The Biden administration is waging a war on American energy, taking us from energy independence to energy poverty — a situation in which families must decide between fueling their vehicles, paying their electric bill or buying the food and medicine needed to survive — to support an unrealistic “green new deal” agenda.
As someone who believes in protecting humanity, freedom, autonomy, and ensuring that each generation can thrive, I am a proud co-sponsor of H.R. 1, a bill designed to unleash our prosperity and potential, make us energy independent, become a net exporter of energy resources far into the future, and ensure America remains a dominant force for good throughout the world.
I am also proud of the fact that H.R. 1 incorporates the Combating Obstruction Against Leasing (COAL) Act, which I submitted to end the existing moratorium on new coal leasing and to direct the secretary of Interior to take action on pending coal leasing applications.
America must have accessible and affordable energy and we have the supplies to meet our demand with our own coal, oil and gas, and uranium. These resources are needed now and will be needed for generations to come.
As for coal alone, it currently provides nearly 40 percent of global electricity, and coal-fueled power plants account for approximately 25 percent of all electricity generated in the United States. Coal and its by-products are used to manufacture a variety of goods, including activated carbon for water and air purification systems; carbon fiber in the construction of airplanes and automobiles — and a product that the world cannot live without — steel.
Steel is necessary for the construction of everything from bridges and tunnels to railways and buildings — and those wind turbines over which the left obsesses and obsesses. Steel use is projected to be 1.5 times higher in 2050 than now due to growing demand. Steel cannot be produced without coal. In fact, every ton of steel produced requires six tenths of a ton of coal. China knows this — it has doubled down on the development of coal-fired plants and currently operate 1,058 of them — more than half the world’s capacity. They are building six times more new coal plants than other countries and permitting an average of two new plants per week.
The question that we are currently facing is who should produce our energy — our fellow Americans using our very own resources, or foreign and often hostile countries who do not have our best interests at heart.
For many, the answer is simple — unleash our domestic energy production. For the Biden administration and Democrats, however, the answer lies not in using our own abundant energy resources and controlling our own destiny, but in offshoring energy and mineral production to third world, dictatorial countries.
The Biden administration and those on the other side of the aisle prefer we rely upon coal from China, and oil and gas from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela — anywhere but here. Their preferred energy policy empowers and enriches dictators, despots and tyrants. It destroys our access to, and use of safe, clean, reliable energy found right here in America. It is a policy DESIGNED to increase the cost and decrease the availability of most of the building blocks of a civilized society, including food, housing, fertilizer, concrete, transportation, and manufacturing.
Their preferred energy policy establishes energy poverty as the cornerstone of our society, where blackouts, intermittent power, and third world conditions will define our day-to-day existence.
Democrats are selling a fairy tale in which we are going to be “carbon free” by 2030, or perhaps it is 2035, or maybe 2050. The only thing the American people need to understand is that whatever that magical year is, it’s beyond that point in time when they are in power. Any promise of outlawing gas stoves, air conditioners that work, the internal combustion engine, and every other technology that makes our lives better is beyond THEIR expiration date as politicians. How very convenient.
It is time we refute the lies underpinning the promises of the “green new deal,” and face reality — and the reality is that Republicans are offering a vision of prosperity with the introduction of H.R.1. A reality of abundance rather than scarcity, comfort rather than misery, healthy and happy families rather than abject poverty, and prosperity rather than government-imposed wretchedness.
Now that the House has passed H.R. 1 to provide the low-cost energy the American people deserve, it is imperative that the Senate do the same.
Harriet Hageman is serving her first term as Wyoming’s at-large member in the U.S. House of Representatives. She serves on the House Committee on the Judiciary, the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and the Committee on Natural Resources.