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On this episode of Unregulated Tom & Mike discuss the growing list of Biden cabinet picks and the rampant corruption of the California Public Utilities Commission.
Links:
• Sonrkin and Santelli debate restaurant restrictions
• Percent Share of US EV Sales By State
• California was the largest net electricity importer of any state in 2019
On this episode of Unregulated Tom & Mike discuss the merits of civil disobedience in the age of lockdowns and dive into Biden’s picks for his potential cabinet. Plus, the duo weigh in on president Obama’s latest memoir.
Links:
• ‘A new, better Supreme Court makes its debut in New York pandemic case’ column
• The Biden Energy Plan Is Like California’s—But Worse
• More analysis of Joe Biden’s energy plans
Georgians can slam the door on the left’s attempt to fundamentally transform our Republic.
WASHINGTON DC (December 1, 2020) – The American Energy Alliance (AEA), the country’s premier pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, and free-market energy organization, has endorsed Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler for U.S. Senate in Georgia’s runoff election on January 5, 2021.
Drawing from its American Energy Scorecard, AEA highlighted Sen. Perdue’s 92% energy voting record and Energy Champion designation. AEA scores both votes and legislative sponsorships related to energy and the environment, such as the Green New Deal.
As an appointee in 2020 by Governor Brian Kemp, Sen. Loeffler does not qualify to receive an official AEA score, but nonetheless has proven to be a reliable vote for affordable and reliable energy and for free markets.
With forty-eight seats controlled by Democrats, and fifty seats controlled by Republicans, the outcome of Perdue and Loeffler’s elections will be the key deciding factor in the balance of power and political control of the U.S. Senate. Returning Senators Perdue and Loeffler to the Senate will prevent the Democrat party and the green left from having the unchecked ability to restrict our energy use and increase the role of the federal government in our daily lives.
Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, issued the following statement:
“The blue wave that nearly every Democrat and pollster said was coming hit a red brick wall on election day. Americans resoundingly rejected the Democrats radical agenda, which included the Green New Deal and a ban on fracking.
“On January 5, Georgians will make a very important decision that will likely impact the direction of our great Republic. They can support Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who will continue to promote policies that have helped make America energy independent for the first time in 62 years. Or they can support their opponents, which would effectively hand the keys of Congress to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, who will not doubt advance an agenda that will restrict our energy choices and cede our newfound energy freedom to countries like China. Policies like the Green New Deal reflect New York and California values, not Georgia values. The choice is clear.
“The American Energy Alliance proudly endorses Senators Purdue and Loeffler. Georgians should send them back to the Senate to represent Georgia’s interests in Washington and stop the Democrats from enacting radical policies that will harm our economy and make us less secure. It’s that simple.”
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If domestic sources of critical minerals are off the table, AEA questions how the enviros expect their green dreams to come true.
WASHINGTON DC (November 25, 2020) – The American Energy Alliance (AEA), the country’s premier pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, and free-market energy organization, responded to the news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied a critical permit, and the jobs that would come with it, for the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska.
Thomas Pyle, President of AEA, issued the following statement:
“Alaska stands to become one of the largest producers of copper in the world, an element critical to the electrification of just about everything – a priority for the Green New Deal crowd – as well as an important building material for homes, offices, and factories. And yet, thanks to political pressure from a handful of elites on both the left and the right, that is off the table – at least for now. It’s reckless, and hands China a victory as they continue to amass the world’s minerals needed in order to power our future.”
“How, after sixty-two years, this nation can finally achieve energy independence from the Middle East in one moment, and then secede reliance to China and other mineral-developing nations in the next, is difficult to swallow. Our economy and our security suffer from this short-sighted decision. Ironically, on the eve of a uniquely American holiday, other nations are giving thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers.”
For media inquiries please contact:
[email protected]
On this episode of Unregulated Tom & Mike discuss what a Biden administration will mean for the prospects of a national carbon tax, and the important role the Georgia runoff election will play in shaping the next four years of American politics.
Links:
• ‘For distracted Republicans, it’s time to refocus on Georgia Senate races’ column
On this episode of Unregulated Tom & Mike discuss how the transition process is unfolding and give some retrospective analysis on what happened in the election. Plus they weigh in on what they think the beginning of a Biden administration will look like in a COVID-19 dominated world and the latest episodes of lockdown hypocrisy.
Links:
• ‘RNC should not rubber-stamp Trump’s pick of Ronna McDaniel as chairwoman’ column
On this episode of Unregulated Tom & Mike discuss what last week’s election means for the country, the media, and America’s energy producers. They also talk about what the Trump administration’s best next moves are.
