1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,400
Speaker 1: Joining me on the Seakhunk Supply hotline is Mike Stenhouse,

2
00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,279
Speaker 1: of course, leading up the Center for Freedom and Prosperity.

3
00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,440
Speaker 2: Good morning, Mike, Good morning Tara. Thanks for staying on

4
00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:09,080
Speaker 2: this issue.

5
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:10,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm sorry that I made you wait a

6
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,600
Speaker 1: little bit here. I'm apologize, but I kind of do

7
00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,120
Speaker 1: you understand that I'm trying to You've got a program,

8
00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,160
Speaker 1: or you've got to ask, you've got a petition, and

9
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:26,520
Speaker 1: finally Governor McKee seemingly is doing something. So let's start there.

10
00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:28,960
Speaker 1: What's your take on his executive order yesterday.

11
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,240
Speaker 2: Well, I think he should have cited and recognized us

12
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,040
Speaker 2: because he echoed all the same concerns we've been talking

13
00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,240
Speaker 2: about for years, not just in the last few months.

14
00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:40,920
Speaker 2: We've been talking about all this for years. The problem

15
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,839
Speaker 2: is he's keeping to the same prescriptions that's driving up

16
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,680
Speaker 2: energy costs in the first place. So this is a

17
00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,600
Speaker 2: typical political game. Say one thing, but do virtually nothing.

18
00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,440
Speaker 2: His executive order is going to do nothing to increase

19
00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:58,240
Speaker 2: affordability and reliability of energy. And you know, and I

20
00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,000
Speaker 2: saw the same kind of attitude when I presented in

21
00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,680
Speaker 2: front of that Special Senate Commission last night. So this

22
00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,960
Speaker 2: is this is political talk, it's smoking mirrors, and it's

23
00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,360
Speaker 2: going to do do nothing. We can go into details,

24
00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,119
Speaker 2: but that's my general take on it, all right.

25
00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:15,920
Speaker 1: So tell me, though, tell me a little bit more

26
00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,080
Speaker 1: that why do you think that his executive order is

27
00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,240
Speaker 1: going to do nothing? Is it because they won't budge

28
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,400
Speaker 1: on the green mandates the Act on Climate.

29
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,560
Speaker 2: Well, there's a fundamental what I said to the you know,

30
00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:29,720
Speaker 2: here was the line I said to the Commission, and

31
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,760
Speaker 2: this is the this is the fundamental problem in contradiction

32
00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,560
Speaker 2: the supporters of the Act on Climate and these green

33
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 2: energy programs believe. I said, if Rhode Islands Act on

34
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,800
Speaker 2: Climate succeeds in meeting its targets, Rhode Island will fail.

35
00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,840
Speaker 2: The two are not compatible. We cannot meet these impossible

36
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,680
Speaker 2: and unaffordable and unreliable green energy targets and have a

37
00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,200
Speaker 2: prosperous state. It's just not possible. But yet that's McKee's

38
00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,560
Speaker 2: trying to pretend, and all the lawmakers are trying to

39
00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,880
Speaker 2: pretend that we can have it both. Well, I can

40
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,520
Speaker 2: save you a few dollars, but we're still going to

41
00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:08,160
Speaker 2: keep to our targets or delay those. Yeah you suggested, Yeah,

42
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,200
Speaker 2: a little bit. They're incompatible with each other. It's not possible.

43
00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:17,120
Speaker 2: States around the country, countries around the world are coming

44
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,280
Speaker 2: to that realization. And I'm making dramatic walk backs of

45
00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,080
Speaker 2: their green energy programs. But yet, you know, this is

46
00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,040
Speaker 2: the this is the fix that Rhode Island Democrats are in.

47
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,040
Speaker 2: They've got this affordability problem that they created. I don't

48
00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:32,720
Speaker 2: know who that person was that was on it was

49
00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,880
Speaker 2: quoted saying that natural that green energy is less expensive.

