege of

01:19 - also being the chairman of the Pennsylvania Leadership Council.

01:22 - I've been, attending these events going back to 1993.

01:27 - So it's very heartening to see how it has flourished,

01:30 - not just to be sustained, but actually to grow

01:33 - and become more impactful as the years have gone on.

01:36 - And I just want to note that our constitutional order

01:41 - depends on citizens, upholding their responsibilities, that,

01:45 - yes, that we have rights, but also we have responsibilities as Americans.

01:50 - And that part of that is choosing to be informed and to be involved and outdoors.

01:56 - It is an absolutely gorgeous day, and I know

02:00 - we'll all be able to get to it in a little while.

02:03 - But for now, folks, being indoors in a ballroom to listen to speakers,

02:07 - it's a testament to your seriousness of how you, take those responsibilities.

02:13 - And in its own way, it reflects how much you love

02:17 - our country and love American liberty.

02:20 - So thank you for choosing to be involved.

02:22 - Thank you for choosing to live life with your brain turned on.

02:26 - And thank you for being here with us today.

02:29 - What started as three guys in a garage building and selling one computer,

02:34 - the Apple 1 in 1977, led to 235

02:38 - million iPhones that were sold just last year.

02:42 - Kendra Scott's first business was crafting hats for women undergoing chemotherapy,

02:47 - which evolved into her multibillion dollar jewelry empire today in Bradford, PA.

02:53 - George Blaisdell watched a friends struggle

02:55 - to use a two handed lighter at the Bradford Country Club,

02:58 - and was inspired to make what is now the iconic Zippo lighter.

03:02 - There are many, many more tales of entrepreneurs all over the United States.

03:06 - Many of those stories are far less glamorous than those three

03:09 - that I just listed.

03:11 - But entrepreneurs are the backbone of free enterprise.

03:14 - But free enterprise is just that.

03:16 - It's free business, capital, investors and work force behind

03:21 - those ideas have never been as mobile as what they are today.

03:25 - Entrepreneurs choose where they locate, where they hire, where they expand.

03:29 - We want to see those entrepreneurs flourish here in Pennsylvania,

03:33 - because that economic activity is where family sustaining jobs

03:36 - and community support comes from.

03:39 - Today, we explore the topic of entrepreneurship in Pennsylvania

03:42 - with two experts.

03:43 - Mike Kennedy is a Cumberland County,

03:46 - Cumberland County, Pennsylvania native who resides in Dills Burg.

03:50 - Raised in a family railroad service business, Mike

03:52 - co-founded the Railroad Associates Corporation in 2000.

03:56 - The company grew to serve over 400 clients and was sold in 2022.

04:01 - Today, he splits his time between Pennsylvania and the Free State of Florida

04:04 - and also in new Jersey.

04:06 - He enjoys mentoring others and supporting entrepreneurial ventures.

04:09 - Also with us today is Greg Moreland.

04:11 - Greg is the state director at the National Federation for Independent Business.

04:14 - He began his career as a PA House research intern, later serving as speaker's

04:18 - policy advisor and chief of staff to the late Senator Dave Arnold.

04:22 - Greg joined NFIB in 2021 to advocate for small business owners.

04:26 - Mike, from your experience building businesses, what are the biggest

04:32 - hidden barriers in Pennsylvania that policymakers often underestimate?

04:37 - I would say the barriers today are far greater

04:40 - than when I started back in the late 90s.

04:43 - I think there's,

04:45 - so many

04:46 - barriers that may be hidden because people don't really know in terms of,

04:52 - licensing permitting.

04:56 - How litigious the world can be when they don't even know

05:00 - they did anything wrong.

05:01 - I think there's a lot of barriers,

05:02 - but I still think I look at this young generation and I think

05:06 - there's a lot of enthusiasm, you know, with, with young people

05:11 - and there's a lot of willingness and there's a lot of small businesses.

05:14 - Somebody needs to by start, run.

