This article was originally published at The Empowerment Alliance and is re-published here with permission.
From the time President Trump took office in January 2025, he and various agencies from the EPA to the Department of Energy have been working to reverse the damage done by the previous administration in regard to billions of taxpayer dollars directed to propping up so-called “alternatives” like wind and solar.
But just how short-lived that effort could be was made clear at recent congressional hearings when Democrats pressed Energy Secretary Chris Wright over the administration’s efforts to undo the damage done by the Biden administration to our most affordable and reliable energy sources. Particularly upsetting to the left is that the Energy Department has, since last May, “issued a series of emergency orders requiring multiple coal-fired power plants in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico to remain operational despite plans for retirement,” as Inside Climate News put it.
“Those federal actions are having ripple effects throughout the country’s utilities,” according to the story. “Southern Company said it would continue operating coal-fired plants in Mississippi and Georgia, and North Carolina’s legislature passed the ‘The Power Bill Reduction Act,’ allowing Duke Energy to backslide on its legally mandated carbon emissions reductions.”
One person’s “backsliding” is another person’s “restoring sanity,” which is how supporters of reliable and affordable energy see it. But comments from leading Democrats make clear just how quickly the work to protect cost-effective energy can be undone by a simple change of congressional leadership or presidential administrations.
Politico, covering Wright’s appearance at a House subcommittee hearing, reported that proposed budget cuts “include eliminating funding for wind, solar and weatherization programs — areas Democrats also seized on in their criticism of Wright. He defended the proposal as a refocus on reliability and core energy priorities.”
According to Politico, Wright said, “We put the department back on mission: delivering affordable, reliable and secure energy to the American people.”
But with midterm elections just around the corner – and the 2028 presidential election kicking off right after that – the future of affordable, reliable energy will clearly be in jeopardy. No matter how aggressively the Trump administration has rolled back Biden-era efforts to expand energy “alternatives,” billions of taxpayer dollars for that cause could be restored in the blink of an eye if Democrats retake power in Washington.
The Democrats are making no secret of their desire to return to their previous policy of propping up wind and solar. The New York Times reported last month that the Senate Democrats’ leader is making such a move a priority.
“If Democrats win control of Congress in this fall’s elections, they will try to restore and expand tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy that President Trump and Republicans largely eliminated last year, Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said on Wednesday,” the Times reported. “We have to just build more clean energy,” Schumer said, according to the Times. Democrats believe that higher gas prices related to the Iran war are opening the door to making their push for “alternatives” more palatable to voters. “We can bring new voters and allies into the fight for a cleaner environment by showing how clean energy is affordable energy,” Schumer said in a recent speech, according to the Times.
Such intentions make it imperative for Republicans in Congress to codify affordable, traditional energy into law. The bill introduced last year in the House by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) – the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act (ARC-ES) – is designed to guarantee that our most affordable and reliable energy resources, including natural gas and nuclear energy, can withstand politicized efforts to replace them with more unreliable energy sources.
As described by a press release announcing the bill’s introduction, the legislation “would require relevant federal agencies—such as the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency—to review any actions relating to affordable, reliable, or clean energy within 90 days and submit a report to Congress. The bill guarantees that our most affordable and reliable energy sources, including nuclear and natural gas, remain part of the energy mix – a crucial requirement to guarantee affordable and reliable energy for American households and businesses.”
Ensuring the continued use of natural gas and other traditional and reliable energy sources is not related only to cost-effectiveness, but also national security. So-called “clean energy” initiatives increase our reliance on foreign countries, particularly China. From solar panels to wind turbines to batteries, the world depends on China for crucial “alternative” technologies.
“Right now, over 90% of the world’s solar manufacturing capacity is in China,” according to a recent story by Canary Media. “So is 83% of the planet’s battery production capacity, and nearly three- quarters of wind technology manufacturing capacity. China’s grip on the EV sector almost looks measly in comparison, at just two-thirds.”
From a national security perspective, the last thing the U.S. can afford is reliance on a foreign adversary like China for its energy needs. Democrats are poised to move us away from energy independence and back into a risky reliance on other countries. The greatest gift our citizens could receive on our nation’s 250 th birthday this July would be the promise of energy independence by codifying ARC-ES into law.
Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing opinion columnist for The Empowerment Alliance, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
Perhaps we could make more progress by giving Dems the option to simply shut the coal plants off for a couple weeks. You say you want it, you got it. No need to decommission the plants just now. Simply wind down until people ask for it to be turned back on.
But limit the shutoffs to those providing power to Blue regions! Let their voters decide whether they want Democrat government and no power, or power and no Democrat government.