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As of Thursday, presidential election results are still being tabulated. Former vice president Biden has a slight edge, but final results will depend on tallies in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia. Elsewhere, however, there is a clear picture coming from the 2020 election: the blue progressive wave meant to sweep to power and remake energy markets did not appear. Affordable, reliable energy remains a vote winner, with voters recoiling at the ambitious progressive energy and climate agenda.
The Senate
In the Senate, Republicans are set to retain control. Losses in Colorado and Arizona were balanced by a pickup in Alabama; a hold in Maine; and a hold in North Carolina that awaits final confirmation. Two seats in Georgia a likely headed to runoffs, where Republicans traditionally do well. This means a 52-48 Republican majority come January 2021.
This result should be seen as a rebuke of the extreme environmentalist agenda. Across the country, environmental activists sought to nationalize Senate races, campaigning for a Democrat controlled Senate to pass the $2 trillion Biden climate plan. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent, the result was failure.
Should Biden prevail in the remaining counts, he will be the first Democratic president since Grover Cleveland to enter office without control of Congress. In addition to crippling Biden’s extreme and costly climate agenda, Republican Senate control means that a President Biden will have to negotiate his cabinet nominations. It will be hard to nominate extremists like Mary Nichols, the former head of California’s environmental regulator, at the Environmental Protection Agency. Radicals like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren should be out of the question in the cabinet. This will be a win for American energy consumers and may constrain the sort of regulatory overreach undertaken under the Obama administration.
The House
In the House, Republicans are set to pick up double-digit seats, a shocking reversal from pre-election expectations of Democratic pickups. Democrats especially struggled in swing districts where energy was on the ballot. In Oklahoma, Rep. Kendra Horn, who represents Oklahoma City, was soundly defeated. Her 5% score on the American Energy Scorecard was a major topic in the campaign’s final debate, and she was clearly hurt by being out of step with her district. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, representing a major oil-producing district in southern New Mexico, was similarly defeated. Here too, a 0% score on the AEA scorecard was at issue in the campaign and exposed Torres Small for voting against the interests of her constituents.
Other endangered incumbents where vote counts have not been finalized include Rep. Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania and Rep. TJ Cox of California, but representing energy producing districts yet scoring very poorly on the AEA scorecard. Because of Biden’s energy comments at the final presidential debate, energy was a major issue in the close weeks of all races. The House results are a sound rejection of the kind of radical environmental agenda proposed by the Biden-Harris campaign.
Come January, with the House more closely balanced, the kinds of radical energy proposals passed by Speaker Pelosi’s caucus last congress should be off the table.
The States
Outside of Washington, affordable energy prevailed as well. Across the country, pro-energy majorities retained control of state legislatures. A much-hyped effort by Democrats to win control of the Texas House of Representatives fell flat. Big spending environmental interests failed to take control of any new state legislative chambers.
Also in Texas, despite vast spending by Mike Bloomberg and other out of state environmental interests, Republican Jim Wright won is race for the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator.
In Arizona, pro-affordable energy candidates are currently in position to take two of three seats up for election. This means that the Commission’s foolish and expensive 100% clean energy mandates, passed last week by the outgoing commissioners, will be ripe for reconsideration.
Conclusion
Nationwide in 2020, energy was on the ballot: the radical Green New Deal, which the Biden-Harris campaign couldn’t stop praising; he Biden $2 trillion climate plan; the Biden fracking ban that he tried to pretend was not a ban. The campaign was packed with energy policy, and the final weeks were dominated by energy policy. Whatever the ultimate outcome of the closely fought presidential race, everywhere else on the ballot voters delivered a rebuke to anti-energy candidates at every level. Should the former vice president win the race he should take note, and abandon his plan to go to war with affordable, reliable, American energy.
Results prove that voters reject incumbents and candidates seeking to dismantle newfound American energy independence.
WASHINGTON DC (November 4, 2020) – The American Energy Alliance (AEA), the country’s premier pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, and free-market energy organization, has released a statement in reaction to yesterday’s election results. While the final outcome of the presidential election remains unresolved, there were clear winners and losers in last night’s election.
Thomas Pyle, President of AEA, issued the following statement:
“Americans clearly rejected the policies of the progressive left with respect to energy policy and any attempt to transform America into a socialist country. The polling industry had another abysmal night, calling into question the competence and objectivity of nearly the entire lot.