05:17 - Greg, when you think about expanding or locating operations,

05:21 - what factors matter most?

05:23 - And how does Pennsylvania stack up against the states that we're competing against

05:27 - for that investment?

05:29 - Yeah, I think it's important that when you're looking at policy,

05:31 - you compare yourself and where we're at on the continuum of the 50 states, right.

05:37 - Income taxes, certainly one of them.

05:40 - The personal income tax or the corporate net income tax, whichever.

05:43 - You know, your business, pays property tax burdens a state inheritance tax

05:49 - burdens, workforce participation rates, GDP

05:52 - growth, sales and use tax policy.

05:55 - These are all factors that the business owner

05:58 - needs to consider when looking into, expanding.

06:02 - And I'll dig a little bit deeper on each one of those.

06:04 - You know, here in the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania ranks 36th out of 50

06:10 - in their economic outlook, 36 out of 50.

06:13 - I'm no mathematician, but that's certainly in the bottom half for Pitt.

06:18 - Personal income tax.

06:19 - We ranked 37th.

06:20 - And unfortunately, with the current economic position that the Commonwealth is

06:24 - in. Unfortunately, in a couple of years, your pick is likely to increase again

06:30 - because we're absolutely broke and have no money in the coffers.

06:33 - After this year's budget for corporate income tax, we rank 48th out of 50.

06:38 - We did have a 9.99% corporate income

06:42 - tax rate, being brought down to 4.99.

06:45 - But the problem is, is that it's likely to get paused in the middle of that.

06:51 - The step down because of the poor economic condition

06:55 - that the Commonwealth is in property tax burden.

06:58 - We ranked 24th in the country or in the middle there.

07:01 - But I think we have such a poor, antiquated property tax system.

07:07 - I don't I don't think if we were to create the Commonwealth today and put in place

07:11 - property taxes,

07:11 - we would do it in the exact same manner that we have in place today.

07:15 - Looking at estate inheritance tax burdens,

07:18 - we ranked 50th in, do you know that we are

07:22 - only one of five states that actually even has an inheritance tax?

07:27 - We shouldn't be taxing folks like this at their at their worst time.

07:32 - Taxing and assessing taxes on money that's already been taxed.

07:36 - Don't think it hasn't been taxed already.

07:38 - It's already been taxed here.

07:40 - The government is with their hands out again workforce participation rates.

07:45 - You need a workforce to operate your business.

07:47 - If no one's willing to come to work, you don't have a business.

07:50 - From 2013 to 2023, we exported a quarter million residents.

07:56 - We ranked 44th in population growth.

07:59 - This means, and this is one of the reasons why we continue

08:02 - to lose a congressional seat every time we go through a census

08:05 - and redistricting process, we continue to lose because we're

08:09 - importing older folks, but we're exporting our younger working folks GDP.

08:14 - We rank 44th.

08:15 - Do you want to open a business

08:17 - and expand a business in a commonwealth that's barely operating right now?

08:21 - You want to be in a prosperous place that has a bunch of good policies

08:25 - on the books. Taxes are going up.

08:27 - We're not in a in a very prosperous position right now.

08:31 - As a commonwealth. We could be doing a lot better.

08:33 - And I think it's important to note two,

08:34 - the competitiveness does not happen in a vacuum.

08:37 - So, I mean, even as our corporate net income tax rate is lowering,

08:42 - other states are going to look at the fact that we are lowering

08:45 - our rates and lower there's even more to compete for that investment.

08:48 - Mike.

08:49 - Pivoting a bit, but but workforce is often a major issue for entrepreneurs.

08:55 - Just a simple question.

08:57 - Are you finding the talent that you need to do

09:00 - the jobs that you need to do successfully?

09:01 - And if not, what's missing?

09:04 - So thankfully, I'm not

09:07 - as big and as an employer as I once was, but if I were the answer would be no.

09:13 - I think the biggest issue with I try to stay positive with this younger

09:18 - generation.

