This summer, when you flip on a light, plug in your phone, or turn on the air conditioning, savor it. A recent report warns that two-thirds of the United States will be “at high or elevated risk of power outages” over the next few months. This sweeping vulnerability that could leave millions without power is not typical. Rather, it comes as President Joe Biden and radical Democrats ramp up their furious push to enact their disastrous Green New Deal agenda.
Look no further than last week, when President Biden said skyrocketing gas prices were proof of an “incredible transition.” But, according to a North American Electric Reliability Corporation report, “A growing dependence on less reliable clean energy sources is contributing to the grid’s problems.” Even one of Biden’s top economic advisers recently betrayed the self-inflicted conundrum, explicitly not ruling out blackouts but also highlighting the need for reliable sources like “diesel” to keep power plants running.
Surely, President Biden must know that America’s electric grid is complex and powered by a multitude of energy sources, including gas, coal, solar, wind, nuclear, and hydroelectric, that together provide not just the essentials for daily life in a developed country but a much-needed safety net in the event one energy source stops working.
Regardless, as gas prices continue to skyrocket, with all 50 states having now hit record gas prices this year, electricity is set to be the next casualty in a trail of Biden’s destructive policies. In 2021, Biden said that by 2020, “[We want to] make sure all of our electricity is zero-emissions.” Never mind the impossibility of his foggy timeline — the essence of the radical Democratic agenda is present in his statement. Now, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission study predicts electricity prices could skyrocket by as much as 233% from last year’s summer prices.
The absurdity of his and radical Democrats’ long push to bring this prediction to fruition is astounding. Last year, Biden climate envoy John Kerry said we need to be shutting down “coal plants five times faster.” In February, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said solar panels and wind turbines are the “greatest peace plan that ever existed.”
But now, their agenda has revealed dangerous cracks. Amid unbelievably high gas prices, Biden resorted to begging OPEC to pump more oil — a request that was denied. He even asked Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and was once again denied. Last year, contrary to Granholm’s claim, Russia was one of the top countries from which the U.S. imported coal. Additionally, a petition filed with the Commerce Department accusing the Chinese of ignoring U.S. tariffs has halted solar panel imports and “thrown the entire American renewable-energy industry into chaos.” For context, last year, solar only accounted for 2.8% of American electricity generated — hardly enough to meet rising demand in summers.
Regardless, Granholm keeps pushing for electric vehicles, even saying that “the whole country looks to what California is doing” in mandating electric vehicles only. Many would beg to differ. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) recently urged an end to the halt in solar panel imports, underscoring just how vulnerable the blue state is. While the average gas price has surpassed $6 per gallon for the first time ever in California, state energy officials are warning of rolling blackouts this summer. This could be a repeat of last summer but worse: Newsom then called on residents to curb their home energy use because of rising temperatures straining the state’s electrical system — while at the same time pushing electric cars. To top off the absurdity, while these policies claim to reduce pollution, studies show that is in fact not the case, and they actually increase pollution.
There is, of course, a different way forward in providing stable, diverse energy sources. Republicans Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state and Fred Upton of Michigan — both House leaders on the Energy and Commerce Committee and representing states in danger of summer power outages — have called on Granholm to “address vulnerabilities in the short term and to facilitate restoration of private, domestic nuclear energy fuel infrastructure in the long term.” Notably, this isn’t the first time Republicans have asked for increased reliability through alternate sources. A chorus of Republicans is crying out for Biden to reverse his policies, unleash American energy, embrace an all-of-the-above strategy, and lower the bills families are paying.
If the past year has been any indication, under Biden and Democrats, the problem will get markedly worse in summers, winters, and decades to come. Americans must vote out Democrats in just a few short months.