The Left’s drive to exert ever-increasing control over the U.S. economy by forcing the conversion of the nation’s vehicle fleet from gas-powered to electric vehicles under the guise of fighting “climate change,” became more ominous recently as the Biden Administration proposed draconian new limits on tailpipe emissions.
By-passing Congress, the Biden Administration is proposing to have the Environmental Protection Agency implement by regulatory fiat new rules which would further restrict tailpipe emissions for vehicles manufactured from model years 2027 thru 2032. While this stops short of imposing a complete ban on the manufacture of gas-powered vehicles, a move which likely would not pass legal muster, the goal is to force consumers to more rapidly switch to electric vehicles.
A spokesperson for the radical green policy group Environment America applauded the proposed new regulations saying: “We can now power our homes, cars and even trucks with clean electricity.” That sounds all mom and apple pie-ish, but pre-supposes electricity is a “clean” energy source.
On the flipside of that coin environmental extremists line up to oppose the construction of any new source of electric generation, this again under the pretense that it is harmful to the environment. When fighting the war on fossil fuels electricity is “green,” but propose a new generating plant and electricity is harmful.
This is why government-managed economies have throughout history been colossal failures. On the one hand the federal government is micro-managing the adoption of electric vehicles outpacing both the free market and technology. On the other hand, it is preventing the expansion of the energy sources needed to power that conversion.
Here in Penn’s Woods, in just the past few weeks, we have found three unfortunate examples of the Left’s fight against electric power generation.
A coal-fired power plant in the small Indiana County community of Homer City will shutter its doors in July a victim of the ill-conceived Regional Greenhouse Initiative (RGGI) in which Pennsylvania became entangled during the now defunct Tom Wolf Administration. Wolf did so without legislative approval so the compact is now being challenged in the courts, but the resulting confusion was too much for plant operators who decided to close the facility – throwing more than 100 union workers out of jobs and decimating the finances of the local municipality and school district.
Also successfully targeted by the radical greens were plans for a $1 billion natural gas-fired power generating plant in Renovo, Clinton County. Once again what could have been a major boost to a small town economy, a job creator, and a source of local tax revenue was sacrificed on the altar of so-called environmental concerns.
The plant had been proposed by the Virginia-based Bechtel Group which cited on-going appeals from environmental groups as the reason why they are abandoning the project that had been in development for eight years.
That is the winning strategy for the radical Left. Tie up any proposed new electric generating facility with endless appeals to sympathetic governmental agencies until it becomes economically unfeasible for the project to continue.
And the greens aren’t just opposed to the fossil fuel generation of electricity. A proposal to build a dam across the Susquehanna River in Chanceford Township, York County has drawn opposition. The Cuff’s Run hydroelectric dam proposal would flood about 1,000 acres and would bring an investment of $2.1 billion to the local community. But, that hasn’t stopped efforts to prevent construction of the dam.
One opponent was quoted in the news media as saying “We don’t need another power plant on the Susquehanna River. We have enough.”
But do we have enough?
During the height of the summer season some states are already experiencing rolling black outs due to a lack of supply in their electric grid. With supplies already dangerously low the forced conversion of a significant portion of the vehicle fleet will further strain the system – unless new power plants are built.
At some point there will be a day of reckoning. The Biden Administration and many state governments are captive of the radical greens and aggressively pursue policies that force the conversion to electric vehicles while simultaneously opposing any effort to increase the power supply.
We are on a collision course until and unless government at all levels stops micromanaging the economy and lets the free market dictate the pace of electric vehicle conversion; we cease the war on fossil fuels which are currently our only abundant and dependable source of fuel; and the nation becomes more realistic in preparing for future demands on the electric power grid.
(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute. He is host of the weekly American Radio Journal and Lincoln Radio Journal. His e-mail address is [email protected])
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