09:19 - I think the biggest issue, honestly, is their education,

09:23 - both in school and at home.

09:25 - When we were young, there was a little bit of hustle,

09:28 - a little bit of scramble and you see a lot less of that today.

09:32 - So I think the workforce is a serious problem,

09:36 - but it doesn't have to stay that way.

09:38 - Why do we think which I, just that

09:41 - the tip of the iceberg, why do we think we need to keep sending people to college

09:46 - to learn how to memorize and regurgitate when all they have to do is hit a button?

09:52 - Let's train them to anticipate.

09:53 - Let's train them to see opportunity and discuss, opportunities with older people.

10:01 - Because with everybody, with this huge bloc of people retiring,

10:05 - those people want to see their children and grandchildren do well,

10:09 - and they want to share their wisdom.

10:11 - Greg, I'm going to ask this of you, but I think it reflects that.

10:14 - Your answer, the last question,

10:18 - what policies have you seen in some other states

10:20 - that have successfully encouraged startup formation and scale

10:25 - in those states that could and should be replicated here?

10:29 - Many other states have, or some other states have policies on the book that,

10:34 - if they're going to introduce one regulation

10:36 - that they need to automatically repeal one or more regulations.

10:41 - We have other states, getting rid of their income taxes.

10:45 - Right.

10:46 - We're we're not in a position to do that.

10:48 - We're looking to potentially increase income taxes.

10:51 - We're going the opposite direction here.

10:53 - The government has created systems that are far too complex.

10:57 - Our tax filing system, there is no reason that tax filing

11:02 - should be so incredibly difficult here in the Commonwealth.

11:06 - We need to make it easier to own, operate and be successful

11:11 - in the business community.

11:12 - There's no reason that you should have to go to,

11:15 - you know, 12 different agencies and get approval to be able to cut hair.

11:20 - We hear all the time from our members at the manufacturers Association.

11:23 - It's a lot easier to make insert product here, whether that be beer,

11:27 - crayons, helicopters, steel than it is to keep the government happy.

11:31 - And it shouldn't shouldn't be that way.

11:33 - What is a successful entrepreneur?

11:36 - I'm going to go down the line here. Mike, we'll start with you.

11:39 - What is a successful entrepreneurial venture

11:42 - in a community mean for that community?

11:45 - If somebody starts a business or buys a business and grows it.

11:51 - It means,

11:53 - employment opportunities for one or many individuals.

11:58 - It means taxes into the local

12:02 - municipality, county, etc..

12:06 - Most of all, I think it means that,

12:10 - we believe in this town.

12:12 - You know, we believe in this area.

12:15 - It means this is where we want to put down roots.

12:17 - We don't ever want to lose that.

12:19 - When you think of the small main street business, right, you think of the

12:23 - the sponsor of your your kids and your grandkids little league teams, right?

12:28 - You don't see a lot of big businesses out there.

12:29 - No. Those are the local pizzeria. That's the nail shop.

12:32 - The salon. Right.

12:34 - That that's a part of the community.

12:36 - These are our neighbors, our friends, our family.

12:38 - Local jobs provide workforce stability, right?

12:42 - Think of if you only have one large employer

12:45 - in that geographical area and everyone's employed there.

12:49 - What happens when there is a pandemic, a recession?

12:54 - That business just simply goes out of business or relocates overseas.

12:58 - What happens to all those jobs?

13:00 - What happens to that entire area when that's the case?

13:04 - Stronger towns lead to,

13:07 - better property, values for their homes.

13:10 - You make a dollar locally.

13:12 - You earn a dollar locally.

13:13 - You often spend that same dollar locally, right.

13:17 - And going in a circle and helping out your other, local neighbors.

13:23 - Economic resilience.

13:24 - Like I was saying, you can't just be reliant upon

13:27 - one business for all your employment.

13:30 - Every business makes up a need and a desire within those communities.

13:35 - And so small employers are incredibly important to the fabric.