50
00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,040
Speaker 2: That's that's ridiculous, But that's the fix. R And how

51
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 2: do we appease the radical left? And yet how do

52
00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,760
Speaker 2: we pretend like we're addressing affordability issues?

53
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,799
Speaker 1: All right, so take us through what you're You had

54
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:53,640
Speaker 1: three pieces of the act on Climate that you wanted

55
00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,320
Speaker 1: to I don't know, dismantle or just put off a delay.

56
00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,760
Speaker 2: So well, they're not all will necessarily act on climate,

57
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:07,520
Speaker 2: but they're all energy related programs to actually save money

58
00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:12,400
Speaker 2: and to actually provide freedom forward Allard. The first one,

59
00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,960
Speaker 2: the most obvious one, is to is to repeal our

60
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 2: electric vehicle mandate. I mean, people don't want to buy

61
00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,679
Speaker 2: those cars. They're too expensive, they're not reliable enough. Yet

62
00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:24,520
Speaker 2: I like electric cars, but they shouldn't be a mandate

63
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:27,000
Speaker 2: on them. You know, Center of missouriar is very disappointed

64
00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,280
Speaker 2: what he said. If I could, I didn't ask him

65
00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:31,640
Speaker 2: what his point was when I told we talked about

66
00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,680
Speaker 2: the electric vehicle mandate and how and how dealers couldn't

67
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,200
Speaker 2: sell their cars off their lot and big manufacturers are

68
00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:40,160
Speaker 2: cutting back. He goes, well, did you know that China

69
00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,560
Speaker 2: is making a new brand of electric vehicle, China. And

70
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:47,800
Speaker 2: I'm saying to myself, you want to mandate the Rhode

71
00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,560
Speaker 2: Islanders have to buy Chinese electric vehicles? Are you kidding me? See,

72
00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,000
Speaker 2: this is how ridiculous the argument can get. So that's

73
00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,360
Speaker 2: the first thing. Repeal an ev mandate. Second, withdraw from

74
00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:02,400
Speaker 2: the regional greenhouse Gas initiative. That will save US thirty

75
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,800
Speaker 2: eight million dollars. I will save consumers thirty eight million

76
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,040
Speaker 2: dollars a year because remember Reggie the Renie's old Green

77
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:12,520
Speaker 2: Hills gas initiative purposely, purposely raises gas prices, trying to

78
00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,680
Speaker 2: force people to use less. And then, as government Key

79
00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,479
Speaker 2: suggested in his State of the Union or State of

80
00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:21,440
Speaker 2: the State, I should say, but didn't put in his

81
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,680
Speaker 2: executive order, he was talking about delaying all the Act

82
00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,520
Speaker 2: on Climate mandates till pushing them back seventeen years. We've

83
00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,320
Speaker 2: been saying for a year or two, let's push him

84
00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:33,800
Speaker 2: back by twenty years. So that's the one thing. But

85
00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:35,880
Speaker 2: he didn't put it in his executive order, so I

86
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:36,960
Speaker 2: was disappointed in that.

87
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,000
Speaker 1: All right, so your petition again, we're speaking with Mike

88
00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,599
Speaker 1: Stenhouse from the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity.

89
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,320
Speaker 1: Your petition, you started off with maybe one hundred signatures.

90
00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,719
Speaker 1: It's electronic, but we can say signatures, and then you're.

91
00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:57,039
Speaker 2: Up to what eight hundred and fifty right now at

92
00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:01,520
Speaker 2: rifreedom dot org slash energy And from that page you

93
00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,039
Speaker 2: can read my full written testimony. You can find the

94
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,280
Speaker 2: link to the petition page. You can read all our

95
00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:12,359
Speaker 2: other energy reports so urfreedom dot org slash energy. Look,

96
00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:18,680
Speaker 2: I think the petition and you, Tara, have made politicians

97
00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:24,760
Speaker 2: uncomfortable that this green, unaffordable, green energy path is causing

98
00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,320
Speaker 2: real problems for real Rhode Islanders. They've got to do

99
00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,080
Speaker 2: or at least say something. So we've got to keep

