“For politicians, climate policy was much easier to sell when it involved far-off, monumental promises. This is the first U.S. election in which it has become evident that though benefits remain distant, the costs are increasingly large and immediate. Voters see that–and by staying silent, it’s clear that Ms. Harris does too.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has stayed silent on climate change mitigation since becoming the Democratic Presidential candidate as those mitigation policies have increased energy costs for Americans and helped fuel inflation. According to the Energy Information Administration, residential electricity prices have increased by 24% since Biden became President and gasoline prices have increased by over 50%. The Biden-Harris administration has made it harder to produce oil and gas in the United States through 250 actions it has undertaken, along with its Democratic partners in Congress, as part of its pledge of “no more fossil fuels.” The actions cover removing land from leasing, revoking leases, and canceling the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, among others. We are dependent on these fuels for economic growth as oil fuels our vehicles, both personal and commercial, and natural gas fuels electricity, heating, and cooking, and they are both needed for industrial processes–the manufacture of essential components of our lives.
VP Harris has agreed with Biden’s policies, said she would not change them, and even had a more personal hand in it as she provided the deciding vote on the Democrat-passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) the administration touts as the first bill to provide policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The policies in the bill provide green technologies with massive subsidies paid by taxpayers, which were originally alleged to cost $369 billion at the time of the law’s passage in 2022 but have since skyrocketed into the trillions. But even with the costly bill, the Biden-Harris goals for climate change are not being met, which means that Harris as President will be pushing for IRA 2.0. According to advocates, IRA 1.0 has not done the job because permitting reform is needed to connect wind and solar power to the grid. Politically correct wind and solar power need transmission lines to get their power from locations where those resources are abundant to population centers. This requires huge swaths of land across the nation dedicated to making electricity from renewable generation marketable, and increasing utility bills for consumers to pay for it.
However, Americans still have not seen the massive costs needed to reach net zero carbon emissions. The sector easiest to reach the net zero goal is assumed to be electricity because of the availability of wind and solar power. Wind and solar, however, cannot operate 24/7 without backup power, which is being supplied mainly by coal and natural gas generators today. The politically correct version of backup power, however, is massive and very expensive batteries that would store excess power generated when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing and dispatch that power when they are not. Adding those batteries throughout the country will make energy prices for Americans escalate further.
Harris’ IRA Is Helping Chinese Firms
Harris is also helping China get IRA tax subsidies as a Chinese company has a 49% stake in Illuminate’s solar factory in Pataskala, Ohio. The Chinese solar company, Longi Green Energy Technology, owns 49% share and is supplying panel-making expertise, technology, and supply chains to produce solar panels for the U.S. market. Its joint venture with Invenergy, America’s biggest private renewable power developer, benefits from millions in economic development incentives and federal tax credits, as well as avoiding tariffs on solar panels manufactured in China. Longi is avoiding at least $155 million in annual tariffs. The factory’s other benefits include a 15-year tax abatement from the city, $4 million in incentives from a state economic development agency, and $350 million in potential annual tax subsidies from the Harris-passed IRA. Invenergy is also earning additional credits for using domestically produced components in its solar arrays.
Longi has also benefited from incentives supplied by China for over a decade as China saw governments in Western nations move to promote the adoption of solar and wind power. China provided subsidies and low-cost financing to its developers and manufacturers, and Chinese firms benefited from cheap coal-based electricity and cheap labor, including forced labor from Xinjiang, a Muslim region being repressed by Beijing.
Other U.S. companies are following the same strategy, by building, or planning to build, at least a dozen plants with 30 gigawatts of module-making capacity with Chinese expertise, according to Bloomberg. Those facilities are expected to supply about three-quarters of today’s U.S. panel needs. That partnership strategy may also be used to produce electric vehicles in the United States to further the Biden-Harris climate goals and to do away with gasoline vehicles.
“Executives at Invenergy and Longi had been talking about collaborating for years, but it took the Inflation Reduction Act — the 2022 law meant to jump-start US clean energy manufacturing — to spur them to action. Less than seven months after President Joe Biden signed the IRA, they announced plans for the Pataskala plant, and by early 2024, panels were rolling off the assembly line.”
Conclusion
Vice President Kamala Harris is staying away from discussing climate policy on the campaign trail as she knows that carbon mitigation policies have increased prices for Americans. In her debate with President Trump, she stayed away from energy except for noting that domestic oil and gas production has grown during the Biden-Harris administration. That was not because of the 250 ways that the Biden-Harris administration has taken action to undercut the industry, but because of American ingenuity and President Trump’s push for energy independence achieved during his administration. One of the most troubling Harris actions was the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act which she is solely responsible for and which is costing American taxpayers trillions in subsidies. That law is also fueling Chinese dominance in the solar power industry and providing Chinese companies with ways to avoid tariffs on solar panels as they are being made in the United States in partnership with U.S. companies.