13:41 - As we all

13:41 - know, artificial intelligence is changing everything

13:44 - from manufacturing to national security.

13:49 - But every breakthrough comes with a simple reality.

13:52 - It takes enormous amounts of energy to power, from data centers

13:57 - to advanced computing demand for reliable,

14:00 - affordable energy is rising rapidly.

14:03 - This growth is not abstract.

14:05 - It's made of steel, concrete, transformers, cooling systems, and more.

14:10 - Every AI interaction documents, even an internet

14:14 - search relies on a physical network that must be built.

14:18 - Maintained and developed.

14:20 - Increasingly, that network is being built right here in Pennsylvania,

14:25 - according to a new study released by the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

14:28 - Our Commonwealth is currently operating roughly 182MW of data center capacity,

14:35 - projected to grow over 4,000%

14:37 - to 7000MW in the next decade.

14:41 - That growth will sustain thousands of construction jobs

14:44 - now, and over 8000 permanent operational jobs

14:48 - by 2036, generating roughly $12 billion in annual output

14:53 - and supporting nearly 19,000 jobs statewide.

14:56 - Pennsylvania is uniquely positioned for this moment.

15:00 - We are already the largest electricity exporter,

15:03 - sending nearly a third of our generation.

15:06 - 91% of that comes from natural gas

15:09 - and nuclear, combined with our strong manufacturing base.

15:13 - We're not just attracting data centers.

15:15 - We're supplying them with the components, infrastructure and skilled workforce

15:19 - they need to operate.

15:21 - Capturing the full value of this moment

15:23 - depends on decisions made today

15:26 - in public policy, workforce development and infrastructure investment.

15:31 - My name is Kevin Mooney.

15:32 - I'm an investigative reporter.

15:34 - I work with an outfit called Restoration of America and a variety

15:37 - of other national publications Daily Signal, National Review, for example.

15:41 - And I've been working in the energy slash environmental space for a few

15:44 - decades now.

15:46 - And I have a new book out on the climate movement.

15:49 - It has a provocative title entitled Climate Torn.

15:52 - There's a serious point behind that title.

15:54 - One of my major concerns, and one reason why

15:55 - I thought there was an opening to write this book, was all the foreign money

15:58 - coming in in an effort to try to shut down American energy.

16:01 - And of course, these entities,

16:03 - are targeting Pennsylvania in particular as one of the top energy producers.

16:07 - So it's not just here domestically.

16:08 - Pennsylvania has huge geopolitical importance.

16:11 - I'm Jim Welty, I'm the president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition.

16:14 - Marcellus Shale coalition

16:16 - really represents the natural gas development

16:18 - that's going on here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

16:20 - We represent the upstream, producers and those doing the drilling

16:23 - of the natural gas, as well as those transporting the process

16:27 - and the gas, but also the large end users.

16:30 - And then we have the service and supply chain that feeds those, operators

16:34 - throughout the Commonwealth.

16:35 - And what's amazing about what's going on, we're going to be talking about today

16:38 - is just the amount of growth of energy that's being produced in Pennsylvania.

16:42 - 20 years ago, the first What Ends Well was drilled.

16:45 - The first unconventional well in the Marcellus was drilled,

16:48 - in Pennsylvania at that time is producing

16:51 - about 20% of our own consumption of natural gas.

16:54 - Today, we produce 20% of the entire country's production of natural gas.

16:59 - And that occurred in two decades.

17:02 - Incredible transformation and incredible opportunity

17:05 - with incredible economic impacts throughout the Commonwealth,

17:09 - but also the region and the country.

17:11 - I'm Ted Ellis, I'm the director of Power America,

17:14 - which is the Energy Initiative at America's first Policy Institute.

17:17 - And I also work on the policy team.

17:19 - America First Policy Institute is a Washington, DC based think tank.

17:25 - At FPI, we don't, advocate for corporate interests.

17:29 - We don't advocate for special interests.

17:32 - We don't even advocate for our own interests.

