The Biden administration’s Environmental Safety Company lately launched a rehashed model of the Obama “Clear Energy Plan,” which the Supreme Court docket rejected in West Virginia v. EPA simply final 12 months.
The brand new requirements could be catastrophic to our nation’s energy infrastructure and deepen our dependence on provide chains already dominated by China — furthering Crew Biden’s relentless efforts to concede totally one among America’s best benefits, vitality independence.
In Virginia, as our financial system grows and energy wants speed up, we’re main with a recent perspective: an All-American, All-of-the-Above Power Plan that may ship dependable, inexpensive and more and more clear energy.
There’s no must predetermine power-plant retirements on arbitrary timelines as liberal activists need.
Our Virginia Plan embraces modern applied sciences, together with small modular reactors, carbon seize, hydrogen and superior battery storage, and makes use of all gas sources, each conventional and renewables, to carry extra baseload technology and peaking capability on-line whereas additional lowering emissions from present capability.
On the identical time we’re embracing modern applied sciences, we’re not forgetting vitality options have to be inexpensive for the households and native companies that use them day-after-day.
For this reason on day one I started the method to take away Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gasoline Initiative a regressive tax on Virginians that’s performed nothing to additional the left’s air pollution or emission objectives, solely elevated prices on folks all through our state.
I’m proud that simply days in the past, Virginia’s Air Board voted to take away the Commonwealth from this misguided cap-and-trade initiative.
In fact, liberals attacked our determination — blaming our withdrawal from this ineffective tax scheme for wildfires in Canada.
With its proposal, the Biden administration demonstrates once more that it’s each incapable of long-term vitality planning and unprepared for the modifications this regulation would demand — requiring most natural-gas and coal vegetation to cut back emissions by 90% by 2035 or be compelled to close down.
The rule units unrealistic timelines primarily based on carbon-reducing applied sciences that aren’t but commercially prepared.
Crew Biden has no technique to fight China’s dominance of the critical-minerals provide chain; nor does it have plans to deploy the transmission infrastructure required.
Already, the introduced retirements of thermal-baseload turbines over the subsequent decade far outpace deliberate renewable investments, leaving a gaping gap between energy provide and demand, with a fair larger hole for dependable, baseload-generating capability.
As governor of a state within the PJM Interconnection regional-transmission group, I used to be significantly alarmed by the February report revealing 40 gigawatts of thermal producing capability scheduled to retire by 2030 with solely 31 gigawatts of latest capability deliberate to come back on-line.
Certainly, the North American Electrical Reliability Corp. has additionally cautioned that the nation is retiring conventional technology sources too quickly.
As a substitute of heeding this warning and taking motion to stave off future electrical energy shortages and blackouts like these seen in Europe, California and New York, the Biden administration is doubling down with this damaging regulation engineered for short-term political factors as an alternative of accountable long-term energy planning.
In Virginia, the mismatch is magnified.
Whereas our surrounding states’ energy demand is projected to rise 1% yearly, Virginia’s quickly rising expertise and superior manufacturing sectors require 5 occasions the generation-supply development.
Our regulated utilities acknowledge that because of flawed demand forecasting and the misguided method to retirements mandated by the earlier, Democrat-controlled Normal Meeting and administration, Virginia wants new natural-gas vegetation to fulfill our vitality wants.
Let’s not overlook Winter Storm Elliot this previous Christmas season, when solely by activating fossil-fuel vegetation slated for retirement below the Biden proposal have been we capable of preserve the lights on. Widespread sense should stay a part of vitality planning.
The Biden crew’s efforts to speed up the transition in a fantasyland timeframe are basically misguided.
An All-American, All-of-the-Above Plan ought to incorporate modern applied sciences, however we should not be naïve to renewables’ present challenges.
American households and companies already expertise each day the burdens of this administration’s irresponsible vitality plan; this proposal additional demonstrates a whole disregard for an inexpensive and dependable energy future.
The Biden crew must abandon this proposal and the lasting harm it could have on America’s vitality and energy future and start a dialogue with the states and the American public that embraces the complexities of vitality planning which have been clearly ignored.
Glenn Youngkin is the governor of Virginia.
