In a Republic, lasting progress depends on the art of persuasion. To shape policy, politicians and activists must first convince the public that their ideas work. Yet with increasingly radical tactics — from <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/monkeywrenching-vandals-are-reinventing-climate-activism/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">vandalizing infrastructure</a> to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/arts/design/vandalizing-art-protests.html">defacing priceless works of art</a> — and open dismissal of the affordability challenges many Americans face, it’s little wonder the environmental movement has struggled to win hearts and minds.
Faced with soaring energy costs, a <a href="https://www.aei.org/articles/the-clean-energy-transitions-voter-problem/">2024 YouGov poll</a> found that 73% of voters ranked the price and availability of energy as their top concern. Rather than confronting this reality, radical environmental activists have abandoned persuasion in favor of reckless, unfounded lawsuits against American energy companies, actions that threaten not only our energy security but the very principles of fairness and accountability that our democracy depends on.
The trend is best illustrated by Greenpeace International’s so-called “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/greenpeace-files-suit-against-us-pipeline-company-energy-transfer-2025-02-11/">anti-SLAPP</a>” lawsuit against Energy Transfer, a U.S. pipeline company. Greenpeace filed the case in the Netherlands, even though Energy Transfer has no presence or infrastructure in the European Union, claiming the company tried to silence it through costly litigation in North Dakota. Earlier this year, a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable for defamation, property damage, and civil conspiracy over its actions during the 2016 and 2017 Dakota Access Pipeline protests. The jury even ordered Greenpeace to pay roughly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenpeace-energy-transfer-lawsuit-verdict/">$660 million </a>in damages. Instead of accepting that verdict, Greenpeace is now taking the fight overseas in an apparent attempt to escape responsibility — an act of desperation mirrored by recent high-profile <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2025/10/16/greenpeaces-top-legal-staffers-exit-00611338">resignations</a> from its own legal team. 
Greenpeace is not alone. In September 2024, California’s attorney general and several environmental groups <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/climate/exxon-california-plastics-defamation-lawsuit.html">sued</a> ExxonMobil, accusing the company of contributing to environmental damage from single-use plastics. Yet ExxonMobil doesn’t manufacture single-use plastics and has <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/sustainability-and-reports/sustainability/meeting-societys-critical-needs-energy-products/expanding-the-plastics-life-cycle#Ourapproach">invested</a> heavily in recycling innovations to expand the kinds of plastics that can be reused. “Instead of suing us,” an Exxon representative <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-plastics-lawsuit-exxon/">said</a>, “they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills. To date, we’ve processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into usable raw materials.” Ignoring such cooperation and the vital role plastics play in healthcare and food safety, activists continue to favor publicity over practical solutions. 
These lawsuits come at a pivotal moment for America’s energy future. The AI revolution promises to drive economic growth and create new opportunities, but data centers powering that revolution demand historic levels of energy. The United States has the resources to meet this challenge, but if energy producers are buried in costly, politically motivated litigation, our ability to keep energy affordable and reliable will be at risk.
For all the rhetoric from environmental activists, it is American energy producers who have delivered the environmental progress that actually improved people’s lives. Affordable and reliable energy helped drive an almost 80% reduction in common air pollutants since the 1970s and made the United States the world leader in access to clean and safe drinking water. When the Safe Drinking Water Act was first implemented, more than one-third of public water systems failed to meet federal standards, as documented in the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-04/documents/epa816f04030.pdf">EPA’s historical overview of the Safe Drinking Water Act.</a> Early federal surveys summarized by the <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL31243">Congressional Research Service</a> show that roughly 60% of systems were out of compliance in the 1970s. Today, more than 90% of water systems meet EPA’s strictest health-based requirements, according to the agency’s <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL31243">National Public Water Systems Compliance Report</a> and reviews by the <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL31243">National Academies of Sciences</a>. These gains occurred while American oil and gas production set records. The lesson is simple: prosperity powered by abundant energy produces cleaner air and cleaner water, not political mandates or litigation campaigns.
These hard-won gains are exactly why the current wave of activist lawsuits is so destructive. Instead of building on America’s energy strengths, groups like Greenpeace are working to undermine the very industry that made this environmental progress possible.
When an organization found liable by a jury for defamation and property damage turns around and cries “SLAPP,” it risks undermining the very legal protections meant to safeguard legitimate free speech and activism. If every losing activist can hide behind these claims, true environmental advocacy becomes collateral damage.
Real progress will continue to come from harnessing America’s ingenuity to responsibly produce energy, without sacrificing prosperity, stability, or the rule of law. The path forward isn’t reckless litigation. It’s common sense and energy abundance.
* * *
The Honorable Jason Isaac is the Founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, a trade organization that unapologetically champions free markets and American energy. Previously, he served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Environmental Activists Abandon Persuasion For Litigation