17:34 - We advocate for the interests of the American people.

17:36 - And so, with regard to energy, that means being aligned with the president's

17:41 - energy dominance agenda that says we have abundant natural resources.

17:45 - We should make sure that those don't stay on the ground.

17:48 - We should bring those to the benefit of the American people,

17:51 - and we should push forward on AI responsibly and lead the world in this

17:56 - vitally important strategic competition to meet rising demand.

17:59 - Energy man speaks to human flourishing.

18:01 - I think in some ways that's a good thing.

18:03 - I think what we're dealing with is a very antiquated regulatory system

18:06 - that has not yet caught up with some of these new innovations.

18:09 - And Pennsylvania, I think, sits at a very important, important place.

18:12 - I think while Governor Spanberger lays waste to Virginia with all of our energy,

18:16 - energy policies,

18:18 - you know, Pennsylvania has an opening to become the leading AI center

18:21 - across the whole country.

18:22 - But we have some catching up to do.

18:24 - There's certainly an easy solution, I think, with the demands of AI,

18:28 - with nuclear energy, for example.

18:29 - But our regulatory regime leaves very little opening for that.

18:33 - And it will take us a decade to really catch up.

18:34 - I think.

18:35 - So like I say, I think we sit right on the edge.

18:38 - Either we're going to go in the direction of accommodating that demand,

18:41 - catching up with technology, unleashing all of Pennsylvania's rich,

18:44 - natural resources.

18:45 - I would say the good news for a state like Pennsylvania is finally getting out

18:48 - of a regional greenhouse gas initiative, the carbon tax scheme,

18:51 - which I think would have been very punishing to Pennsylvania's

18:53 - future, that there's a huge free market when and positions Pennsylvania

18:57 - very, very nicely if we get the right policies in place.

19:00 - And I would say this is a key turning point moment, the, energy demands for

19:04 - I have been growing and are going to continue to grow,

19:07 - in the last decade, the, demand for energy for data centers has nearly doubled.

19:12 - And I think that policymakers are finding themselves, in a moment

19:16 - where they're caught with their pants down just a little bit, because for the past

19:21 - number of decades, energy demand has been mostly flatlining.

19:24 - And now we have a big spike in energy demand.

19:28 - And, Nurk, which is an organization that assesses, the reliability

19:33 - of the American grid, is finding that much of, America is at shortfall risk.

19:38 - And so we need to be building affordable, reliable capacity

19:42 - coal, natural gas, nuclear

19:46 - that can really power America forward as we build the data centers that we need.

19:50 - Jim, I want to bring you into the conversation from an industry perspective.

19:54 - You have a unique perspective.

19:56 - You're seeing this in real time, especially with natural gas.

19:59 - Yeah.

20:00 - How is growing demand from data centers and AI changing

20:02 - the conversation around energy production here in Pennsylvania?

20:06 - From our perspective, it's a pretty it's an amazing opportunity, right?

20:11 - We look at the utilization of natural gas that's critical

20:14 - to ensuring the continued production.

20:16 - We've got a president very focused on unleashing American energy.

20:19 - It's why we saw a 5% growth in our production just here

20:22 - in Pennsylvania last year.

20:24 - We've got a lot of opportunity

20:25 - to continue to grow that if we have the markets to do it.

20:29 - And one of those big markets

20:30 - and one of those great economic opportunities is data centers,

20:33 - we are transitioning now into a new economy.

20:36 - And when you talk about AI and the advent of data centers,

20:40 - it is really about who is going to lead going into the future, this new economy.

20:45 - A lot of experts have said, and I think it was Jack Ma,

20:49 - that said it best, you're going to see more transition in the next five years

20:53 - than you've seen over the last 50 years from an economic perspective.

20:56 - So from an energy perspective, we sit atop

21:00 - one of the largest natural gas deposits in the entire world.

21:04 - We're utilizing that.

