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Dems double down on green-at-any-cost

August 23rd, 2024

The issue: A top grid official has sounded the alarm on the Biden administration’s proposed sweeping power plant rules, calling it “catastrophic.” Preventing new gas powered plants is not a good path.

Why it matters: Mark Christie, a top power grid regulator, is deeply concerned that the Biden administration’s aggressive power plant regulations will severely diminish energy reliability, he wrote in an Aug. 13 letter to lawmakers.

Consider: The EPA’s regulations, which have been challenged in court by Republican state attorneys general and a top utility trade group, will require major changes that are simply not realistic:

  • Existing coal plants must install carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to capture 90% of their emissions by 2032 to stay operational beyond 2039.
  • Certain new natural gas plants will also have to slash their emissions by 90% by 2032.
  • In Christie’s words: “This loss of vitally needed dispatchable generation resources will be catastrophic.” He added that such a bold undertaking is “neither technically nor commercially feasible.”

Biden and current Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris continue to take our country down a dangerous path toward energy poverty. Since Day One they have tried their best to destroy domestic energy. They would rather rely on foreign dictatorships than U.S. workers to produce our energy.

The solution is to unleash American natural gas power generation immediately. Going forward our nation also must focus on new modular nuclear power plants and establish U.S. natural gas emissions as the clean energy standard for new coal and other affordable and reliable thermal energy power plants.

A stable and reliable electric grid is paramount to safety and security.

Former president Donald J. Trump alluded to that during a Pennsylvania campaign stop on Monday, pledging to abolish the EPA rule. “Instead of shutting down power plants, we will open dozens and dozens more,” he vowed if he is elected Nov. 5.

Energy policy must also encourage private investments in innovation that can help other energy sources meet the pricing, reliability and cleanliness standards of American natural gas.

Bottom line: The EPA’s so-called ‘Clean Power Plan’ will debilitate the grid, but don’t take our word for it. Listen to the Commissioner of FERC, the agency overseeing grid reliability, who is sounding the alarm.

The issue: This month marks the second anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act and as Democrats convene in Chicago we expect more rhetoric concerning the green-at-any-cost policies that have driven up costs for working families and business owners. Ahead of the event, organizers touted “climate, clean energy and environmental justice” as major platforms.

On energy policy, a large portion of the Democrats’ platform is devoted to defending — and even expanding — the massive investments and tax incentives for climate and clean energy that President Biden enshrined into law via the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure legislation.

The platform’s fourth chapter, which covers energy and environmental issues, calls the climate crisis “an existential threat to future generations who deserve better” caused by “delay and destruction by people like Donald Trump and his friends in big oil.” It’s nothing other than typical liberal rhetoric.

In her Thursday night acceptance speech, Kamala Harris barely touched on the environment, saying that “fundamental freedoms” were at stake in the election, including “the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.”

Republicans’ 2024 platform, by contrast, supported “terminating the Socialist Green New Deal” and vowed to “lift restrictions” on U.S. energy production.

Why it matters: Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has been keeping her energy policy strategically ambiguous, her aides say. That’s one word for it. As an example, she was against fracking in 2019 — until suddenly she found favor with it this month.

But Harris isn’t fooling many Americans, including Republican vice presidential hopeful J.D. Vance, who penned this Wall Street Journal opinion piece, saying Harris is waging war on U.S. energy.

Consider:

  • With coal plants shutting down and few large natural-gas or nuclear plants being built, America’s electricity grid faces significant contraction.
  • Utility bills are rising and expected to continue their ascent. Some states, for example, could see a 30% increase by next summer on consumers’ bills.
  • Windmills and solar panels won’t rescue America, even though Harris and her Green New Deal loving running mate Tim Walz would have you believe that.
  • Vance and others, including leading economists, warn that in the United Kingdom, net-zero energy policies have led to exploding electricity costs and anemic growth.

Bottom line: 2 years later, it’s clear that the IRA was less about fighting inflation and more about propping up unreliable renewable energy. Coming out of the DNC, we can expect more of the same inflationary “climate” spending from a Harris/Walz admin.

Believe it or not, national gas prices are at their lowest point for this time of year since August of 2021. The average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline dropped another 6 cents over the past week, now at $3.37. In August of the past 2 years, the national average was right around $4. Will these lower prices help voters feel better about the Biden/Harris energy record, or will they remember the historically high prices that were felt at the beginning of their administration? We will know in a little over 70 days.

Nothing on the lookahead as Congress remains in recess!

“Nearly 60 million Americans consider energy affordability a factor when they decide who they will support in an election. Hardworking Americans deserve a sensible energy strategy that maximizes the use of our existing nuclear plants and our abundant supplies of natural gas.”

— Dr Timothy Nash, director of the McNair Center at Northwood University.

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