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ExxonMobil

Greenpeace

Lawsuit

Oil and Gas

The Netherlands

Last month, President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s Climate Working Group completed its work, and quietly achieved something few expected: they reset the national conversation on climate policy.
For years, Washington’s climate agenda has been dominated by alarmism, junk science, and a revolving cast of “experts” whose warnings are backed not by empirical evidence but the billions of dollars flowing from dark money climate advocacy groups and left-wing billionaires more focused on concentrating power than global temperatures.
The federal government has relied heavily on so-called “climate attribution” studies, which claim to link every hurricane, wildfire, and heatwave to carbon emissions.
These studies are widely criticized, even within the scientific community, for flawed methodology and confirmation bias. Yet policymakers have treated them as gospel, driving expensive and economically damaging regulations. Craven politicians have used them to attempt to condition the American people to believe every storm is the result of energy producers, and the only answer is multi-trillion-dollar energy transitions.
The Climate Working Group ripped that narrative apart. Its report exposed the flimsy assumptions, the overreliance on discredited models, and the tendency to inflate worst-case scenarios while ignoring economic realities. The group didn’t simply question climate orthodoxy; it demanded that science, logic, and reality guide policy — rather than ideology and grant-driven research agendas.
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Predictably, the backlash was immediate and loud. Dark-money-funded climate groups with questionable credibility, like the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Environmental Defense Fund, and self-styled “scientists” who have been discredited within peer-reviewed circles, launched predictable attacks, dismissing the report as reckless or even dangerous. They sued to prevent the report from even seeing the light of day.
The rapid, even frantic mobilization to shut this report down told us everything we need to know.
Because this report poked holes and raised questions about the “climate consensus,” it served as an existential threat to an entire constellation of dark money interests, NGO’s, political candidates and groups, and non-profits that rely on Americans believing that every raindrop and gust of wind they experience is actually the fault of the oil and gas companies.
The truth is simple: the group accomplished exactly what it was supposed to do. It recentered the debate on facts, not fear, and reminded policymakers that exaggerated claims of catastrophe do not replace rigorous analysis. And that those with genuine scientific curiosity should not kowtow to a politically driven “consensus” that shuts down questions and intellectual challenge.
Events at Climate Week in New York highlighted just how important this shift has been. Secretary Wright joined David Gelles of The New York Times for a <a href="https://youtu.be/XzkZ-a0UMN8?si=NTNKgD4wEYOaSBhe&amp;t=1304" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussion</a> on Energy in the Trump administration.
Gelles asked questions using the Left’s normal framing about extreme weather and climate change, and Secretary Wright pushed back forcefully, saying, “These crazy convoluted links &#8230; making weather more extreme, more hurricanes, more intense hurricanes. That’s not what’s in the IPCC reports, it’s not what’s in the data. It’s what the media says, it’s what activists say, it’s what politicians say. It’s not in the data.”
Gelles pushed back: “There’s a ton of attribution science, though. Are you saying that the studies that are showing attribution science that do the actual scientific work to link global temperature rise to specific weather events are not to be trusted?”
“Attribution science is not science,” Wright responded. “You can’t draw a long-term slow trend to a weather event, tornadoes, hurricanes, extremely complicated phenomena. Attribution science is someone reaching for something.”
Thanks to the Climate Working Group, discussions about climate policy can no longer ignore economic costs, energy realities, or the limits of current science. For the first time in years, the debate has been pulled back from ideological extremes and into the light of scrutiny.
Mission accomplished. And if the critics are howling, that’s just proof the Working Group hit the mark.
The Honorable Jason Isaac is the Founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, a trade organization that unapologetically champions free markets and American energy. Previously, he served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Donald Trump

