Republicans looking at national security risks of clean energy
WASHINGTON — The security of America’s energy supply is coming under new scrutiny from Republicans in Congress, as President Joe Biden moves to shift the United States toward clean energy technology that at present is largely produced overseas.
Now in control of the House, the GOP has hosted a series of hearings seeking to shift attention from the risks posed by climate change itself to the national security implications of moving away from fossil fuels, energy resources the U.S. has in abundance as the world’s largest oil and gas producer.
Republicans are instead arguing for a climate strategy that embraces clean energy technologies such as nuclear and clean hydrogen along with oil and natural gas, arguing that under-investment in those areas is partially responsible for the spike in energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
“Energy security needs to be back at the center of energy policy-making,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said at a meeting last month. “The war in Ukraine did not cause the energy crisis. It exposed the vulnerabilities of the rush to green approach.”
The focus on energy security comes as China accounts for more than half the world’s $1 trillion in spending on clean energy, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Its dominance over solar and battery technology was evidenced by an announcement by Ford last week it was partnering with the Chinese technology giant CATL on a $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan.
Questions about the national security implications of a clean energy transition are hardly new — Democratic and Republican officials alike have raised concern about China’s dominance in the solar panel and battery industries for years. However, those concerns are gaining visibility after the spike in global energy prices and efforts by Biden and leaders in Europe to shift the world’s economies toward electric vehicles and other clean-energy technologies.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an independent federal agency that reviews U.S. trade deals with China, held a hearing last year exploring the security implications of China’s clean energy strategy.
“As China’s capabilities in the sector grow, the United States risks allowing some of tomorrow’s most critical supply
chains to become increasingly China-centric,” said Kimberly Glas, the commission’s vice chair.
Biden himself is seeking to reduce China’s dominance over clean energy, describing the clean energy transition not only as a necessity to avoid cataclysmic climate change but an opportunity for the U.S. to lead in a fast-growing industry. The administration and its allies in Congress have committed tens of billions of dollars in federal funding through last year’s Inflation Reduction Act toward creating a U.S. clean energy and critical mineral supply chain.
The push comes as there is increasing weariness within the administration over price spikes associated with oil and natural gas, much of which is produced in nations with which the U.S. does not have close ties.
“The case for the clean energy transition has never been clearer,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a speech in Australia last year. “As fossil energy producers struggle to meet demand, clean energy offers a diversity of sources that can generate reliable supply. In response to petrodictators weaponizing energy markets, clean energy offers homegrown security and greater independence.”
Building out a U.S. clean energy industry to compete with China poses a monumental task. And for many Republicans, the risks associated with losing dominance over the world’s energy supply are too great and outweigh the benefits to Earth’s climate.
Speaking before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month, Lou Pugliaresi, an energy consultant who served on the National Security Council during the Reagan administration, cautioned House members that the U.S. had more to lose in an energy transition than other countries.
Because of its large oil and natural gas resources, he said, the U.S. currently enjoys a powerful economic and geopolitical edge in a world where more than half the world’s energy comes from oil and gas.
“We don’t have control of the (clean energy) technology, and we’re going to be beholden to the supply of critical minerals from China,” he said. “The more pragmatic approach is, we should have an oil and gas policy as expansive as possible for North America.”
At the same time, there is ongoing concern whether China and other developing countries are as committed as the U.S. and Europe to decarbonizing their polluting industries, potentially putting their economies at an advantage.
Western leaders are discussing the concept of a climate club in which nations agree to tariffs on goods with high carbon intensity. But Republicans and Democrats so far have struggled to come together on developing the domestic carbon pricing system required for such a scheme, and as it stands there is no international mechanism forcing China to clean up its economy, said Gabriel Collins, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute.
“If you look at how much coal is used in China, it’s really part and parcel of a broader industrial policy that has already put foreign competitors at a disadvantage,” he said. “The risk is if you have a rapid U.S. transition and the Chinese process stalls out.”
The U.S. also has much to lose by focusing on fossil fuels, for which there is likely to be reduced demand in a future where clean energy is expected to dominate.
Some centrist Republicans and Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are pressing the Biden administration to embrace a strategy where the U.S. markets it oil and gas to other countries as a cleaner alternative to those produced in Russia and the Middle East, where environmental regulations are not as stringent.
At the same time, they want to see the nation develop its abundant supplies of minerals needed for batteries and EVs such as copper and lithium, build on its long history in nuclear power to develop advanced reactors, and lead the way on producing EVs and batteries, as well as new technologies such as carbon capture and clean hydrogen fuel.
“The challenge is, we have to look beyond where we are today to where we expect the world to be,” said Joseph Majkut, a director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Do we want to continue falling behind or do we want to leverage our national resources to build out the industries we know the world will need to get to net-zero.”