Americans are paying more for everything from gas to groceries, and a hearing Wednesday by the House Energy Committee aimed to gain insight into the issue. [emphasis, links added]
The panel of witnesses included a North Carolina apple farm manager who testified that rising energy costs will make the farm unprofitable this year. Another witness said that due to high energy costs, many Americans are faced with a “heat or eat” situation.
While Republican members of the committee discussed the Biden administration's energy policies and the impact of high energy costs on American consumers, Democrats on the committee repeatedly deflected and echoed the Harris campaign’s talking points about the Heritage Foundation’s “Plan 2025.”
“We know exactly what another four years of Trump will look like because it's included in the Trump 2025 plan,” Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey said in his opening statement.
Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado, Scott Peters of California, Paul Donko of New York and Ann Kuster of New Hampshire all mentioned the document and asked witnesses Questions about this file.
Project 2025 is a plan put forward by the Heritage Foundation that details policy proposals for the next Republican administration.
Former President Trump repeatedly stated that he was not involved in the development of the document and did not consider it to be a guiding document for his re-election campaign.
Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama, chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, pushed back on Democratic bias, saying the committee had no cooperation or contribution to the project.
“I haven't even read the report, so if you want to continue to mislead the American public, I'm warning you, we're going to form our own policy committee,” Palmer said.
If Harris wins the presidential election, it remains unclear what energy policies her administration will pursue. The hearing was held the day after the debate between Trump and Harris.
Energy was discussed only briefly during the debate. Harris reiterated that she has no intention of banning fracking, despite her previous support for that position.
She also said we need “diversified energy sources” to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. She did not explain what these various sources were.
Earlier this week, Harris' official campaign website released a list of questions that touted holding “Big Oil” accountable and Harris' decisive vote on the Inflation Reduction Act.
According to the website, If elected, Harris will seek to lower energy costs through a “booming clean energy economy.”
It also said she would “tackle the climate crisis” which would require a ban on fracking. presumably, The “diversified sources” Harris talked about in the debate will be renewable energy.
witness
During Wednesday's hearing, Linda Pryor, the farm manager at her family's Hilltop Farm in North Carolina, testified that the latest USDA data showed that This will be the second consecutive year of negative growth for U.S. agriculture.
“The agricultural sector is facing Faced with unprecedented challenges due to rising operating costs, especially rising oil prices. These costs have a greater impact than what we pay at the pump. They also increase the cost of crop inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, farm machinery, parts, produce, packaging and other necessities,” Pryor said.
Agriculture spending has increased by 9.5% over the past two years, she said. Last year, her family's farm spent $57,000 on 2021 diesel and natural gas.
Those costs will be passed on to grocery store consumers, she explained.
“We need to provide farmers with affordable, reliable, long-term energy solutions to ensure grocery store shelves remain stocked with affordable options,” Pryor said.
Overall, prices have increased by nearly 20% since Biden took office, said Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity at the Independent Women's Forum.
Onwuka said the price of home heating and electricity has increased; The average American spends about $5,100 more per year on utilities than before Biden took office.
“Unfortunately, low-income families in the United States are faced with the dilemma of heating or eating — paying utility bills or buying food, medicine and shelter, which is a life-or-death choice,” Onwuka said.
Onwuka also testified that the Biden administration's energy efficiency standards for 15 consumer appliances are driving up the cost of purchasing those items. The average family will pay an additional $9,000 to retrofit their home with new appliances, she said.
Greed of Big Oil
Democrats proposing Project 2025 have warned that it includes provisions to eliminate subsidies and plans to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar power.
Trevor Higgins, senior vice president of energy and environment at the Center for American Progress, confirmed that the key to fighting inflation is investment in clean energy.
“The cost of installing solar and wind requires some work, which is why the Inflation Reduction Act invests in building them. Once they are built, they can operate. They have no ongoing fuel costs. They are the cheapest form of electricity,” Higgins said.
However, energy experts don't think so. While wind and solar have no direct fuel costs, they are only intermittent generators.
Converting intermittent power to constant power will require massive overbuilding of wind and solar power plants, massive investments in transmission lines and the construction of expensive storage systems. This eats up the projected savings from eliminating fuel costs.
DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado, pointed to record U.S. oil and natural gas production, casting doubt on Republican claims that Biden's energy policies are driving up energy costs. The problem, she said, is the greed of oil companies.
“While we are seeing record domestic production, natural gas prices remain too high as major oil and gas companies return record profits and pay out huge stock returns,” DeGette said.
She said that at a 2022 subcommittee hearing, six oil executives testified that investors demand high returns on investment, which is why they will not lower energy prices.
Generally speaking, investors in any industry, including the renewable energy industry, expect high returns on investment. DeGette did not explain why it would be objectionable for oil and gas investors to do this.
Also not mentioned is that many left-leaning public employee retirement funds, such as CALPERS, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, and the state pension funds of Maine and Vermont, still hold billions of dollars in fossil fuel company stakes.
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