Day Eleven: 12 Days of Biden’s War on American Energy

December 27, 2023

President Biden’s time in office has been plagued with mandates to please the eco-left. He has weaponized every part of his cabinet including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA this year effectively proposed to close power plants that keep electricity flowing affordably and reliably. As a key part of Biden’s promise of a “zero-carbon” power grid by 2035, the EPA’s plan will undermine the stability of the grid, raise electricity prices for consumers, and compromise America’s energy security. Elections have consequences, as the saying goes—and the 2024 elections may determine the fate of Biden’s Clean Power Plan 2.0.

Power The Future founder and executive director Daniel Turner wrote in RealClear Energy, 

“China is our greatest threat, and Biden should be doing everything to bolster our economic and geopolitical strength by unleashing American energy. Instead, the proposed Clean Power Plan 2.0 will make us more dependent on communist China, transferring trillions of dollars into its economy by purchasing their inferior wind and solar products. It’s a win-win for them, but not for the millions of Americans who will be left in the dark if this misguided plan becomes law. It’s a steep price to pay for a couple of loaner pandas.” 

Key experts from the report underscore how the Biden Administration’s CPP 2.0:

• Increases U.S. Dependence on China: “With law and electric reliability as an afterthought (if that), Biden’s EPA is forging a horrific mandate that will surely endanger America’s national security. That’s because forcing the retirement of coal and natural gas power plants means, or so the Biden Administration believes, greater reliance on renewable energy—and therefore, greater economic reliance on Communist China.” 
• Relies on Unproven and Unworkable Technology: “The plan is to require emissions controls that are commercially unavailable at-scale and technologically infeasible for power plants that use coal and natural gas. EPA’s obstinate refusal to acknowledge the shortcomings of these technologies not only ignores the law, but the tenuous stability of the nation’s electric grid, which the CPP 2.0 will surely worsen to the detriment of consumers and energy security.”
• Undermines Grid Reliability: “EPA’s ‘impossible proposal,’ as the attorneys general of 21 states commented, ‘will leave coal-and natural-gas plants with no other option but to close.’ This will mean a less reliable grid and higher costs for consumers. All during a time of increased population growth and energy demand.”
• Defies the Supreme Court Ruling in West Virginia v. EPA: “In the face of West Virginia, Biden’s EPA is blatantly flouting the unambiguous judicial command to stay within the statutory limits Congress prescribed. Instead, the agency is proposing new emissions standards that can’t be achieved, at a cost that will squeeze consumers during high inflation, compromise grid reliability, and dangerously increase America’s energy dependence on China, all while having virtually no impact on climate change.”

Read the Full Report Here.