Biden’s agenda threatening our electrical grid
When the American people reach for the light switch, they should have confidence in knowing that the lights will actually turn on.
Unfortunately, this is becoming less of a certainty as the Biden administration's rush-to-green agenda pushes the country's electrical grid to the brink. As a Member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, I am taking steps to ensure we keep the lights on in America.
On April 12, The Biden Administration's EPA announced a new rule that will require two-thirds of new cars on the road to be all-electric vehicles by 2032.
This proposal ignores a number of important realities, including the fact that our electrical grid does not yet have the capacity to handle the increased power load required to charge this volume of new EVS. The Biden Administration's new vehicle emissions standards would take the vulnerability of our electrical grid from bad to worse.
Weeks before the Biden administration made public its new federal mandate, PJM Interconnection - one of the nation's largest grid operators - released an alarming report about the long-term reliability of America's power grid.
The report shows that America's growing power demands, coupled with the retirement of existing fossil fuel power generation, far outweighs renewable sources' capacity to keep up.
PJM'S own analysis shows that 40 gigawatts of existing generation are at risk of retirement by 2030.
This accounts for over 20 percent of PJM'S current installed capacity. According to DOE, it would take 125 million new solar panels to replace what will be lost from retirements alone. This worsening imbalance is the direct result of misguided policies at the state and federal level. Renewables are not enough to keep up with demand.
Making matters worse, the Biden Administration is now considering a new rule to require coal and gas power stations to retrofit facilities to cut or capture all carbon dioxide emissions by 2040. While these heavy-handed federal mandates may be well-intentioned, they are impractical, costly, and put American households at a significantly higher risk of power outages.
The way I see it, we have two choices: we can increase our reliance on bad actors for the energy we need or we can unleash the abundant natural resources available here in the United States. The Lower Energy Costs Act (House Resolution 1), which passed the House with bipartisan support on March 30, is a critical step in the right direction. This common sense bill reforms the outdated permitting process, increases domestic energy production, and repeals President Biden's punitive tax on natural gas.
Recently, I introduced House Resolution 2875, the Grid Reliability and Resiliency Improvements Act.
This bill would require the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, in consultation with various federal regulatory stakeholders to submit a report to Congress identifying risks to the long-term reliability of the electric grid and electricity generation. Policies impacting our power grid must be guided by reality, not green dreams.
And when the federal government drives reliable generation into retirement through misguided policy decisions, the American people should know the corresponding risks they pose to long-term grid reliability.
We need to have an honest conversation about the important, unique roles natural gas and other energy sources play in meeting our baseload power generation demands. I support a diverse portfolio of energy sources to meet this country's power generation needs. But when green dreams jeopardize our ability to keep the lights on, it's time to wake up to reality.
U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson has served Ohio’s 12th Congressional.s. Rep. Troy Balderson has served Ohio’s 12th Congressional District since 2018. The Republican’s district includes all of Licking, Knox, Fairfield, Athens, Morgan, Coshocton, Guernsey, Muskingum and Perry counties, plus portions of Delaware, Holmes, and Tuscarawas counties. He is a Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. District since 2018.