Your suggestion implies you think Dems would accept a reasonable compromise, since it would surely prove their point that (non)renewable energy sources surely would demonstrate the validity of their ‘common sense’ policies. [The ‘non’ refers to the facilities necessary to convert ‘free’ fuel to an intermediate form of electricity, which still has to be converted to a usable form]
If you still can believe that, please review all their responses to the THIRD assassination attempt on Trump.
Or view their speeches on funding DHS during global armed conflict. Another blaring demonstration of their support for our country.
If Kamala Harris had been elected instead of Trump, the United States would be heading down the same “Renewables” Road to Ruin the UK, EU and Australia are on.
Good, clear-eyed leadership like Trump has, makes all the difference in the world.
But this good leadership is hanging by a thread. Republicans and conservatives need to get out and vote.
It does not look like Democrats will gain a majority in the U.S. Senate.
There is a possibility Democrats will gain a majority in the U.S. House. If they do gain the majority they will immediately start to try to impeach Trump but a Republican-majority U.S. Senate will not vote to remove Trump. So these Democrats will just play the role of Trump obstructionists. They can slow Trump down but they can’t stop him. Just like in Trumps first term.
People should not vote for Democrats if they value their freedoms and future.
A senior House Democrat is campaigning on a plan to shut down government if they win control of either the House or the Senate in the mid-terms. The plan is to set up hundreds of committees and then call all the senior cabinet officials to testify on a continuous basis so that they have no time to do anything other than testify and get ready to testify.
Those cabinet officials could just ignore them.
Yaaaay free paid (eventually) vacation!
It’s a democracy, ‘we’ put them there.
I suspect the changes that SCOTUS has made to the VRA will enable, inadvertently I am sure, the Republicans to retain control of the House too. This will give breathing space for getting Congress to pass laws to solidify President Trump’s EO’s.
Are you paid to write this? There is no way to look at this mess he created and call it “good leadership”.
No, I actually believe what I say.
I understand you hate Trump and conservatives but that doesn’t change reality.
Hate is a strong word, I just can see how they harm the US and the rest of the world.
They are actually SAVING the world from the degenerate depravity of the far-left.
Trump has harmed no-one that didn’t cause societal problems first
Has done nothing that didn’t need repairing because of far-left agendas.
And has only done things that allow the world to become a better place for normal people.
Well said.
“how they harm” That is an extremely broad brush you’re using. List your issues with current policies and openly debate them one by one. You won’t and you can’t.
Those who want to kill the Jews are having their dreams dashed.
Turning back socialism is not harming the world.
Of course it means a bad day for those who rely on free stuff paid for by those who work for a living. But so what.
Trump is trying to tidy up the mess created by Obama and Biden funding huge weapons growth by a depraved and murderous Islamic Terrorist regime.
In fact, when you look at it… everything Trump has done has been trying to clean up the total mess left by the far-left.
A lot of very wrong things happened under the Obama and Otto-pen governments.
There is so much to repair.
I think Trump has set himself the task of correcting the foreign policy mistakes of past presidents all the way back to the Jimmy Carter era. The first thing Trump did was reassert control over the Panama Canal.
Trump is helping all of us, even the ones kicking and screaming about it.
Western Democracies have wandered off the path with too much Leftwing government and Trump is showing the way back to reality.
Those babies starting off with private investment/retirement funds would argue with you. Seniors like me whose taxes have gone down significantly would argue with you. Those waiters/waitresses living off tips would argue with you. Those working 70hours per week and getting overtime pay would argue with you. The poor that will benefit from elimination of fraud in government programs would argue with you. Those who don’t want men in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms would argue with you. Those who will benefit from eliminating federal funding of railroads from and to nowhere would argue with you. Those angel mothers and fathers whose families have been impacted by illegal alien violence would argue with you. Those truck drivers that lost their jobs to illegal aliens that take lower pay would argue with you. Those who want to live their lives according to their morals would argue with you. Those parents arguing for school systems that can produce more than 20% of graduates that can read, write, and do arithmetic would argue with you.
bingo! +++
Nice list you have here, beside some culture war bs (Trans women are women, deal with it)
*Does not apply to groups the admin doesn’t like, obviously
The party of defunding schools, agitating against academia and as trump puts it “loves the poorly educated” really helps with this.
This is my favourite
https://cepr.net/publications/doge-is-dead-the-damage-lives-on/
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/trumps-budget-request-cuts-programs-that-help-ordinary-americans-and-sinks-that-money-toward-war/
Some things may be nice, but overall the damage is done
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/12/united-states-trump-destruction
https://www.commoncause.org/articles/47-ways-trump-has-made-your-life-worse-in-1-year/
So tough that SNAP can now only be used to buy nutrious food and not junk food. (you do know what the “N” is meant to stand for, don’t you.)
