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The Hill
10-08-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Freedom will keep the city lights shining
The other side of the pond dropped into a brief but sobering relapse into the dark ages. Spain and Portugal suffered a massive electricity shortage in April, plunging them into darkness. It is no coincidence that this occurred only days after the country announced that so-called renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro) had supplied all the country's electricity for an entire day. Before the total blackout, one of Spain's utility companies also boasted that solar and wind supplied 40 percent of the nation's electricity last year. The government's obsession with phasing out fossil fuels in favor of renewables is squarely to blame. We can only avoid Europe's energy fumble by allowing property owners and businesses the freedom to exercise their ingenuity to tap our vast natural resources, fossil fuels included, to keep the lights on. If the market demands fossil fuels to meet our energy needs, we should give businesses the freedom to meet that demand. As we develop, our energy needs will only increase. This means we cannot afford to keep energy resources locked in the ground. As Alex Epstein explains in ' Fossil Future, ' the physics of fossil fuels are especially cost-effective because they have high 'energy density' compared to renewables. Higher productivity ultimately leads to increased income, life expectancy, and higher population growth. In short, freedom to develop resources brings prosperity. Our recent history underscores the importance of giving people the freedom to unleash our natural resources. In the early 2000s, California suffered recurring power blackouts partly because it failed to build enough new power plants. In August 2020, California experienced mass blackouts, this time due to insufficient fossil fuel sources when renewable energy sources went offline. Our energy needs will only grow as we fuel the AI technology revolution, which requires massive amounts of electricity. But despite our growing energy needs, calls for stricter regulations on natural resource development and use have continued to increase. In 2009, the U.S. House passed a cap-and-trade carbon emissions bill that would have limited companies' carbon emissions. (The Senate never voted on the bill.) New York has passed a ban on fossil fuel cooling and heating systems in new buildings, effective 2029. And California seeks to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035. And it's not just fossil fuels the government is going after; it's virtually all natural resource development. Take the federal government's 2012 decision to restrict timber harvesting in parts of Louisiana, purportedly to protect a frog that had not lived in the area for 50 years. Or consider the federal government's 2021 decision to abruptly limit the amount and types of trees in Alaska that timber companies can harvest after those companies had already invested significant time and money into developing their timber operations. The prescription to fix energy shortages is more freedom to develop natural resources, not more restrictions. Property rights create the necessary incentives for developers to invest in energy projects by providing them with certainty that the government won't shut down their project after they have spent time and money on it. For example, the Biden administration halted the Keystone Pipeline Project by denying the necessary permits. Although President Trump announced that he would reverse the decision and make obtaining permits 'easy,' the private developers who were once interested in the project have reportedly ' moved on.' President Ronald Reagan once called America a ' shining city on a hill.' We are a 'beacon,' he said, 'for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.' The shining light we have long offered the world is freedom, including the freedom to use our bounteous natural resources. We will keep the city light shining as we embrace that freedom, even if the rest of the world goes dark.
