The Burning (And Sometimes Freezing) Case For Biden’s Energy Plan
Five hundred, that’s the number of people who have died in British Columbia, Canada alone from the recent heatwave that has taken place across the west coast. Meanwhile, after a gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico, a small part of the ocean caught on fire — although the fire was quickly put out.
Mind you, river fires are nothing new, especially after the result of oil spills, but it’s yet another reason to be skeptical of building more oil pipelines and rigs. This is another reason why Biden was right to cancel the Dakota access pipeline — one of the first things he did as President — and why Biden has been right when it comes to calling out the flaws in our current energy grid.
This year alone, we have seen Texas go without power due to a massive and unprecedented cold-snap followed by a snowstorm. We have seen a heatwave so bad that hundreds of people have died, which has led to it being warmer outside than it is in the human body, and which has actually led to the melting of state power grids. We have seen an ocean fire in Mexico, caused by an oil spill, while oil remains a major source of energy in the United States. Joe Biden has been calling for a massive change to our energy grid, and that change to our energy grid is needed if this planet is to survive.
I’ve pointed out a number of times previously how Joe Biden is the first President to take the Climate Crisis seriously. Between re-entering the Paris Climate Accords and creating an Envoy to Climate Change — along I’m still not sure why his choice was John Kerry of all people — Joe Biden has made it clear one of his goals is to save the planet before we destroy it. However, it still feels like, despite calling for constant changes to our energy grid, not even Joe Biden understands the full scope of what needs to be done.
As I write this, gas prices are also dramatically increasing across the nation. As I’ve pointed out before, the people blaming the increase in gas prices on Joe Biden really don’t have a leg to stand on. (I remember Fox News, while blaming Biden for the increased gas prices, had the headlines “Americans Are Traveling More Than They Were Last Year” and “Gas Prices: Higher Than Ever” back to back. I was unaware Joe Biden invented the laws of supply and demand specifically to make gas cost more.) However, that does not mean that Joe Biden’s administration can’t respond to the rising gas prices by pointing out that many cheaper forms of energy are available, and that energy is called “renewable energy.” Here’s Environmental American writing on 1/6/2021 on this very topic:
According to the latest from Lazard, which has been tracking energy costs for years, wind power was 71% cheaper in 2020 than in 2009 and the cost of solar energy dropped by 90%. In many cases, getting energy from new wind turbines and solar panels is now cheaper than getting energy from existing coal and gas plants.
Of course, Republicans don’t actually care about high energy prices. Hence why one of the “compromises” they’ve come up with regarding infrastructure is to pay for it by raising the gas tax — a tax that already hurts the poor much more than it hurts the rich.
To put it simply, saving the planet is cheaper than ever before, and Republicans still aren’t on board. At this point, it seems more and more clear that they’re never going to be on board. Even as more of them admit that Climate Change is occurring and humans are the primary factor, they’re still opposing any solution to Climate Change that the Biden Administration has thought of.
Joe Biden needs to save the planet, and it’s becoming increasingly clear he might have to do it single-handedly.