21:06 - But we've got a lot more opportunity there to to continue to access that gas,

21:10 - to provide the energy to lead the world in that new economy.

21:14 - And that's what we see as the value and the opportunities presented to us

21:17 - on the data center side in the AI side.

21:19 - But policies are what's going to be key moving forward.

21:23 - We cannot be throttling back on policies, throttling back on the God

21:27 - given natural resources we have.

21:29 - We need to be unleashing those and providing the clearest path.

21:32 - Jim, I'm so glad you brought that up.

21:33 - Pennsylvania has so many resources that we're using,

21:36 - but so much more potential that's so untapped.

21:38 - And Kevin, I'd love to ask your opinion on that.

21:41 - How is Pennsylvania uniquely positioned and what is the opportunity

21:45 - that we have for growth?

21:46 - Well, if you look at the stats from the Energy.

21:48 - Information Agency, part of the Department of Energy, Pennsylvania

21:51 - comes out in number two to Texas, only to Texas in terms of,

21:55 - its domestic energy production.

21:57 - Really, it should be number one.

21:58 - I think there's no reason why it shouldn't be,

22:00 - given the vast resources of the Marcellus Shale.

22:02 - It's not just a problem of of of Reggie

22:05 - that's been sidestepped for the time being.

22:06 - But there's all kinds of renewable mandates, net

22:08 - zero initiatives that that hold the state back and neighboring states back.

22:12 - I don't think folks realize

22:14 - how much how critical the state level battles really are.

22:18 - Because of the federal Power Act that Congress

22:20 - passed, states have tremendous latitude to set their electricity prices.

22:23 - And I would just say, look at,

22:24 - you know, towards federalism, the great, you know, laboratory,

22:26 - if you're comparing one state to the other, the states now pay

22:29 - 57.5% more than non-revenue states.

22:33 - That totals up from more than 42% a decade ago.

22:36 - Now it's not just Reggie, per se,

22:37 - because of course, if you have policymakers

22:39 - who work and implement a carbon tax, they're not going to stop there.

22:41 - They're going to keep going.

22:42 - Kevin hit the nail on the head.

22:45 - How many people in here can guess

22:48 - what percentage of our electric portfolio

22:51 - was natural gas generation in 2005?

22:54 - And I hear 28 or 10.

22:56 - It was 5%.

22:58 - Today it's north of 60%.

23:01 - So those Reggie

23:02 - states that you talked about, guess where they're getting their energy.

23:05 - They're getting their energy for us

23:07 - because we are producing more electricity than any other state in the nation.

23:10 - Where are the number one?

23:11 - We're the number one electricity exporter in the nation.

23:14 - And that's because the surrounding states that have joined Reggie

23:18 - do not have the generation that they need, and they get it from us.

23:22 - So this is this is kind of the floor in in

23:25 - policy arguments on, oh, we need to cap carbon tax.

23:28 - We need a carbon tax.

23:31 - What that does is it pushes investment and opportunity elsewhere.

23:35 - And it's great that Pennsylvania exited Reggie because it opens up an opportunity.

23:40 - But we still have a governor that talks about what I call Reggie Light.

23:44 - In his Pacer proposal.

23:45 - He talked about his lightning plan to unleash America,

23:48 - to unleash Pennsylvania energy.

23:50 - But his lightning plan on the pacer side is basically Reggie Light.

23:54 - It's the same thing that Reggie does only at the state level.

23:57 - And so what does that do?

23:58 - It pushes those opportunities to West Virginia and Ohio within the Marcellus.

24:03 - Basin to build those electric power plants to get that economic opportunity.

24:08 - And that's what we're missing.

24:09 - We need a level playing field when it comes to policy.

24:12 - We can't pick winners and losers, as we've made the shift

24:15 - from mostly coal is what the natural gas has replaced.

24:19 - That is actually reduce our carbon emissions significantly.

24:22 - So arguably you can say that we're moving as the private market works

24:26 - as it's supposed to work. We are lowering emissions.