Yomiuri Shimbun
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
GOP Tax Bill Draws Flack on Energy Provisions from Some Onetime Allies
The massive tax and immigration bill advancing through Congress could raise energy prices in much of the United States and make it harder for American companies to compete globally on AI and manufacturing as a result of deep cuts to federal support for wind and solar power, batteries and other renewable technologies, a wide range of experts warned on Sunday. Notably, some conservative voices, including the chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, fossil fuel advocate Alex Epstein and onetime Trump ally Elon Musk, have vented their frustration about the bill's potential impact on energy prices and American business. 'A massive strategic error is being made right now to damage solar/battery that will leave America extremely vulnerable in the future,' Musk wrote on X on Sunday. In addition to phasing out tax credits for wind and solar power by 2027, the Senate version of the bill would add a new tax on wind and solar projects built after 2027 that use equipment made in China, which has rankled conservatives who worry it will raise energy prices. The bill also requires the federal government to sell more oil and gas leases and approve more coal production. Ultimately, power companies may still build many of the same renewable energy projects they were already planning, experts say. Wind and solar are still the fastest-to-build power sources available, while there's a years-long backlog for new natural gas turbines and nuclear plants face major delays. But the cost of building renewable projects will spike as subsidies vanish and cautious lenders demand higher interest rates to finance construction. 'We will still build renewables,' said Doug Lewin, president of the energy consultancy Stoic Energy and author of the Texas Energy and Power newsletter. 'But we're going to build less of them, and what we build will be more expensive.' Those who have cheered the end of subsidies for renewable power argue they have skewed the market toward less reliable sources of energy that ebb and flow with the weather. 'Ending these federal giveaways will lead to a more market-driven allocation of capital, favoring energy sources that are more economically efficient and better suited to meeting growing demand,' Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, said in an email Sunday. The bill 'positions the U.S. more effectively to respond to surging electricity demand,' he added. 'The prior trajectory toward 'net zero' emissions would have constrained capacity expansion and posed reliability risks.' After a debate and consideration of amendments, senators expect to vote on the bill sometime on Monday. GOP leaders are still scrambling for votes with their razor-thin majority, but if they succeed, the measure will go back to the House for final approval in hopes of meeting President Donald Trump's self-imposed Independence Day deadline. The House passed a version of Trump's agenda in May, with similar cuts to energy spending. Energy costs expected to rise Congress is taking up the sweeping legislation as American energy demand is spiking as new data centers and factories devour more electricity – something many in the fossil-fuel industry acknowledge. 'Demand for affordable, reliable energy is increasing across all aspects of the economy, and the growth in AI will require around-the-clock power driven largely by natural gas,' American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers wrote in a statement Sunday. 'This bill seizes the opportunity to secure our energy future by unlocking investment, opening lease sales and expanding access to oil and natural gas.' But power companies won't be able to meet that demand quickly with gas alone, experts say. Amid a global shortage of natural-gas turbines, the wait for new gas-burning power plants is up to seven years, according to S&P Global. New nuclear plants could take even longer. Companies are extending the lives of old coal plants, but they aren't investing in new ones because they're too expensive. Solar panels, wind turbines and batteries can be built more quickly and already make up more than 90 percent of the new electricity added to American power grids each year. That means power companies will keep building them even without subsidies – they'll just shift the cost onto their customers, experts say. 'We've got this surging energy demand. Our ability to deploy more stuff that's not wind, solar and storage is supply-chain limited. And what Congress wants to do is make it significantly more expensive to build out the stuff we can build,' said Robbie Orvis, senior director for modeling and analysis at the clean-energy think tank Energy Innovation. 'And that means it will make electricity rates more expensive.' Power companies won't just pass on the cost of their lost tax credits, experts say. They'll also pass on the cost of a new tax on wind and solar equipment built in China, taking effect in 2027, that Senate Republicans included in their version. That tax is paired with funding cuts for American wind and solar manufacturing, making it less likely that power companies could switch from Chinese to U.S. suppliers. 'Electricity demand is set to see enormous growth & this tax will increase prices,' Neil Bradley, chief policy officer of the traditionally GOP-friendly U.S. Chamber of Congress, posted on X on Saturday. 'It should be removed.' Another risk that industry watchers see: The whipsaw policy changes from former president Joe Biden to Trump have spooked investors, meaning they'll charge higher interest rates when they lend money to energy projects to make up for the risk they're taking, which also raises the price of energy. 