How The Trump Administration Changed The Climate Conversation

Chris Wright

Climate Change

Department of Energy

A recent <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08751-3__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneHnhD7cM$">study</a> published in the academic journal Nature has been making headlines, claiming that if it were not for major oil and gas companies producing energy between 1991 and 2020, the world would be $28 trillion richer.
Study authors Christopher Callahan, a Stanford University postdoctoral scientist, and Justin Mankin, a Dartmouth College geography professor, authored the study, which was never peer-reviewed and uses a laughably absurd methodology developed by activists whose goal is to do the pseudo-science grunt work for climate change lawsuits against energy producers.
Single events <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/chapter/chapter-11/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneCyPoFvO$">cannot</a> be attributed to climate change. Nevertheless, the study goes far beyond the ridiculous in its attempt not only to pin blame solely on individual energy producers but to attach a specific dollar amount to each company. Using dubious assumptions and their unsound “end-to-end” methodology, the authors cooked up an implausible correlation between individual companies and singular weather events alleged to have been caused or exacerbated by global warming. The bogus conclusions are then broken up into specific price tags and assigned to various energy producers.
Chevron, for example, is accused of being responsible for “heat-related losses” totaling $3.6 trillion from 1991 to 2020. Damages assigned to ExxonMobil amounted to $1.91 trillion during the same period, while the tally for Saudi Aramco came to $2.05 trillion. Together, the study blames the world’s energy producers for $28 trillion in damages. It would be an understatement to say that neither the study, nor its underlying assumptions, nor its conclusions should be accorded any credibility.
Given the elaborate contortions necessary to arrive at the study’s obviously preconceived conclusions, one might wonder what the motivation was to concoct it in the first place. The authors leave an enormous clue in their acknowledgements, in which they lavish <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08751-3*Ack1__;Iw!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneHYs_i-c$">praise</a> upon individuals associated with the notorious law firm Sher Edling LLP for their help with the study. Sher Edling was created for the sole purpose of waging lawfare with the intent to financially destroy energy companies. While Sher Edling has worked with states and municipalities in initiating dozens of lawsuits attempting to set climate policy in courtrooms, none to date have been successful.
If just one of the firm’s lawsuits succeeds, it is expected to take up to a 30% chunk of an award estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Because the firm is <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024.10.07-Sher-Edling-Memo.pdf__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneMLb-kWH$">bankrolled</a> by millions of dollars in dark money funneled through far-Left organizations, its attacks are limitless — and so is its ability to buy studies supporting its conclusions and the fat payday they covet. Sher Edling has acknowledged commissioning made-for-litigation studies before. Named partner Vic Sher described working with scientist-for-hire Richard Heede during a 2017 talk at UCLA. That study, much like the new Nature research, purports to connect major energy providers with specific emissions activity.
A more honest study would have acknowledged the truly beneficial role that energy plays in our economy and everyday lives. We depend on fossil fuel energy for everything from the quality of our lives to our national security. It is so dependable that we rarely even consider that everything we eat, wear, buy, or sell depends on energy. It’s there to take us places and to cool and heat our homes. Smart devices, paint, asphalt, and plastic containers are just a few objects in our daily lives made from petroleum. The study would be more credible if it concluded the truth: that fossil fuels have contributed trillions of dollars in value and made human flourishing possible.
Several legacy news outlets — many of which <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/media-provide-no-scrutiny-study-claiming-oil-companies-made-world-28__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneDRJ0tH9$">accept funds from anti-fossil fuel advocacy organizations</a> to write about global warming — reported on the Nature study while failing to note its utterly discrediting connection to Sher Edling. As we move into the warmer summer weather, we can expect more such studies and uncritical news stories.
Studies lacking basic integrity like the one published in Nature are why President Trump’s recent executive order “<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/restoring-gold-standard-science/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneCG8TS0c$">Restoring Gold Standard Science</a>” is so timely and important. That standard holds that reproducibility, rigor, and unbiased peer review must be maintained. It demands that federal decisions be informed by only the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available. Absolutely nothing about the Nature study meets the gold standard of science.
* * *
The Honorable Jason Isaac is the Founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, a trade organization that unapologetically champions free markets and American energy. Previously, he served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Senate Lawmakers Return To Capitol Hill After The Weekend