24:29 - And that's something you don't hear about

24:30 - because the other side doesn't want to talk about this.

24:33 - We saw a 47% reduction CO2 emissions because of that transition.

24:37 - We saw 93% reduction in NOx, six, 98% reduction in Sox,

24:43 - all coming from transition in natural gas developed natural gas generation.

24:47 - Ted, I wanted to ask you, from a national policy standpoint,

24:50 - do you think reliability is being fully appreciated in the broader

24:54 - discussion about AI and innovation?

24:57 - I think it's being appreciated

24:59 - more and more, and yet it's not being appreciated enough.

25:03 - One of the places where you can start to see

25:04 - it being appreciated more is the tech CEOs who just a couple of years ago, short

25:10 - years ago, were encouraging us to rush to a zero carbon emission net zero agenda

25:16 - fueled only by solar, wind and a couple of other minor resources.

25:20 - And now they're talking about building reliable natural gas.

25:23 - They're talking about building nuclear, new nuclear.

25:26 - And I think it signals a sea change in the appreciation

25:30 - that I cannot be powered by solar and wind alone.

25:34 - And yet, as I say, it needs to go much, much further.

25:37 - And you can see this in the strategic competition with China.

25:41 - China has been building reliable power

25:44 - generation at breakneck speed for decades now.

25:47 - While we have allowed a lot of our reliable generation to stagnate,

25:51 - although the promise of small modular reactors is increasingly

25:55 - on the horizon, I'm very excited about that.

25:58 - But there's a tremendous deficit that needs to be made up well in.

26:01 - And I'm glad you brought up China, because my next question,

26:03 - which I'll just allow you to each answer briefly, is that what happens

26:06 - if Pennsylvania and even more broadly the US gets this wrong?

26:10 - What are the consequences? Well, they're tremendous.

26:14 - I would say just as getting out of Reggie locally

26:18 - was critically important, I think Donald Trump

26:20 - getting out of the Paris climate agreement was important.

26:22 - The Paris Treaty was always about limiting American energy, domestic energy

26:26 - production and making us more dependent on supply chains from China.

26:30 - So we sit right on the edge, which is why the policy choices we make today

26:34 - are going to determine whether or not we prevail in this geopolitical struggle

26:37 - against China.

26:38 - I think the good news is there's been some movement back in the right direction.

26:41 - But again, it also comes down to state level policy still.

26:44 - So it matters that if we're stuck with somebody like Shapiro, who's

26:48 - going to keep doing rigid light or carbon tax late, everyone to describe it,

26:53 - Pennsylvania could determine our future in many ways.

26:55 - We have such a tremendous opportunity to utilizing the resources

27:00 - we have to power the future of the economy here.

27:04 - The global economy powered from Pennsylvania.

27:08 - And if we don't get the policy right, we mess this up.

27:12 - It will be an embarrassment.

27:13 - We need a governor that can transform this economy and lead.

27:17 - And that's what we're looking for

27:19 - to ensure the future of natural gas development.

27:22 - For sure.

27:23 - The future of low cost, reliable energy for the citizens of Pennsylvania,

27:28 - but also for the country as a whole.

27:31 - Well, that's all the time we have for this week's program.

27:34 - PMA perspective returns next week, and until then, stay current on what's

27:38 - happening in your state government by visiting PA manufacturers.org.

27:43 - From all of us at PMA.

27:44 - Thanks very much for watching and we'll see you next week.

28:05 - At the Pennsylvania Manufacturers.

28:07 - Association, we're working every day to make our Commonwealth

28:10 - a place where businesses can grow, innovate and thrive.

28:14 - We fight for smart policies like tax relief and regulatory reform,

28:19 - enhancing our workforce development and maximizing domestic energy

28:24 - production policies that reduced costs and strengthen our economy.

28:28 - The Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association,

28:31 - because of business in Pennsylvania, is our business.

28:35 - This program has been paid

28:37 - for by the sponsor and does not reflect the views of PCN.