'That uncertainty has to be priced into future financial deals for these projects,' Orvis said. Still, while energy price hikes are expected, they will vary from state to state, according to economic models from policy think tanks including Energy Innovation and the Rhodium Group. Growth of data centers and manufacturing will slow Rising energy prices and delays in building new power plants will slow the growth of factories and data centers in the United States, experts say. 'If they can't find the power here, they will go somewhere else to find the power,' said John Hensley, senior vice president for markets and policy analysis for the American Clean Power Association, an industry group representing wind and solar interests. 'You're already starting to see them look at places like Canada, Iceland or the Nordic countries that have surplus electricity available.' Meanwhile, tech companies urged lawmakers to focus on the implications for artificial intelligence. Lawmakers should 'deploy an all-of-the-above energy strategy that ensures sufficient generation capacity from a diverse supply of energy sources, including nuclear, geothermal, and solar to support the development of AI,' Janae Washington, a spokesperson for the Information Technology Industry Council, wrote in an email on Sunday. 'We urge the Senate to prioritize a reliable and resilient energy mix that advances AI innovation and growth and reject provisions that will harm the U.S.'s ability to compete in the global race for AI and energy dominance,' Washington wrote. The bill would also end direct subsidies for making solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric cars in the United States. Spooked manufacturers are already canceling planned factories, and the swift end of promised tax credits could doom the brief boom in U.S. manufacturing, which is mostly built on EVs and green energy projects. Some experts worry that will cede key industries to Chinese firms at the expense of the United States. 'We're undermining the entire infrastructure to onshore those industries, and we're going to make it a lot more expensive for other industries like AI and data centers to move here and to onshore here by making their energy costs go through the roof,' Orvis said. Meanwhile, North America's Building Trades Unions estimates the bill will eliminate up to 1.75 million construction jobs. 'If enacted, this stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country,' the group warned Saturday. 'Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects.' The push to 'electrify everything' will dwindle Under the Biden administration, green energy advocates imagined a nationwide push to reshape the energy system and 'electrify everything,' switching cars from gas engines to electric motors, homes from gas furnaces to heat pumps, and so on. That push was always going to be an expensive challenge – and a top target for Republicans. 'Even before this legislative shift, the feasibility of fully electrifying transportation, heating, and industrial processes was already in question due to the physical and economic realities of the grid,' wrote Pyle, of the Institute for Energy Research, in his email. In the long run, the United States is still moving toward replacing some fossil fuel energy sources with electricity – but much more slowly than it seemed a year ago, experts say. 'Based on this legislation and everything else the administration has done so far, there will definitely be a slowdown in the rate of electrification,' Orvis said. That will have consequences for climate change and air quality, but it may also put the country at a competitive disadvantage in the emerging clean energy industry. 'The rest of the world is going to continue to electrify, and they'll get all the parts and components from China,' said Lewin. 'China is going to be able to wield significant political power in the world because of their lock on the supply chain for electricity.'
Wall Street Journal
28-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Oil Tycoon and the Philosopher Threatening Big Oil's Carbon Capture Plans
Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum OXY -1.30%decrease; red down pointing triangle and other oil giants are expected to receive billions of dollars of incentives to collect and bury carbon emissions. Texas oil billionaire Ben 'Bud' Brigham and pro-fossil-fuels activist Alex Epstein want to turn off the tap. Brigham, a serial entrepreneur and libertarian from Austin, is urging President Trump and the Republicans who are considering slashing a host of energy incentives to go further and nix tax credits for carbon capture. He says there is no climate disaster on the horizon, and that funneling public money into a nascent technology is a gift to oil behemoths.
E&E News
19-06-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Fossil fuel booster meets with Republicans on megabill
A fossil fuel advocate briefed Senate Republicans during a meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday, as leadership looks to iron out disagreements over clean energy credits in the GOP megabill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the issue of energy tax credits 'is not totally settled' after the Finance Committee released text Monday. The legislation targeted wind and solar incentives but extended the runway for other sources like geothermal, hydropower and nuclear. It would also get rid of tax breaks for electric vehicles, rooftop solar and other residential energy-saving incentives. Advertisement Alex Epstein, an author and longtime supporter of fossil fuel expansion, met with Senate Republicans during a lunch. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was also at the Capitol on Wednesday.