Made-For-Court Climate Study Completely Fails Science Gold Standard

Global Warming

Ivy League

Oil companies

Opinion

In the debate over energy policy, the term &#8220;all of the above&#8221; has been heralded as a balanced, pragmatic strategy. But in reality, this approach is little more than a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) framework for energy — one that prioritizes political considerations over performance and efficiency. Just as DEI hiring initiatives emphasize inclusivity over merit-based selection, the &#8220;all of the above&#8221; energy policy forces taxpayers and ratepayers to subsidize inefficient energy sources under the guise of fairness and diversity in energy production.
This misguided philosophy has led to the proliferation of heavily subsidized and unreliable power generation, such as wind and solar, which fail to deliver power when it is needed most. These sources are not chosen based on their ability to provide cheap, reliable energy but rather on their alignment with politically driven mandates and green ideology. Despite the rhetoric of energy independence, the reality is that the expansion of these energy sources has increased our dependence on China for critical materials while simultaneously driving up electricity prices for American consumers. Ironically, while the U.S. is shackling its energy sector with expensive and inefficient mandates, China continues to dominate global energy markets by producing affordable power — largely fueled by coal.
The issue is not just limited to electricity generation. Biofuels, another beneficiary of the &#8220;all of the above&#8221; approach, serve as a prime example of government inefficiency. These fuels make gasoline and diesel more expensive, harm engine performance, and require massive amounts of water to produce. Rather than being an environmentally friendly alternative, biofuels epitomize waste — consuming resources and taxpayer dollars for minimal benefit.
Proponents of tax credits and subsidies argue that they create &#8220;good-paying jobs,&#8221; but this justification rings hollow. The same could be said of nearly any government-funded initiative, including federal bureaucracies that are now being exposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for being inefficient and wasteful. Of course, by this logic, one could also argue that funding for male circumcision programs in Mozambique created &#8220;good-paying jobs&#8221; as well — just not ones that benefit the American workforce. President Trump highlighted this as an example of what he considers &#8220;appalling waste&#8221; in government spending, and yet the same defenders of bloated federal budgets will insist that all taxpayer-funded jobs are inherently valuable. Just because an industry is artificially propped up by government incentives does not mean it is economically viable. True job creation comes from industries that thrive on their own merits — not those that rely on perpetual government handouts.
A recent letter from members of Congress underscores this flawed thinking. It claims that tax credits are essential for energy affordability and national security, yet it ignores the fact that these subsidies distort markets and drive up costs. The argument that these tax incentives were promised for a ten-year period, and therefore should remain untouched, is nothing more than an attempt to lock in bad policy. If a program is wasteful and inefficient, it should be ended — regardless of previous commitments to corporate beneficiaries. The idea that repealing subsidies would cause an energy crisis is a scare tactic used to protect special interests rather than consumers.
True energy dominance does not come from a politically constructed mix of energy sources dictated by government planners. It comes from an energy sector that is free to compete based on cost, efficiency, and reliability. The &#8220;all of the above&#8221; approach is not a strategy — it is a crutch for failing energy policies that depend on taxpayer support to survive. If we are serious about unleashing American energy, we must reject this DEI-style approach and allow the best energy sources to rise based on merit — not mandates.
* * *
The Honorable Jason Isaac is the Founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, a trade organization that unapologetically champions free markets and American energy. Previously, he served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.
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Oil Set For Biggest Weekly Gain Since Early 2023 On Mideast Risk

