Congressional Republicans spent four years opposing the Biden administration’s energy policies, asserting that they raised prices from the gas pump to our utility bills.Now it’s the Democrats’ turn to hit President Donald Trump on energy affordability, and they can point to the boost in the price of gasoline since the start of the Iran war as well as still-rising electric rates.
But Trump is doing the one thing absolutely essential to affordability over the long-term, and that is dismantling the climate change agenda.Despite the rhetorical pivot to affordability, supporters of climate policy can’t help but take us in the opposite direction.Their entire agenda is based on the premise that fossil fuels – the coal, oil and natural gas that provide about 80% of America’s energy needs – are far too cheap for our own good because the price we pay fails to account for the environmental damage they inflict.For those supporters, preventing the apocalypse starts with making these energy sources more expensive, if not unavailable at any price.
Of course, this viewpoint is at odds with the vast majority of Americans who want access to the cheapest sources of energy. Everything this agenda touched was becoming less affordable.The regulatory crackdown on coal-fired power plants added to retirements of existing facilities while discouraging construction of any new ones.
This undoubtedly contributed to the upward pressure on electric rates.THE REAL REASON YOUR ELECTRIC BILL IS SOARING THIS SUMMER WILL SURPRISE YOUUS has significantly ramped up LNG exports to Europe.(Anton Zubchevskyi/stock/Getty)Natural gas was also a regulatory target, including its use in home appliances like furnaces and water heaters (a similar assault on gas stoves in 2023 met with a strong public backlash and was shelved).
Ironically, the same Biden Department of Energy cranking out the rules discouraging natural gas appliances in favor of electric versions admitted that using gas costs o...