The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency recently released a refreshed version of Obama’s “Clean Energy Plan,” which the Supreme Court rejected last 12 months in West Virginia v. EPA.
The brand new standards could be catastrophic to our country’s energy infrastructure and would deepen our dependence on supply chains already dominated by China – supporting the Biden team’s ongoing efforts to completely embrace certainly one of America’s best assets, energy independence.
In Virginia, as our economy grows and energy demand accelerates, we’re driven by a fresh perspective: the All-of-the-Above America-wide energy plan, which can provide reliable, inexpensive and increasingly clean energy.
There is no such thing as a must predetermine power plant pensions in arbitrary timeframes as liberal activists wish.
Our Virginia plan includes modern technologies including small modular reactors, carbon capture, hydrogen and advanced batteries, and uses all fuel sources, each traditional and renewable, to extend base load generation and online peak power while further reducing emissions from existing capability.
At the identical time, we use modern technologies and don’t forget that energy solutions have to be inexpensive for families and native businesses that use them every single day.
![The Biden administration's EPA released a new plan that is similar to the](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012746649.jpg?w=1024)
That is why on day one, I began the means of removing Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gases Initiative, a regressive tax on Virginians that did nothing to fulfill the Left’s pollution or emissions targets, only increased the fee to people across the state.
I’m proud that just a few days ago the Virginia Aviation Board voted to exclude the Commonwealth from this failed cap-and-trade initiative.
Naturally, the liberals attacked our decision – blaming our withdrawal from this inefficient tax system for the forest fires in Canada.
With its proposal, the Biden administration shows once more that it’s incapable of long-term energy planning and unprepared for the changes that this regulation would require – requiring most gas and coal-fired power plants to cut back their emissions by 90% downwards by 2035.
The rule sets an unrealistic timeframe based on carbon-reducing technologies that are usually not yet market-ready.
Biden’s team has no technique to combat China’s dominance of the critical mineral supply chain; nor does it plan to deploy the required transmission infrastructure.
The already announced phase-out of baseload power generators over the subsequent decade far exceeds planned investments in renewables, leaving a gap between energy supply and demand, with a fair larger gap in reliable baseload generating capability.
As a state governor with regional transmission organization PJM Interconnection, I used to be particularly concerned about a February report revealing that 40 gigawatts of thermal generation capability is on account of be phased out by 2030, with only 31 gigawatts of latest capability planned for commissioning.
![Youngkin removed Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gases Initiative on his first day in office.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000010512297.jpg?w=1024)
Indeed, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. he also warned that the country was phasing out traditional sources of generation too quickly.
As an alternative of heeding this warning and taking motion to stop future electricity shortages and outages like those seen in Europe, California and Recent York, the Biden administration is doubling down with these disruptive regulations designed for short-term policy points as a substitute of responsible long-term power planning .
In Virginia, the mismatch is magnified.
While neighboring states’ energy demand is projected to grow at 1% per 12 months, Virginia’s rapidly advancing technology and advanced manufacturing sectors require a five-fold increase in energy supply.
Our regulated utilities recognize that on account of faulty demand forecasts and misguided retirement approaches mandated by the previous Democrat controlled General Assembly and administration, Virginia needs latest natural gas plants to fulfill our energy needs.
Let’s not forget Winter Storm Elliot this past holiday season, when only by activating the fossil fuel power plants that Biden proposed were to be phased out, we were in a position to keep the lights on. Common sense must remain a part of energy planning.
The Biden team’s efforts to hurry up the passage through the fantasy land timeline are fundamentally unsuitable.
The All-of-the-above All-American, All-of-the-Above Plan should include modern technologies, but we can’t be naive about today’s renewable energy challenges.
American families and businesses are already bearing the brunt of this administration’s irresponsible energy plan every single day; this proposal further demonstrates a complete disregard for a reasonable and reliable energy future.
Biden’s team must abandon this proposal and the lasting damage it could do to America’s energy and future, and begin a dialogue with states and the American public that addresses the complexities of energy planning which have been blatantly ignored.
Glenn Youngkin is the governor of Virginia.