“The Democrats had an equally disastrous performance. Republicans will most certainly hold the Senate, and in the House, Republicans narrowed the gap and both incumbents and candidates who embraced our hard-won energy independence were victorious. Those who talked a good game, but ultimately voted in lockstep with Speaker Nancy Pelosi – including Rep. Horn (D-OK) and Rep. Torres-Small (D-NM) – are going home. Rep. Connor Lamb (D-PA) and Rep. TJ Cox (D-CA), who are both trailing, could both enjoy a similar fate.
“One thing is for certain: if Joe Biden shuffles into the White House, he will do so lacking any kind of mandate to make energy more expensive, restrict the use of our domestic natural resources, ban fracking on federal lands, or impose a carbon tax or other restrictive carbon policies on the American public.
“We look forward to working with the next President to keep energy affordable, maintain American energy independence, and help the families, workers, and businesses that make America great.”
For media inquiries please contact:
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Joe Biden’s climate and energy plans mandate a carbon-free generation sector by 2035. Since new nuclear and carbon capture and sequestration technologies are not economically competitive, subsidized wind and solar power would have to make up the share from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) that currently make up 62 percent of the generation market. Biden’s plans call for large expenditures in renewable energy, including installing 500 million solar panels and manufacturing 60,000 wind turbines.
The Benton Public Utility District in Washington State said, in a report, that overly aggressive clean energy policies bring about an unacceptably high risk of power grid blackouts. While the development of wind farms may be “politically fashionable” and appeal to many in the general public, science and economics show that attempting to power modern civilization with intermittent electricity from wind and solar will come at a high financial and environmental cost. The report is consistent with what has happened in Germany and Australia, as residential electricity prices in Germany are among the highest in Europe and 50 percent more than they were in 2006.
In 2014, Germany’s solar production was just 6 percent and the country barely managed to escape an eclipse by importing electricity from neighboring countries. In August, still air hit California’s wind farms during a heat wave and smoke from its wild fires reduced solar power by 30 percent, causing rolling blackouts in some locales.
The enormity of the task Biden is making that some believe is doable can be best expressed by realizing that 80 percent of all U.S. energy comes from fossil fuels and almost 9 percent comes from nuclear power. Solar and wind combined contribute less than 4 percent. Solar and wind’s contribution in the generating sector is more sizable at 9 percent of U.S. generation because of the smaller market. Wind power and solar systems produce electricity at an average of just 25 percent to 35 percent of the year, while conventional natural gas plants have very high availability at 85 percent.
Because wind and solar are intermittent, they require back-up from natural gas technologies, which must be inefficiently ramped up and down like a car driving in stop-and-go traffic to balance the energy grid. Storage technologies (batteries) could substitute, but they are not currently economic. Further, China controls about 70 percent of the world’s lithium supply and 83 percent of the anodes to make them. A U.S. lithium project has been seeking approval to mine the material in a Nevada desert, but has been blocked for more than a decade by environmental groups.
Now consider that Biden also wants the U.S. energy economy to be totally carbon free by 2050. That means electric vehicles instead of gasoline and diesel vehicles. Then consider the electricity that these electric vehicles will need to charge their batteries. And add to that, the half million electric car chargers that Biden proposes to have taxpayers finance along with funding to help car makers convert their factories to electric vehicle production. Producing and recharging those electric vehicles will require that electricity is constantly available, which, based on California’s experience may not be achievable with renewable power.
Building wind turbines and solar panels to generate electricity, as well as batteries to fuel electric vehicles, requires, on average, more than 10 times the quantity of materials, compared with building equivalent systems using fossil fuels to deliver the same amount of energy. To replace a single 100-megawatt gas-fired plant would take at least 20 wind turbines, each about the size of the Washington Monument and covering about 10 square miles of land. The wind farm would consume about 30,000 tons of iron ore and 50,000 tons of concrete, as well as 900 tons of non-recyclable plastics for the blades. A solar plant with the same output would require half again more tonnage in cement, steel and glass. And, based on current plans, by 2050, the quantity of worn-out, non-recyclable solar panels will double the tonnage of all today’s global plastic waste, and there will be over 3 million tons per year of unrecyclable plastics from worn-out wind turbine blades.
Conclusion
Biden’s plans to recreate the entire U.S. energy system beginning with electricity over the next 14 years will result in enormous costs for U.S. consumers and taxpayers. Further, it makes little sense to take a system that works efficiently and replace it with technologies that cannot do the job 24/7. Americans rightly expect electricity on demand and will continue to expect that while Biden creates large new uses for electricity that will tax the electric grid. His vision of American energy is one where air conditioning may not be available in the summer and heat may not be available during winter.
*This article was adapted from content originally published by the Institute for Energy Research.
For more information on these issues check out AEA’s Vote Energy 2020