100
00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,760
Speaker 2: the pressure on go because remember every time you submit

101
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,920
Speaker 2: that petition, ten emails get sent out to various lawmakers

102
00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,320
Speaker 2: and Commission members, so and they're noticing the emails. Speaker

103
00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,480
Speaker 2: Chakarci commented on them try to downplay it. Last week

104
00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,840
Speaker 2: he failed in that, but he did, people are noticing,

105
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,600
Speaker 2: and this is how your your voice can be made

106
00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,000
Speaker 2: heard if you're a member of the public and concerned

107
00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,240
Speaker 2: about these high energy prices, and just.

108
00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:58,039
Speaker 1: Go back to what you thought, what you were saying

109
00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,480
Speaker 1: that Speaker Shakaci his take on it was that part.

110
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,560
Speaker 2: There's take on all. They're nothing but form emails. Even

111
00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:08,960
Speaker 2: though there's hundreds and hundreds of them come in every day.

112
00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,560
Speaker 2: They're just form emails. Ignore them. They mean nothing. Well,

113
00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,400
Speaker 2: when you sign the petition, you also have yes, there

114
00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:17,839
Speaker 2: is a form to it, but you also have a

115
00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,800
Speaker 2: chance to add your own personal comment as to why

116
00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,760
Speaker 2: you feel this way, why you feel prices are out

117
00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,960
Speaker 2: and I say so, it's not a purely formed letter.

118
00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,920
Speaker 2: People are passionate. If you go to Oceanstatecurrent dot com,

119
00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,880
Speaker 2: right at the top, you'll see comments from the public.

120
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,880
Speaker 2: We took all those personal comments from those hundreds and

121
00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:39,960
Speaker 2: hundreds and hundreds of emails and put them all on

122
00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,279
Speaker 2: one page, just the comments, and you ought to read

123
00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,560
Speaker 2: some of the things the senior citizens. I can't afford

124
00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,520
Speaker 2: this unfixed income or people I don't want to be

125
00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,440
Speaker 2: forced to drive this kind of car. I mean, it's

126
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,680
Speaker 2: just and it's really passionate some of the early personal.

127
00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:57,520
Speaker 2: So for speech Speakershikarchi to think that this is not

128
00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:01,160
Speaker 2: an issue that people care a lot about, boy he is.

129
00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,119
Speaker 2: He is out of touch with the people, because people

130
00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:04,560
Speaker 2: really do care about this.

131
00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean just on this radio station. I mean

132
00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,920
Speaker 1: it's people are just They're underwater, is what they are.

133
00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,440
Speaker 1: And this just adds to it. So when did speaker

134
00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,560
Speaker 1: Chacaci say that, I hope I didn't miss something. Did

135
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:18,440
Speaker 1: he reply to you?

136
00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,160
Speaker 2: Had it last week? I believe it last Thursday or Friday?

137
00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,560
Speaker 2: I actually read I read his comments posted in an

138
00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:30,160
Speaker 2: article by our dear friend Steve Alquist. He excited. He

139
00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,440
Speaker 2: asked the speaker directly about apparently he made it some

140
00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,640
Speaker 2: public event, but when asked about all these emails, but

141
00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 2: he's on record as saying.

142
00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,920
Speaker 1: That, okay, so he's like an independent reporter out there.

143
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:43,120
Speaker 1: Steve Alquist.

144
00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:44,960
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I didn't.

145
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,560
Speaker 1: I honestly, I didn't know if he was still out there.

146
00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,400
Speaker 1: I thought he was with a group of people and

147
00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,000
Speaker 1: I think he splintered off and did his own thing.

148
00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,120
Speaker 1: So I'm you know, I don't want to get lost

149
00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:53,320
Speaker 1: in that.

150
00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,520
Speaker 2: Look Steve, Steve's diametrically opposite to us, but he does

151
00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:58,200
Speaker 2: a lot a lot of reporting.