Why ‘All Of The Above’ Energy Policies Fail

Why 'All Of The Above' Energy Policies Fail

China

Coal

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Electricity

Solar Power

The Kamala Harris Campaign recently published an image of her with the text, “we are not going back.” Will Democrats seek to replace her or Tim Walz from the ticket as their numbers start to tank? All it may take is another trip to the grocery store or a fill-up at the pump for reality to set back in for Americans excited about her candidacy. Most Americans would certainly like to “go back” to affordable gas prices, groceries, housing, and electricity.
Regardless of the ticket, any Democratic nominee would likely continue down the same policy path that has wrecked the American economy and — perhaps most importantly — dismantled our energy dominance.
Why does energy matter when everyone is talking about inflation, the border, and global conflicts? Because everything we do depends on access to affordable, reliable energy—and that means our next president’s energy policy will shape the future of America and the world. The Democrats’ vision for expensive, scarce, and government-controlled energy, dependent on the whims of the weather, is as reliable as Obamacare is affordable, and it would spell disaster for our nation.
Kamala Harris’ record on energy is clear. She endorsed California’s cap-and-trade carbon tax, co-sponsored the Green New Deal, and cast the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which is, as <a href="https://x.com/dgelles/status/1635301875967983616" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one journalist</a> aptly put it, “the first major climate legislation…EVER!” These are the same policies that have driven California’s energy prices to astronomical levels and have left tens of thousands of people in the dark — literally.
In California last year, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/why-californians-have-some-of-the-highest-power-bills-in-the-u-s-a831b60e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">215,000 people</a> had their power disconnected for inability to pay, and over 40,000 of those households still had not had their services restored by year’s end. For those individuals, residential lease and mortgage terms are violated and homeowners insurance policies are canceled because requirements to keep utilities connected aren’t being met. These 40,000 people are at the highest risk of homelessness, all because they couldn’t afford to pay their energy bills.
This is not just a California story — though the numbers are much higher there, it’s a nationwide crisis unfolding under the Democrats’ watch. In California last year, nearly 27% of Californians missed payments on utility bills — compared to 16% nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. The previous year saw <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/utility-power-shutoffs-4-2-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5 million Americans</a> receive disconnect notices from their utility companies. The pattern is clear: the Democrats’ energy policies, embraced in California, are making it harder for everyday Americans to keep their lights on.
Under the Trump administration, Americans enjoyed the benefits of a robust energy sector. The United States became a net energy exporter for the first time in decades, and <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/10/f79/Natural%20Gas%20Benefits%20Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American households saved an average of $2,500 a year</a> on energy costs alone. Today, under the Biden-Harris administration, American families are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-29/u-s-households-face-5-200-inflation-tax-this-year-chart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paying $5,200 more per year,</a> thanks to the Biden-Harris policies that have attacked the energy industry and levied higher costs on everything.
Harris’s stance on fracking is particularly troubling for energy-producing states like New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming as significant portions of their energy are produced on federal lands. In 2019, she unequivocally stated, “There is no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. And, starting with what we can do on day one around public lands, right!” In New Mexico, nearly two-thirds of energy production occurs on federal lands, generating over $6 billion in tax revenue. A Harris administration would be a direct threat to this critical industry, leaving millions unemployed and our nation more dependent on foreign oil.
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The consequences would be equally dire in states like Pennsylvania, and Ohio where auto production is a key economic driver. A Harris/Walz regime, with its bureaucratic deep state, would continue to unleash attacks against the energy and auto manufactures in these states. Chinese EV battery maker Gotion has already set up shop in Michigan, claiming U.S. federal and state tax subsidies while also receiving subsidies from the Chinese Communist Party. This is the kind of pro-China double-dealing that is resulting in, as President Trump predicted, a “bloodbath” for the American auto industry.
No wonder President Trump said he was “thrilled” with Tim Walz as Harris’ the VP pick. Not content with a centrist candidate to balance the ticket, Harris instead chose another hard leftist, verging on communist. The Democrats’ regime is no friend to American energy producers or the American automotive industry. And, as Harris has made clear, &#8220;we are not going back.&#8221;
In the end, the choice is clear. America needs leadership that will protect our energy independence, lower costs for American families, and strengthen our economy. The alternative is more of the same disastrous policies that have plagued California and could result in the United States being known as Kamalafornia — where energy is expensive, scarce, and unreliable, and where the American dream is slipping further out of reach for millions.
* * *
The Honorable Jason Isaac, a former Texas state legislator, is CEO of the American Energy Institute.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Gas Stations As Oil Hits $85 for First Time Since October