So tough that all the RAMPANT FRAUD instigated by Obama and Biden handouts is being clamped down on.
I wonder how much “Pre-school Development Funds” ended up in Somalia.
DOGE was a big success, because it woke people up to the rampant misuse and abuse of government funds by the far-left and their cronies.
Nice list you have here, beside some culture war bs (Trans women are
womenmentally ill, deal with it)your 30’s German ideology is beginning to show…..
Do you even know what you are writing about? I guess not.
The fact that most socialist are Nazi to the core is a fact. Deal with it.
As always
https://www.britannica.com/story/were-the-nazis-socialists
https://jacobin.com/2022/08/nazi-germany-national-socialism-hypercaptialism-social-darwinism-liberalism
and no, it’s not in the name, else north korea is a democratic republic
and no, wishing for it to be otherwise makes reality not go away
and no, fascism is not a left, but a right-wing ideology
and yes, trump has fascist tendencies
and yes, you should learn some history
and yes, the ICE thugs and if things get worse US military really need to learn that the “following orders” defense died in Nurnberg. –
The far left has redefined Nazi to mean anyone they don’t like.
The classic definition is state control of private business with the option to take over the business at a moment’s notice.
I see socialists are still upset that people who attack cops often get hurt.
ICE are carrying out the duty expected of them by the American people.
It is the people that are going against the elected will of the people that are the thugs and fascists.
Nazis were a SOCIALIST party with mostly FAR-LEFT ideology… period, and no rewriting of history by the far-left can change that.
You should learn some real history, not that indoctrination nonsense you keep coming up with.
Trans women are men, deal with it. Mental conditions do not alter physical reality.
If your morals say that it is alright to steal from those who are more successful than you, then tough shiite.
“Trans” doesn’t even really exist.
It is totally impossible physically and biologically for a man to change into a women (or visa-versa)
It is a figment of a warped imagination, a warped mentality, and a warped morality.
It is a “pretence” like so much of far-left ideology.
I just read the Solnit article you provided the link for. The ranting in this Guardian article was not unexpected. I did expect to find a few facts among the rants. I found one. Solnit referenced the Kristi Noem self congratulatory video. I agree with Solnit on that. Solnit forgot to mention that Trump fired Noem for that.
The rest of Solnit’s article was general rants, very similar to your rants. There were a slew of innuendo, but no specifics beyond the Kristi Noem video.
If the Trump haters didn’t have innuendo they wouldn’t have anything at all.
Show me one trans-(M to F) woman that uses a tampon monthly.
Exactly what mess are you referencing?
Those who believe they have a right to be taken care of by others, are crying to their mommies to make the mean man go away.
ie the “free-loaders”, they are the ones being hurt a bit.
All their fraud and sympathy money is disappearing.
Some lusers cannot exist without having some other far-leftists to tell it what to think, do and say.
Pity the socialist, the one who can only see what the party tells him to see and tries to pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exisrt.
Not really fair to compare the two presidencies. JB might have performed better than he did if he had all his marbles. The folks trying to ‘acquire’ federal dollars from 2020-2024 didn’t have anyone to do a smell check. JB really got worked over by his own supposed allies.
“ didn’t have anyone to do a smell check.”
Biden tried that.. but he though it meant little girls’ hair. !
Other prominent Democrats are promising to stack the Supreme Court, reopen the borders, prosecute anyone who worked with or cooperated with Trump, remove all rules on voting, amongst other things.
If the Democrats win a majority in both houses and win the presidency as well, they plan to rig the system to make sure that they never lose again.
A Democrat in New Jersey has just plead guilty to forging nearly 1000 voter registrations.
Uh, that’s been their plan ever since I started voting many, many, many years ago. However, just like everything else, they fail to deliver.
Former Chicago resident here…in Democrat land the dead always vote And so on…remember to vote early and often…who said that hizzhoner or one of his aides? If you can answer that question you are a truly aware voter…and probably from Illinois.
.
They are planning to destroy the very democracy which claim to be protecting.
And…. blame its destruction on Trump.
Maybe I’m mistaken here, but I tend to believe that the fossil fuel and utility companies will start to get pretty sick and tired of continually going back and forth between Republican and Democratic energy policies if Democrats succeed in retaking power in Congress in 2026 and in the White House in 2028. We have been going back and forth for a while now.
Even if the climate alarmist narrative is starting to die out, the Democrats will remain beholden to the environmental movement which comprises an important part of its support base. The environmentalists do not appear to have given up on pushing fossil fuels out of the picture even with the Trump Administration’s support for them.
