Republican governors gathered in Louisiana to let voters know they’re mad as hell about the Biden administration’s energy policy, and they’re not going to take it anymore.
“The inefficient and often unworkable mandates your administration continues to push are hitting Americans where it hurts the most – their pocketbooks,” the governors said in a letter to the White House.
Govs. Jeff Landry (La.), Doug Burgum (N.D.), Mike Dunleavy (Alaska), Brian Kemp (Ga.), Jim Pillen (Neb.), Chris Sununu (N.H.), Kevin Stitt (Okla.), and Glenn Youngkin (Va.) held a press conference at the foot of a major oil refinery in Chalmette, La. to reiterate that message.
“There is no one who knows more about the needs of Americans than governors,” said Landry. “Every day they’re in their state, every day they’re talking to regular people. They don’t live inside the Beltway. If the federal government took its foot off of the neck of American energy, we could absolutely lower the cost of every day goods for American citizens.”
The governors say Biden’s energy policies “are costing American taxpayers $1.37 trillion and weakening America’s energy security.”
Stitt said the federal government “must stop picking winners and losers in this industry and let free markets and innovation flow.”
Burgum, who’s reportedly on Donald Trump’s short list for the vice president’s slot, said creating obstacles for American energy production only helps America’s adversaries.
“When you try to shut down an industry where innovation is thriving, you’re creating demand from places like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela – governments who don’t even have an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) — forget the environment, they’re the ones funding the wars against us,” Burgum said.
“And if you’re on Team EV (electric vehicle), you’re on Team China.”
In New Hampshire, Sununu has been touting the Granite State’s relative success in keeping energy costs from rising as fast as the rest of the New England region. He says avoiding arbitrary carbon emissions targets and focusing on ratepayer value is the reason electricity costs rose more slowly in New Hampshire.
But the state still has some of the highest residential electricity rates in the country. The Granite State ranks in the top 10 for most expensive (22.43 cents per kilowatt hour), though it is still more affordable than Rhode Island (30.26 ¢/kWh), Massachusetts (29.66 ¢/kWh), and Connecticut (29.12 ¢/kWh).
ISO New England, a Massachusetts-based independent system operator responsible for overseeing the region’s bulk electric power system and transmission lines, announced Monday it’s prepared for the electric grid to reach “peak demand” this summer. But the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) lists New England as a region at elevated risk of electricity shortages during periods of high demand.
And that risk is only going to rise as the regions shifts to more electricity and away from gasoline and heating oil — at the same time the Biden administration’s EPA is shutting down coal-powered and other electricity generation.
“The Biden administration has hamstrung the American energy sector since day one,” said Craig Stevens, spokesman for the GAIN Coalition and former senior advisor to U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman. “De facto mandates for electric vehicles, the continual drawdown of our strategic petroleum reserve, and the ban on liquid natural gas export permits are just a few short-sighted policies that could have long-term effects on our energy security.”
Stevens praised the governors for “pursuing an all-of-the-above strategy means utilizing all the tools at our disposal.”
“The U.S. should remove its regulatory barriers against the energy industry and allow the free market to support all types of energy innovation.”
Dunleavy said his state of Alaska is currently facing more than 60 energy-related sanctions from the federal government. “I think Iran has nine,” he quipped.
“If you believe in the Green New Deal, you need to be mining here in America and not overseas,” he added.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said abandoning American-made energy efforts would mean “driving this country right into the stranglehold of China.”
“If the Biden administration continues this drive to strengthen our demand for Chinese industry, we are causing a further national security crisis than the one we’re already in,” he said.
