For those worried that President Joe Biden administration’s zealous approach to regulating American energy poses a threat to the U.S. economy, look no further than the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent proposal that has been called a death sentence for fossil-fuel power plants.
The sweeping plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions is a thinly-veiled plan to rapidly shut down gas- and coal-fired power plants in a way that could threaten the reliability of our national power grid. The EPA proposal would mandate the use of unproven carbon capture and other developing technologies without serious consideration of whether they’re economically feasible.
The timetable for such an uncharted power plant overhaul is very short. Under the EPA proposal, coal-fired plants that don’t install new technology by 2030 could not operate past 2040. Similar deadlines would apply to natural gas-fired power plants.
Over time, as technology advances, carbon capture, hydrogen, renewables and other technologies will make up a growing portion of America’s energy portfolio. That will be a good development for our country and the world. But it would be a mistake to ignore the fact that fossil fuels will be needed to meet the world’s energy needs for a long time, even as we expand renewable sources.
The EPA’s rush to phase out gas and coal plants comes as brownouts and blackouts increase in size and frequency. Last month, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation warned that 165 million people across massive swaths of the United States and Canada could face energy shortfalls during periods of extreme heat this summer if weather conditions reduce solar and wind power production. Absent power from coal, natural gas or nuclear to balance those intermittent renewable energy sources, our nation’s power grid could become even less reliable and more fragile.
None of this should come as a surprise. When Biden took office in January 2021, the White House aggressively targeted U.S. fossil fuel production.
To understand the potential ripple effects of this approach, look to Germany. In its zeal to move quickly to renewable energy — including shuttering its nuclear plants — Germany made