As long as the American voting base remains largely ignorant of the scientific problems with the CAGW theory and the issues with wind and solar energy, the environmentalists and the political Left will have little or no reason to stop their ideological and political war on fossil fuels. Furthermore, the Left should hardly be the ones to complain about the current rise in the price of crude oil and transportation fuels due to the Iran war when their own anti-fossil fuel and renewable policies drive up energy costs too.
Ignorance may be bliss, but it also has its downside. Especially in politics.
Unfortunately most people are oblivious to the fact that the cost of unreliables mandated by states under duress from fedgov in the past are showing up on their power bills. The Dhims are screeching data centers.
I only have (hopefully) a decade or 2 left around here but I really fear for the future if they reacquire all of government in DC. Believe it will be the beginning of the end of the country as it has existed for 250 years. I want nothing to do with places like NYC and Chicago in any way, shape or form. Unless the Dhimmicrat party is destroyed (electorally I hope) their lust for power will make it impossible to reconcile our fundamental differences.
“most people are oblivious to the fact….”
Correct and they must be informed about it all day every day- the way the alarmists preach about the climate “emergency”.
The large data centers being built today will mostly bring their own power. In all likelihood, they will have enough additional power that they can add to the grid and compensate for the mess that the democrats have created.
In all likelihood?
Based on what?
Utility companies are already sick and tired of the political effects of being able to supply reliable power at a reasonable cost. Planning and implementing multi-billion-dollar power and transmission projects takes more than 4 year cycles. Add to that the changes in environmental regulations and how the state legislatures churn the processes.
The thing is, the utility companies win either way. As regulated monopolies they get a fixed return on their capital base. They love wind and solar because they get to increase their base for ineffective generation, underutilized grid expansion and necessary backup.
Let me put it this way, if you are a utility would you rather make 10% on a billion dollars worth of assets or 100 billion dollars worth of assets.
The ignorance of the “energy ILLITERATE” Democratic leaders is shocking, as they NEVER explain how “energy” from wind turbines and solar panels can provide TRANSPORTATION FUELS: jet fuel for military and commercial aircraft, diesel fuel for trucks and construction equipment, gasoline fuel for cars, bunker fuel for merchant and cruise ships, and the exotic fuels for the space programs !
Energy “REALITY” is that wind turbines and solar panels ONLY generate electricity but CANNOT make any products or transportation fuels for life as we know it.
Planes, ships, trucks, and cars run on transportation fuels manufactured FROM crude oil by multi-billion-dollar refineries.
The world has become dependent on the products and transportation fuels MADE FROM oil, the same products and transportation fuels that unreliable green electricity from Wind and Solar CANNOT make!
“…wind turbines and solar panels ONLY generate electricity but CANNOT make any products or transportation fuels…”
But if you just wish hard enough, it will happen!
“Planes, ships, trucks, and cars run on transportation fuels manufactured FROM crude oil by multi-billion-dollar refineries.”
They not only run on crude oil they are MADE from crude oil products. Plastic insulation on wires, plastic body parts, plastic seat covers, plastic hoses, and on and on and on and …..
Maybe the US navy should be better blocking ports on the west coast than in the arabian sea…see how long the democrats governing California will last without energy imports. Might get the democrats in the US back on the path of reality…sarc
There will be an election for California governor in a few months. Let’s see how things look after that. We may not need a blockade. 🙂
Gonna be an important one to watch!
Non-dhimmicrat governors are relatively powerless in California because the hard left has supermajorities in the legislature.
Gerrymandering is evil. Except when the Democrats do it.
For Virginia, a state that voted 48% for Trump, having a House districts split 6 D to 5R sounds about right.
According to the language on the ballot initiative to adopt a new redistricting plan, it takes a plan that 10D and 1R to restore fairness.
CA will probably just double down on ruinables, like Europe.
For goodness sake, when are all these people who rabbit on about cost and dispute the “clean energy” meme going to just state clearly and loudly that CO2 is not a pollutant, is essential for life and it is not necessary to replace fuel that produces it when the fuel is used.
After all, there is a mountain of evidence produced by thousands of scientists that says so.
So c’mon, Mr. Trump, just make the statement with the evidence, and DO IT NOW.
(And when you do, even some of Mad Ed’s team might notice.)
(Probably not Ed himself, though. That would be a step too far.)
The thousands of scientists: Ten fossil fuel shills.
Lindzen and Happer are fossil fuel shills?
How about the over 31,000 who signed the Global Warming Petition in 2007?
Or the 2062 and counting signatories on the Clintel World Climate Declaration?
