Guest essay by Larry Hamlin
In what has to be one of the most outlandish and expensive energy and emissions misrepresentations in U.S. history the energy and climate alarmist globally clueless Democrats have passed two CO2 climate emission reduction laws (Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021) which together they hype “could reduce emissions by approximately 1,000 million metric tons in 2030, or about a gigaton” from present levels.
As the Wall Street Journal article shown below notes this is yet another attempt by Democrats to destroy the cost effective, dispatchable, reliable and efficient U.S. fossil fuel industry that drives a successful economy.
What the Democrats and their media accomplices completely fail to disclose is that based on readily available EIA energy and emissions data (from the EIA 2021 International Energy Outlook report) their massively costly and globally emissions irrelevant “deal” for U.S. taxpayers results in the world’s CO2 emissions climbing by another 2+ billion metric tons by 2030 driven exclusively by the world’s developing nations (led by China and India) hugely increasing use of fossil fuels with these nations dominating global energy use and emissions by accounting for over 2/3rds (and growing) of all global emission totals.
The EIA IEO 2021 data reference below shows that the world’s developing nations CO2 emissions are projected to increase between year 2020 and 2030 by about 2.9 billion metric tons of CO2 with that resulting in a world year 2030 increase of emissions of over 3+ billion metric tons of CO2. Both the U.S. and EU emissions from year 2020 to year 2030 are projected by EIA to remain basically unchanged.
This concealed EIA emissions data by the climate alarmist renewable energy mandate driven Democrats hides the fact that their $430+ billion taxpayer soaking of U.S. citizens that allegedly is supposed to reduce U.S. emissions between 2020 and 2030 by “about a gigaton” results in year 2030 world CO2 emissions climbing by an additional 2+ billion metric tons.
Furthermore, EIA data shows that the world’s CO2 emissions after 2030 will climb by yet another 2.7+ billion metric tons by year 2040 and further climb by yet another 2.6+ billion metric tons from 2040 to year 2050 with 95% of these increases driven by the world’s developing nations.
Democrats dishonestly conceal this EIA data and analysis which shows world CO2 emissions climbing between 2030 to 2050 by an additional 5+ billion metric tons which exceeds the entire present U.S. CO2 emissions.
The Democrats further hype that their climate reduction laws represent a 40% reduction from year 2005 U.S. emissions levels.
The EIA 2008 International Energy Outlook report shows that U.S. CO2 emissions in year 2005 were 5.982 billion metric tons of CO2 (Table A10). The EIA 2021 International Energy Outlook report shows U.S. CO2 emissions in year 2020 were 4.552 billion metric tons a 24% reduction from year 2005 levels.
Additionally, the Democrats fail to disclose that the EIA data through 2020 showing that U.S. emissions levels declined by 24% since 2005 were achieved with about 2/3rds of this reduction attributable to increased use of lower cost, higher efficiency, dispatchable and lower emission natural gas power plants (shown below) that replaced coal fuel. Yet energy and emissions incompetent Democrats are doing everything in their power to reduce (also shown below) natural gas availability and use in the U.S. with these actions significantly increasing the price of natural gas in the U.S. and other global energy markets.
Biden and his energy and emissions incompetent Democrats have concealed the enormous energy and emissions benefits of low cost, higher efficiency, dispatchable and low emission natural gas and instead misrepresented and mandated a ridiculous program using high cost, unreliable and nondispacthable renewable energy while abandoning the development of fossil fuel resources and driving up energy market prices. The outcome of these Democrat idiotic policy schemes will cause the U.S. to experience the same energy debacle that now engulfs the UK and EU that have systematically destroyed their economies which were following the same flawed energy and emissions policy schemes as the Democrats propose with the catastrophic results illustrated below for Germany which now has electricity rates 4 times higher (and climbing) than are presently available in the U.S.
Germany has now reached the point where 60% of its population is experiencing energy poverty driven by huge energy and emissions policy failures mandating use of unreliable, nondispatchable and costly renewables while incompetently shutting down its own cost effective and reliable fossil and nuclear resources making the country subject to Russian energy and economic blackmail and contributing to market supply disruption and increasing prices of fossil fuel global markets.
Biden and his Democrats seem intent on destroying U.S. energy and economic viability in the clearly incompetent, misguided and false belief that they are “fighting climate change”.