The Biden administration’s energy bait and switch is as devious as it is simple, and American families need to be on guard. It works like this: First, undermine America’s domestic and affordable energy supply, which then drives up prices all across the country. Step two is forcing a total reliance on solar and wind that somehow is magically “less” expensive.
Call it the Biden two-step plan to greener failure.
For years, extreme environmentalists have been peddling falsehoods that their “green” solutions of wind and solar are more affordable. Yet, just like their apocalyptic predictions about the environment, they are constantly proven wrong. California is the poster child for adopting the green agenda, but families there are paying the highest electric rates in the continental United States. In order to pay higher electric rates than the Golden State, you have to live on islands more than 2,000 miles in the Pacific. The plan that produced those prices is a mirror image for what Joe Biden wants for the rest of the country.
Anyone who has passed high school economics knows if you tamper with a product on the supply side, there are consequences when it comes to demand. Since his first day in office, President Biden and his administration have worked to weaken our domestic energy supply and now members of his cabinet simply laugh when asked about the disastrous impact of their actions. Families hurting with higher prices aren’t in on the joke.
Anyone who drives a car knows prices at the pump are up over 66 percent from this time last year. The next hurdle will be those home heating bills costing anywhere from 30-50 percent more depending on the weather. Thanks to the Biden administration, American families might have to choose between Christmas presents or heating their home.
In response, the President begged OPEC to drill for more oil and even pondered dipping into our strategic reserve. Biden himself knows these are weak moves, saying during a televised town hall “I don’t have a near term answer” to the devastating price increases. However, President Biden does have an answer, he could simply get out of the way and allow domestic energy production to put us back on the road to affordable independence. But that would undermine all the promises he made to his green supporters.
Buried within one of the countless versions of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan was $150 billion for the Clean Electricity Performance Program. The goal was to force every electric utility in the country to only use wind or solar to provide our power. If those utilities complied, they would get taxpayer-funded bonuses. If not, they would face fines. The costs would no doubt be passed on to customers who would be forced to pay for a new grid, or for those fines. It was another environmental agenda darling sending the same message: green energy is so affordable they must force you to buy it.
Over the next months and even years, we are going to witness energy prices that hurt family budgets. During the same time, our leaders in Washington will feign despair for our plight while working to position their preferred “solutions” to our problems. As the fire rages, they will try and convince you they are the firefighters running to the rescue. Except we know they were actually the arsonists responsible for inciting the blaze that now imperils us all.
Larry Behrens is the Communications Director for Power The Future, a nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. He previously served as Communications Director for former New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. You can find him on Twitter @larrybehrens or @PTFNewMexico. Learn more at PowerTheFuture.Com.