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/09/16/fact-check-did-1200-climate-experts-sign-declaration-denying-climate-emergency
https://www.desmog.com/william-happer/
https://www.desmog.com/richard-lindzen/
I spent 22 years as a self employed Pilot and about 80% of my work was on ships carrying fossil fuels. Does that make me a fossil fuel shill?
I see we start moving goalposts, but are you?
Well, am I? I only got paid by the oil companies (and the other shipowners) for doing my job.
Applying the standards you use, is moving the goal posts?
desmog.. seriously .. an ULTRA-LEFT garbage tin that oozes slime from every orifice….
DeSmog is partners to and is funded by SMF (Sustainable Markets Foundations)
Sustainable Markets Foundation (SMF) – InfluenceWatch
SMF has received funding from several environmentalist foundations including the MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Family Fund, Tides Foundation, and TomKat Charitable Trust.
ie slimy green money !!
The organization serves as a fiscal sponsor, providing grants as well as administrative support to other non-profits like 350.org Frack Action, DeSmog.
According to its 2023 tax returns, SMF reported a revenue of $39,210,071, expenses at $30,565,908, and total assets at $44,167,374.
Not bad for a “non-profit”
The climate trough sure is DEEP and supports many, many piggies.
Pathetic. Your references do not even merit a reply.
Even the “fact check” media class the links are “left” or “far left”
That is how bent and warped they are.
Anyone who disagrees with a liberal is paid to do so. You don’t need evidence. The party says it, so it’s true.
You’re getting boring as you’re now 100% predictable which shows no neurons functioning.
Yes, and I’ve discovered a Reloaded “hack”!
It’s not hard to train your brain to simply skip to the next comment when you see the warning (username) that just more of the same follows.
they’re not fossil fuels, they’re hydrocarbons. But a dolt like you wouldn’t know the difference. Go play on a highway.
Funny how the thousands of actual scientists who disagree with you are dismissed.
Meanwhile, those who’s jobs depend on the scam not ending, are given a pass for their blatant conflicts of interest.
Ha! T-Rump has brought this down upon himself with an illegal and immoral war on Iran. We Americans pay the price of his foolishness.
Better watch out, saying something trump doesn’t like about the war may now be treason.
He and his J6 mob know a thing or two about that.
https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/trump-iran-war-treason-new-proposal-video-b2969326.html
You must be a Democrat voter to be so incredibly ignorant about the war on Iranian Islamic Terrorism.
You are paying the price of Obama and Biden funding that terrorist regime with billions of dollar, which went on weapons instead of the Iranian people….
You know, the Iranian people who are continually being beheaded and hung and brutally murdered, in huge numbers, by the Islamic regime that YOU are supporting.
So you are one of those that would celebrate a nuclear Iran? You must not have any family or relations living in Israel.
There are none so blind as those who will not see. Jeremiah 5:21
Not just Israel but here and Europe too. Bloody minded religious nuts think big…do not underestimate mindful savagery.
The left defines everything they disagree with as illegal and immoral.
Yet look at all the illegal and immoral things the far-left support. !
Look at the Virginia governor and her attitude towards gerrymandering before and after being elected.
Illegal? No. Trump is within his Constitutional authority AND he complied with the War Powers Act.
There is a serious question about the 60 day limit due to the naval blockade and the corresponding requirements in the War Powers Act. There are valid point on both sides of the interpretation of that paragraph in the law, but that is 60 days after the start of the military operatons.
Immoral? No. Killing 10s of thousands of protesters and Iran IRG did is immoral.
There was and still is an imminent threat. You know nothing about the weapons technologies and the delivery system technologies or you would not be flaming such a remark.
Foolish? No. What would be foolish would to give Congress detailed operational plans that they would then leak to the NYT and thus cause excessive US casualties.
“Ensuring the continued use of natural gas and other traditional and reliable energy sources is not related only to cost-effectiveness, but also national security.”
Say it. COAL. There. Stop allowing the “clean” narrative to blacken the perception of coal-fired power generation – properly equipped, of course, with pollution controls. CO2 is not a pollutant, and emissions are not capable of driving “warming” or any trend of climate variables.
Thank you for listening.
Name one instance where the Democrat’s solution hasn’t been some form of – “The people need to pay more.”
It is important to counter the falsehood that
“clean energy is affordable energy”. Schumer and his co-conspirators preach this lie constantly.
Perhaps we need legislation which requires all wind and solar projects to use only accredited capacity, not nameplate capacity. This would shine an enormous spotlight on one of the main misrepresentations of renewables as affordable energy sources.
More proof that we have a government problem not a climate or science problem.