In the name of fighting climate change, she pushes net-zero policies that would enervate America.
By JD Vance
Aug. 19, 2024 1:38 pm ET
Wall Street Journal
Vice President Kamala Harris stands beside an electric vehicle during a visit to Brandywine Maintenance Facility in Brandywine, Md., Dec. 13, 2021. Photo: Michael Reynolds – Pool via CNP/Zuma Press
Growing up in Ohio, I learned the hard way that poverty breaks families. To break the cycle of dependency, families need to be able to rely on a growing and dynamic economy that generates wealth and opportunity. But an economy that works for working Americans is possible only when we have reliable, abundant, low-cost energy.
Tragically, under the “net zero” energy policies advanced by Kamala Harris, the Biden administration and the entire Democratic Party, families are being denied the hopeful and abundant future that comes with low-cost energy. Electricity already costs 30% more than it did when Ms. Harris took office, with projections of another 30% increase in many parts of the country next year. Gasoline prices are up 42%. The net-zero project is already stifling investment in the coal, natural gas, and nuclear plants that Americans rely on for reliable, affordable “base load” electricity.
Don’t let anyone fool you that net-zero energy is some far-off idea for the year 2050. Net zero is here. Net zero is now. If Ms. Harris and the Democrats have their way, net zero will destroy the American dream for countless millions.
Under her net-zero energy policy, Ms. Harris is committed to implementing the Environmental Protection Agency’s disastrous new mandates on power plants and electric vehicles. Under the electric-vehicle mandates, 67% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. would be fully electric by 2032. That rule will obliterate the U.S. auto industry, throwing more than 100,000 Americans out of work while adding to electricity demand. The power-plant rules require existing coal plants and new and modified natural-gas plants either to adopt unproven carbon-capture technologies or to close starting in 2032. They are already shutting down. Most coal plants are expected to close before then, and there has been almost no investment in large new natural-gas plants since the rule was proposed in 2023.
Grid regulators are sounding the alarm. With coal plants shutting down and few large natural-gas or nuclear plants being built, America’s electricity grid faces significant contraction. Midwestern states risk a capacity shortfall of 4.7 gigawatts by 2028. That’s equivalent to five average-size nuclear plants. In the 13-state region served by the PJM Interconnection—which includes Pennsylvania, Virginia and my home state of Ohio—capacity auction prices indicate that electricity bills will rise at least 30% by next summer. Factories, foundries and power plants are shutting down across the heartland, throwing thousands out of work. Meanwhile, analysts expect electricity demand to soar almost 14% over the next decade, fueled by power-hungry artificial-intelligence data centers and the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate.
The U.S. is facing a catastrophic electrical capacity shortfall of hundreds of gigawatts. Ms. Harris is unfazed by the unprecedented destruction of our energy infrastructure. She thinks windmills and the sun will come to the rescue. But she is dreaming. Variable solar and wind can’t take the place of large base-load generators. Utilities added barely 20 gigawatts of solar capacity to the grid last year, and the real “accredited capacity” as measured by grid operators is only a fraction of that. Meanwhile, in May the Interior Department adopted a solar that will make solar projects even more difficult to build. Adding more solar and wind every year will make it impossible to achieve reliable and affordable electricity.
A Harris administration would be worse than the Biden administration. President Biden at least claimed not to support the Green New Deal. Ms. Harris was an original co-sponsor of the bill and even said she would abolish the Senate’s filibuster to pass it. Ms. Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is yet more extreme. Mr. Walz actually signed a bill that would end all sources of electricity other than wind and solar in his state by 2040.
We have already seen the results of these policies in Europe. In the U.K., net-zero energy policies have led to exploding electricity costs and anemic growth. Germany and France are spending around 4% of gross domestic product on new welfare programs to shield households and businesses from soaring energy prices. That’s twice what they spend on defense. Industrial goods production in Europe was down more than 5% last year due to higher energy prices.
With China building a new coal plant every week, Ms. Harris’s net-zero energy policies won’t do anything to help the environment or combat climate change. In fact, because energy is such an important part of manufacturing, net zero doesn’t only mean higher energy costs for consumers; it means more manufacturing jobs created in China. And given that China has one of the dirtiest economies in the world, net zero amounts to a lose-lose: Our environment gets more polluted as our citizens and businesses become poorer.
There is no more fundamental issue in this campaign: Kamala Harris cares more about climate change than about inflation. She prefers solar panels and wind turbines to American jobs. Her policies make the environment worse while turning millions of Americans into paupers—begging their government for help with high energy bills rather than standing on their own two feet.
President Trump has made it crystal clear we will end the net-zero energy policies shutting down investment in electricity capacity. Instead, we will pave the way for a massive energy expansion. We will streamline permitting, end the distorting effects of federal subsidies, unleash private investment, and lay the groundwork for a historic expansion in American energy capacity.
By bringing back Trump-era affordability and economic security, we will stabilize our home and family life—and restore the American Dream.
Mr. Vance is a U.S. senator from Ohio and the Republican nominee for vice president.
