A group of us sent a letter (below) to GOP leadership about the lessons to be learned from the climate idiocy-caused energy disaster in Europe. Here is FOX Business coverage and below is my interview tonight with Jackie DeAngelis.
October 4, 2022
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy
Republican Leader
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Leader McConnell and Leader McCarthy,
We, the undersigned, are writing to you today concerning the grave matter of America’s energy future. As America races ahead toward a future of energy production reliant on “green” energies like wind and solar, in the name of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we are ignoring a clear and present warning. The warning is simple: do not blindly give up energy security in favor of the climate alarmist agenda.
Europe found itself in a wild rush to reduce emissions since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, only to increase its effort further following the adoption of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. European countries that attempted to cut their emissions by closing coal and nuclear plants in favor of wind and solar recklessly put themselves in a dangerous position of weakness. This weakness has put them at the mercy of Russia, which has been supplying Europe with all the fuels it no longer wishes to produce for itself because of its climate alarmist agenda. Thus, we have witnessed the Russian energy spigot being easily and menacingly turned down following the invasion of Ukraine.
Yet even before any Russian-Ukraine conflict, the hole Europe had dug for itself had already begun to deepen. Europe saw a large decrease in the energy output from wind production in 2021, forcing it to deepen its already too-deep reliance on Russian coal, oil and natural gas. Europe’s over-reliance on wind power has kneecapped its energy industry, putting it at the mercy of Russia. Now, Europe has been forced to ration both industrial and residential use of electricity and natural gas, and they have yet to enter the coldest months of the year.
This rationing will become more severe as winter comes. High gas prices have already forced manufacturing plants to close, including vital fertilizer plants. In Germany, one energy expert has warned of a 99.9% chance of major blackouts, potentially leading to violence in the streets. And in the U.K., energy prices are now so high that a TV game show has made paying off monthly energy bills a prize.
The United States is hurtling headlong toward the same disaster in which Europe finds itself. Europe’s anti-fossil fuel policies are now being replicated at home by Joe Biden and the Democrat-run Congress via the Inflation Reduction Act’s $369 billion in climate spending. The end goal of their “green” agenda is to replace fossil fuel power with wind and solar permanently, regardless of the consequences. This irresponsible.
If the crisis in Europe is not warning enough, look no further than our own states of Texas and California, both of which have experienced blackouts and the need for energy rationing due to their reliance on so-called “green” energy sources. Keep in mind that these “green” energy sources aren’t really all that “green.” Their production requires strip mining and is otherwise energy intensive. They rely on non-recyclable and relatively short-lived components. Their installation and use require vast swaths of land, much greater than fossil fuel production. Leveling forests for wind and solar farms harms wildlife without providing commensurate benefits to anyone except subsidy-seeking and -dependent wind and solar firms. None of this accounts for the grave human rights violations and environmental atrocities committed around the world to procure the necessary rare-earth minerals these dubious technologies require, issues which demand a thorough investigation in and of themselves.
The actual environmental benefits of “green” energy are few and far between, if there are any at all. Yet its economic and national security impact is immeasurably negative. Compromising American energy security for the sake of climate alarmism is more than a misstep, it is a catastrophic error – just look at Europe. Defending our nation’s energy economy and independence must be a priority. Europe’s energy crisis sits as a clear and present warning of what may lie ahead if we continue down this road, let us not follow them blindly into the same disaster.
Thank you for considering our views.
Sincerely,
Craig Rucker
Co-Founder & President
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)
Kent Lassman
President & CEO
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Gregory Wrightstone
Executive Director
CO2 Coalition
Steve Milloy
Senior Legal Fellow
Energy & Environment Legal Institute
James Taylor
President
The Heartland Institute