One of President Trump’s best qualities is that he understands energy–in particular, the vital need for affordable, reliable energy. Trump understands, further, that “green” energy technologies, wind and solar, are not and cannot ever be either affordable or reliable. They are essentially a heist, an attempt to transfer trillions of dollars out of certain industries, and into others. Also, out of the United States and into China. If the Left can pull it off, it will be the biggest transfer of wealth in human history.
I hate it when Republican politicians subscribe to an “all of the above” approach to energy, which implies that wind and solar have a positive role to play. I think this is wrong: wind and solar are hopelessly expensive, inherently unreliable, serve mostly to disrupt the operation of the grid, and are terrible for the environment.
So this post by the President on Truth Social is heartwarming:
Trump is correct that “green” energy projects are the cause of skyrocketing electricity bills in many states. The billions of dollars invested in futile “green” technologies are obviously being paid for by a combination of ratepayers and taxpayers.
But what does Trump mean when he says that “We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar”? Is he saying that the federal government will not grant permits that may be necessary for any future wind and solar developments? That would be great, but I don’t know to what extent such federal permits are needed, or whether federal agencies can simply start denying permits without rule making under the APA or some other process. Happily, such questions fall within the ambit of the supremely competent Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright.
More broadly, federal policy, and policy in most states, currently favor development of wind and solar projects. There are subsidies and tax breaks, intended to make these utterly non-competitive technologies viable. Some years ago, a reader sent me private offering statements that he had been given in connection with potential investments in wind farms. The “Risk Factor” sections of those statements were illuminating, because this is when developers of such projects have to tell the truth: when they are raising money. Those offering statements said bluntly that the projects depend on government subsidies and mandates, and without such subsidies and mandates they would fail. The whole thing is, as Trump likes to say, a scam.
What we really need is for Congress to repeal all wind and solar subsidies, and for the states to repeal all mandates that require these noneconomic technologies to be used. In the meantime, President Trump is at least providing clear-sighted leadership on the issue.