E&E News
13-06-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Fossil fuel booster was ‘enormous' help in megabill talks
Fossil fuel advocate Alex Epstein is prodding GOP lawmakers to demand drastic cuts to green energy tax credits as Republicans wrestle over how deeply to slash incentives for renewables. Epstein, an author and founder of a for-profit think tank that promotes fossil fuels, has been influential in House conservatives' push to secure deeper cuts to renewable energy subsidies in the Republican megabill, GOP lawmakers said in a recent podcast interview. Epstein is also working to push Senate Republicans to go even further to eliminate incentives for renewables. His involvement in negotiations over the budget reconciliation package — a massive priority for the GOP and the Trump administration — offers the latest indication of Epstein's influence on Republican energy policy during the second Trump administration. Advertisement His profile has risen over the past decade as the oil industry and the GOP have increasingly latched onto his arguments that fossil fuels are widely beneficial to humanity and the world. A pair of House Republicans thanked Epstein shortly after the chamber passed the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' which would cut off most clean energy tax breaks for projects that start 60 days after it becomes law. An earlier draft of the tax provisions, released by the Ways and Means Committee, would have given developers until 2031 to get their projects online. Epstein helped get the legislation to its final version, which included moving up the deadline, as well as other restrictions, the lawmakers said. 'You deserve enormous praise for being engaged in this and being a voice that helped us enormously with logic and reason,' Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in an interview on Epstein's podcast. That interview, recorded on May 26, described how Epstein and House conservatives worked to shrink the timeline for phasing out renewable energy tax credits from the Biden-era climate law dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) said during that podcast that he was 'grateful' to Epstein for making the case to end wind and solar energy tax credits. The incentives have been a sticking point as congressional Republicans have haggled over how aggressively to claw back funding for projects, including many that benefit red districts. Epstein said he's been talking to various groups, including the Republican Study Committee, where he's made 'the case for full termination.' He warned against a phase-out that would allow 10-year subsidies in 2031. 'On Donald Trump's 95th birthday, he can celebrate with wind subsidies still existing,' Epstein said. 'What I was arguing for very strongly is at minimum, you have to get rid of the new subsidies, and you absolutely have to have them all expire and stop under Trump's term,' he said. 'I try to be persuasive' Epstein told POLITICO's E&E News that his work around rolling back the tax breaks mainly has been about providing data and other information to lawmakers who ask, such as cost breakdowns of certain paths Congress could take. But he acknowledged that he wants to cut off the subsidies as soon as possible and advocates that position. 'I always just tell all politicians that if you want to do the pro-freedom thing on energy, I'll help you as much as I can,' he said. 'I try to be persuasive. But the persuasiveness is intellectual, and it's in terms of, basically, the fate of the country.' Epstein argues that subsidies are harmful to the electric grid because they incentivize intermittent power sources. Renewable energy advocates and moderate Republicans argue the very opposite. Asked about how influential he's been in the legislative process, Epstein deferred to Roy and Brecheen. 'I am happy with the help I was able to provide between the Ways and Means proposal and the House 'Big Beautiful Bill,'' Epstein said of the changes in the legislation. 'According to the people who are involved in that, they've said publicly that I was very helpful. So I'll take them at their word there.' He also thinks he's helped inoculate Republicans against arguments from renewable energy advocates. 'What I've found heartening about the process is that at least a lot of politicians know to heavily discount what they're hearing from lobbyists,' he said. Prodding the Senate for more cuts Epstein signaled in the May podcast that he was hoping to help nudge the Senate to go even further than the version of the megabill that cleared the House in late May. 'The House bill only cuts those subsidies for new projects, not existing ones, unfortunately,' Epstein said. 'By cutting new solar wind subsidies — the House bill does a lot of good — but the Senate can do far more good if it cuts all of them.' Epstein's talking points are also included in a June 9 memo that House conservatives sent to Senate Republicans urging the Senate to 'more fully end the Green New Scam.' That memo encourages the Senate to 'significantly strengthen the rollback of IRA subsidies for wind and solar to end during President Trump's term' and to 'terminate all the IRA subsidies.' 'I'm providing very valuable ideas in terms of, how can you save even more than the House did,' Epstein told E&E News of his work lobbying the Senate. 'I'm very actively trying to talk to literally any senator who is willing to talk to me about this.' But he specified that he's aiming to be transparent with his advocacy. 'I have no conversations behind the scenes with anybody that do not reflect exactly what I say in front of the scenes.' The Senate may be moving in the opposite directions. Senior Republicans have said they expected their tax credit language to be more generous to renewables. Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) told senators Wednesday he wanted to 'extend the runway' for the incentives, according to lawmakers in the room. Companies and groups are lobbying to protect the credits. The Center for American Progress released a report Thursday saying their loss would hurt the grid because of lost generation. Epstein, author of 'The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels,' has met with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin this year. Epstein hosted now-Energy Secretary Chris Wright on his podcast when Wright was an oil and gas executive. And he received a warm introduction from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who was North Dakota's governor at the time, at a 2023 energy conference. He leads the Center for Industrial Progress, a think tank, and the Energy Freedom Fund, a lobbying-focused organization he recently launched.