152
00:07:57,800 --> 00:07:59,280
Speaker 1: On a lot of is yea, no, he does. He

153
00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,920
Speaker 1: does a deep dive. Yeah, but he's very very progressive

154
00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,200
Speaker 1: right in his report. Yeah, all right, all right, so

155
00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,560
Speaker 1: well keep us posted. I mean, what's the next steps

156
00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:07,840
Speaker 1: for you?

157
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:08,040
Speaker 2: Now?

158
00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,480
Speaker 1: You were asked to be in that commission after you,

159
00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:13,440
Speaker 1: I don't want to break my arm pat in the back.

160
00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,080
Speaker 1: But when you came on and we started to really

161
00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,520
Speaker 1: talk about it and your petition, then Sam Zurier was it.

162
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,600
Speaker 1: Senator Zurier said, well, why don't you come and speak

163
00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:25,800
Speaker 1: because you were saying that it was very unbalanced. There

164
00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:31,200
Speaker 1: was nobody challenging all the very pro green initiative.

165
00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,520
Speaker 2: Folks, right yeah, so yeah, yeah, we pretty much launched

166
00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:36,440
Speaker 2: our petition drive in your show, and we got one

167
00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,400
Speaker 2: hundred like within a half an hour, an hour up

168
00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,680
Speaker 2: to eight fifty again alifreedom dot org, slash energy and

169
00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:45,280
Speaker 2: those emails started flowing into Senator Zuriers and others inboxes.

170
00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,120
Speaker 2: So we said, why don't you come tell us at

171
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,720
Speaker 2: next week's hearing. So I did present last Wednesday. There

172
00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:54,760
Speaker 2: is another hearing tomorrow. He seems to be doing it

173
00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:59,000
Speaker 2: every Wednesday. There was nine scheduled speakers. Just to show

174
00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,880
Speaker 2: you how this is kind of I'm the only one

175
00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,320
Speaker 2: who's going to present the alternative view. Right now, they're

176
00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:10,120
Speaker 2: just inviting what they're calling stakeholders to testify. At some

177
00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:15,640
Speaker 2: point in the future, he's promised to hold public comment

178
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,640
Speaker 2: periods of public to comment like they went on a bill.

179
00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:20,880
Speaker 2: But right now it's just invited guests, and eight of

180
00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,240
Speaker 2: the nine guests are all and the other thing. Can

181
00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,960
Speaker 2: I mention one more thing what Governor McKee mentioned in

182
00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:32,400
Speaker 2: his executive order yesterday and what you heard him say

183
00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,560
Speaker 2: in his press conference. They recognize that the changes in

184
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:40,320
Speaker 2: the federal landscape, there's no more subsidies coming in for

185
00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:45,480
Speaker 2: green energy tax credits or electric vehicle subsidies or anything

186
00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,280
Speaker 2: like that. The regulations are changing are eliminated that support

187
00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:52,960
Speaker 2: all this. The challenges to the offshore wind farm, they

188
00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:58,040
Speaker 2: recognize the problem and even Director Gray from the Department

189
00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:01,720
Speaker 2: Environmental Management said, no state has the budget to overcome

190
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,720
Speaker 2: this gap in federal funding. Yet everybody's saying, but still,

191
00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,280
Speaker 2: let's just go straightforward with our plans. Let's still keep

192
00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,560
Speaker 2: driving electricity prices higher. Let's meet those green energy targets.

193
00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,920
Speaker 2: Who cares what it does to the people of Rhode Island,

194
00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,000
Speaker 2: and they're electric bills. It's just it's so out of touch.

195
00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,520
Speaker 2: It's important that everyone's voices be heard.

196
00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:27,360
Speaker 1: All right, Listen, Mike, keep up the fight and we'll

197
00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:31,800
Speaker 1: circle back if you know, something advances right, and keep

198
00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:33,440
Speaker 1: me posted on the numbers. And you're good at that

199
00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,160
Speaker 1: on my texting, So appreciate it. Mike Stenthouse, Thank you,

200
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:38,640
Speaker 1: Tarag all right, thank you,