‘We Are Not Going Back’: Why Kamalanomics Spells Disaster For American Energy

'We Are Not Going Back': Why Kamalanomics Spells Disaster For American Energy

2024 Election

California

Democrats

Economy

Fracking

Green New Deal

Inflation Reduction Act

Kamala Harris

At the two nights of the most recent Democratic Party presidential debates, 20 candidates warned in ever more alarming terms about the supposedly looming apocalypse.
“Literally the survival of humanity on this planet in civilization is in the hands of the next president,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/democratic-debate-july-31-2019/h_b8177bf26dc2fca01f55fc8710304039">said</a> on the second night. “And we have to have a leader who will do what is necessary to save us.”
Though not every candidate endorsed the so-called Green New Deal, most called climate change an existential threat and echoed the sensational headlines that we have <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2019/01/22/ocasio-cortez-climate-change-alarm/2642481002/">12 years</a>, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/beto-orourke-we-only-have-10-years-let-on-earth-if-we-dont-address-climate-change">10 years</a>, or even <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2018/01/15/carbon-pollution-has-shoved-the-climate-backward-at-least-12-million-years-harvard-scientist-says/">five years</a> to stave off the End of Days. Unfortunately for the American people, none chose to lay aside the hyperbole of climate change alarmism and use his/her platform to drive our national discourse toward the truth.
And so far, no one clamoring about this supposed apocalypse has proposed a serious plan of action.
Our national conversation about climate change remains fraught and unproductive, with both sides talking past each other rather than to each other.
The missing link is a foundational understanding of how the United States actually produces our energy. If politicians really want to switch to renewable power, it can’t be accomplished without a concrete, coherent plan to replace the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40013">80% of our energy</a> that comes from fossil fuels — natural gas, oil, and coal.
Like it or not, fossil fuels represent the most reliable, affordable, and abundant energy sources we have. Access to these energy resources has led to the most dramatic improvements in the human condition in recorded history. After the Industrial Revolution made electricity widespread and accessible, average global life expectancy and GDP per capita <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexepstein/2016/03/28/why-green-energy-means-no-energy/#7a58741c17dc">increased dramatically</a>. People are healthier, freer, more prosperous, better educated, and more comfortable than ever before.
Meanwhile, as our energy use has increased, so has our environmental quality. The United States is a world leader in clean air, with major <a href="https://files.texaspolicy.com/uploads/2018/11/27165514/2018-11-RR-US-Leads-the-World-in-Clean-Air-ACEE-White.pdf?__hstc=123760149.a1ffad69b2a014eec1ac8a23eed19c36.1553016528347.1561662255945.1561734439873.241&amp;__hssc=123760149.14.1561734439873&amp;__hsfp=1784292781">pollutants falling nearly 75% since 1970</a>.
These are benefits we take for granted — benefits not every country enjoys, even in the 21st century — and are too often overlooked in policy conversations about energy and the environment.
At current levels of technology, wind and solar energy <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/tech-size.html">require far too much land</a>, battery storage, and backup power to become a primary energy source. It would take 27 times the acreage to replace the nation’s coal plants with solar power and more than 100 times the acreage for wind, not counting immense storage requirements — also destroying more wildlife and overwhelmingly increasing our physical footprint on the earth.
Even after tens of <a href="https://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/subsidy/pdf/subsidy.pdf">billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies</a>, renewable energy remains impractical.
Just ask Germany, where renewable power mandates have caused <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/04/23/if-solar-and-wind-are-so-cheap-why-are-they-making-electricity-more-expensive/#2e65d8f1dc66">electricity prices to rise over 50%</a> — and where coal plants are subsidized to provide power when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. A recent study revealed that <a href="https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/publications/papers/2019/wp-19-09.html">higher electricity prices leads to more wintertime deaths</a>, as low-income and senior citizens are forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table.
What’s more, even switching to 100% renewable energy by 2030, as plans like the Green New Deal call for, would only reduce global temperatures by <a href="http://magicc.org/">0.04 degrees in 2100</a>. That’s according to data models used by the United Nations, traditionally one of the leading voices of climate change alarmism.
The Democratic presidential debates over the last two nights addressed none of these real, tangible concerns. Instead, candidates kowtowed to the political allure of climate change fear-mongering. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg cried that we’re nearing the “horizon of catastrophe,” despite the fact that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bjornlomborg/photos/a.221758208967/10156615395793968/?type=3&amp;theater">climate-related deaths have declined 97%</a> in the past century.
Meanwhile, the voters were left hanging, faced with the false choice between an unlikely doomsday and unnecessarily higher taxes, electricity and fuel costs, and overall cost of living — all for limited, if any, environmental benefit.
Instead of parroting the popular but unfounded climate change doomsday narrative, our prospective leaders should empower Americans with the clear path forward that prioritizes human flourishing. As history has shown in the United States and around the world, affordable, reliable, abundant energy is critical to that flourishing.
Our economy, public health, and quality of life depend on it.
The Honorable Jason Isaac is Senior Manager and Distinguished Fellow of <a href="https://lifepowered.org">Life:Powered</a>, a national initiative to raise America’s energy IQ. He previously served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/isaacfortexas">@ISAACforTexas</a>.

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