Richmond, VA — On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, Delegate Chris Head (R-Botetourt), offered a pointed reply to Democratic members of the House of Delegates who called for more wind and solar as the primary solution to address continually increasing gas prices.
In his remarks, Delegate Head rebuked the out-of-touch posturing by House Democrats:
“[W]hat I heard yesterday was hubris, plain and simple. A modern version of ‘let them eat
cake….My friend said that we can never drill our way to energy independence. But just two
short years ago, we did just that! Prices were lower. We had no need to import oil from any
other country outside of North America. And then, well before Putin launched his war
against Ukraine, prices started to rise – more than $1 from President Biden’s first anti-energy executive orders until the saber rattling from Moscow began.”
Additionally, Delegate Head acknowledged the need for a diverse energy strategy, while also emphasizing the vital necessity of quickly and directly addressing the rising fuel costs:
“Diversifying our energy portfolio over the long term is the right approach. But how will it
make the price of gasoline for work trucks lower in the near- and mid-term? Or how will
they improve the cost of Diesel fuel to power trucks that bring virtually everything you can
buy in the Tyson’s Galleria to the sales floor? Mr. Speaker, I must ask, does the other side
of the aisle not understand how arrogant that sounds? How smug? How out of touch with
the realities of working Virginians? ‘Build more wind and solar’ isn’t that far off from ‘Let
them eat cake.’”
In concluding, Delegate Head reiterated how disconnected House Democrats are with the current needs of Virginians beyond the Beltway:
“I would encourage the other side of the aisle to take a trip to southside or Southwest
Virginia. You and your neighbors may be able to afford a plug-in hybrid or full electric car,
but the vast, vast majority of Virginians cannot. Out my way, beyond I-495, people need
gas to get to work every day. They need fuel for trucks and for tractors. They need
affordable gas to get their kids back and forth to school since our school bus services
have been hobbled around Virginia…Mr. Speaker, I can’t think of a better way to tell
Virginians that we don’t care about their hardships, their struggles, and the real difficulties
that they face day to day than to tell them that wind and solar are what we need to make
their energy needs more affordable. It’s condescending, it’s arrogant, and it’s wrong.
People are upset, Mr. Speaker, and rightly so. But ‘more wind and solar.’ And ‘Buy an
electric car.’ ‘At least your conscience is clear.’ That makes them angry, Mr. Speaker. And
I don’t blame them one bit.”
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Chris Head has served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 17th District since 2012, where he has been a stalwart defender of the unborn, the Second Amendment, and limited government. He is a husband, father, grandfather and business owner, who lives in Botetourt County and owns a senior care business in Roanoke along with Betsy, his wife of 32 years.
