The State of Energy · Rocky Mountain Propane Association

Energy Choice or Energy Confusion? Propane’s Role in a World on Edge

·28 min·4 clips

The show starts with a gag. Randy Witt introduces Tom Clark, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Propane Association, and almost immediately turns the introduction into a running joke about Vecna, social media, and whether anyone in the studio has ever seen Stranger Things. They do not linger there. The conversation moves into association structure, with Clark explaining that the Rocky Mountain group is now managing the Colorado Propane Gas Association while the two groups remain separate. Then the world barges in. The hosts shift to Venezuela, conflict, the resumption of crude processing, and the fact that exports can restart even while conditions on the ground remain unstable. Fuel prices are the bridge. Witt brings up a recent Costco gasoline check, comparing two dollars and seventeen cents a gallon two weeks earlier with two dollars and twelve cents now, to show how slowly major events hit the average driver. That lag matters. They point out that the immediate effect on U.S. consumers may be limited, but the global ripple still matters because the rest of the world does use that oil. From there the pitch gets tighter. The show argues that propane sits outside that kind of international whiplash because it is a domestic fuel tied to local demand and immediate use. The hosts keep returning to the same practical frame. Propane shows up for homes, fleets, farms, and businesses, which lets the argument land as an energy choice question rather than a lifestyle slogan. That is the whole fight. Witt says the public is being pushed toward energy confusion, while Clark pushes back with a cleaner picture: choose the fuel that is affordable, abundant, American, and here right now. The tone stays loose. Even while they talk about policy and energy choice, they keep folding in jokes and asides so the segment never gets too polished. By the end, they have turned a globe-spanning oil story into a local propane pitch. The close leans hard on energy choice, a claim that propane has been clean from the start, and a parting nod to the Colorado association and the show's map joke as they sign off. The show does not pretend the world is simple. It just insists that some fuels make more sense than the confusion around them. Clark's trade perspective gives the segment its spine. Witt keeps the pace lively and a little abrasive. The result feels less like a lecture and more like two people trying to talk sense into a noisy market. It is opinionated without becoming precious. It is also practical, because the examples are the kind people can actually use. Homes need heat. Fleets need fuel. Farms need reliability. Businesses need something that does not flinch every time geopolitics sneezes. Propane is presented as the answer to that list, not the whole universe. The episode ends with the same mix of advocacy and wisecracks it starts with.

As heard by us

A practical case for propane's place in homes, fleets, farms, and businesses.

This episode treats energy as a practical household and business choice, using Venezuela's conflict and the recent gasoline update to show how global shocks can ripple into local planning.

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Why you'd press play

When world events jolt fuel markets, this episode makes the case for propane as the practical, domestic answer.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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