Americans are paying more for everything from gas to groceries, and a House Energy Committee hearing Wednesday was aiming to get some insight into the problem.
The panel of witnesses included a North Carolina apple farm manager who testified that rising energy costs would leave the operation unprofitable this year. Another witness said many Americans are facing a “heat or eat” situation due to the high costs of energy.
While Republican members of the committee discussed the Biden administration’s energy policies and the impacts of high energy costs on American consumers, the Democrats on the committee repeatedly deflected and echoed the Harris campaign’s talking points about the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.”
“We know exactly what four more years of Trump would look like, because it’s included in the Trump Project 2025,” Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said during his opening statements.
Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado, Scott Peters of California, Paul Tonko of New York and Ann Kuster of New Hampshire all referred to the document and asked questions from the witnesses about it.
Project 2025 is a plan put forth by The Heritage Foundation, which details policy proposals for the next GOP administration. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated he wasn’t involved in its development and doesn’t consider it a guiding document for his campaign for reelection.
Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, pushed back on the Democrats’ deflection, saying that there was no collaboration or contribution from that committee on the project.
“I haven’t even read the report, so if you want to keep misleading the American public about it, I caution you that we produce our own policy committee,” Palmer said.
What energy policies would come from a Harris administration if she wins the presidential election remain unclear. The hearing comes the day after the debate between Trump and Harris. Energy was only briefly discussed during the debate. Harris reiterated that she had no intention to ban fracking despite previously supporting the position. She also said we need “diverse sources” of energy to make the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil. She didn’t explain what those diverse sources would be.
Earlier this week, the official campaign website for Harris published a list of issues, which boasts of holding “Big Oil” accountable and Harris’ tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act. According to the site, if elected, Harris will seek to lower energy costs with a “thriving clean energy economy.” It also states that she would “tackle the climate crisis,” which would require a ban on fracking. Presumably, the “diverse sources” Harris spoke of at the debate would be renewable energy.
Witnesses
At Wednesday’s hearing, Linda Pryor, farm manager at her family’s Hilltop Farm, an apple and corn farm in North Carolina, testified that the latest USDA figures show that this will be the second year U.S. agriculture will see negative growth.
“The agricultural sector is facing unprecedented challenges due to rising costs to operate, particularly increased petroleum prices. These costs impact more than what we pay at the gas pump. They also increase the cost of crop inputs like seed and fertilizer, farm machinery, parts, produce, packaging and other essentials,” Pryor said.
Farm expenses, she said, have increased 9.5% in the past two years. Her family’s farm last year spent $57,000 for diesel and gas in 2021. Last year, the operation paid $83,600 for fuel. These costs, she explained, roll down to the consumers at the grocery store.
“We need affordable and reliable, long-term energy solutions for farmers, to ensure that grocery shelves remain stocked with affordable options,” Pryor said.
Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity at the Independent Women’s Forum said that overall, prices are up nearly 20% since Biden took office. Home heating and electricity prices are up, Onwuka said, costing the average American about $5,100 per year more on utilities over what they paid before Biden took office.
“Unfortunately, low income families in America face a heat-or-eat dilemma — this existential choice between paying utilities or buying food, medicine and shelter,” Onwuka said.
Onwuka also testified that the Biden administration’s efficiency standards, which target 15 consumer appliances, are driving up the cost of purchasing those items. The average household, she said, will pay an additional $9,000 to retrofit their home with the new appliances.
Big Oil Greed
The Democrats bringing up the Project 2025 plan warned that it contained provisions that would eliminate subsidies and programs aimed at replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar.
Trevor Higgins, senior vice-president of Energy and Environment for the Center for American Progress, testified that the key to fighting inflation is investments in clean energy.
“The cost of installing solar and wind takes some work, which is why the inflation Reduction Act invests in getting them built. Once they are built, they just run. They don’t have an ongoing fuel cost. They are the cheapest form of electricity available,” Higgins said.
Energy experts, however, disagree. While wind and solar don’t have direct fuel costs, they’re merely intermittent generators. In order to transform intermittent power into constant power requires massive overbuilding of wind and solar farms, extensive investments in transmission lines, and construction of expensive storage systems. That eats up any projected savings from eliminating fuel costs.
DeGette, the Democrat from Colorado, pointed out that the U.S. is producing record amounts of oil and gas, which she said casts doubts 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 production domestically, gas prices remain too high as big oil and gas companies return record profits and pay massive stock payoffs,” DeGette said.
She said a subcommittee hearing in 2022 had six oil executives testifying that investors demand high returns on investments, which is why they wouldn’t lower energy prices. Generally, investors in any industry, including the renewable energy industry, expect high returns on their investments. DeGette didn’t explain why it was objectionable that oil and gas investors would do the same.
Also unmentioned was the fact that many left-leaning public employee pension funds such as CALPERS, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, as well as those of Maine and Vermont still hold billions of dollars in equity stakes in fossil fuel companies.
While the U.S. is producing record amounts of oil and gas, experts are concerned that the impact of Biden’s policies will arise within the next four years. There may be as many as 10 years between exploration activities and the onlining of a producing well, especially when it comes to offshore drilling. Oil and natural gas leasing has diminished under the Biden administration, and production levels may decline regardless of who wins the election.
If that turns out to be true, it could be many years before the problem of high energy prices is resolved.
Kevin Killough is a reporter for Just the News.
Reprinted with Permission from Just the News – By Kevin Killough
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Rep. Frank Pallone, one of the Democrat Congressmen from my Socialist Peoples Republic of New Jersey, will say and do anything the Party instructs him to do. His comment in the above article is typical of how the average Democrat politician operates. They get a set of talking points on a regular basis from the leadership of the DNC, and then robotically go out and repeat them endlessly, day in and day out, no matter whether those talking points fit into the subject being discussed or not. So, his comments at the energy hearing make perfect sense in that light. His job, along with the other Democrats, is to deflect attention away from the actual subject of the congressional hearing, so the average American remains clueless about what is being done to them.
Harris’ statement that she would not ban fracking sounds like John Kerry’s, “I voted for the bill before I was against it.” You could say the same for Harris’ claims that she’ll build the wall, bring down prices, secure the border… She will say anything to preserve her voter base and win over a few independents. But what has been missing in any of her rare interviews or speeches is the actual plan–the steps–she would follow to achieve those goals. Nothing concrete; it’s all cloud-walking.
“…[T]he key to fighting inflation is investments in clean energy.” When any liberal says “investments”, you can bet your thin wallet he’s talking about raising our taxes to fund their programs. There’s another bottomless trough for us to fill.
“Once they are built, they just run. They don’t have an ongoing fuel cost.” That’s Higgins (from the liberal CAP), speaking about energy from solar and wind. Who’s going to dust the solar collectors when a wind storm covers them in debris? How many years does he expect they will last before requiring expensive replacement? And, of course, there’s transmission, actual people (salaries, pension plans, computers, donuts and coffee machines) to oversee function, installing new lines, etc.
These dems are incapable of thinking ahead.
My response to Rep. Frank Pallone’s opening comment, “We know exactly what four more years of Trump would look like……” would have been: “Yes, Mr. Representative, those of us paying attention most certainly do! Prosperity. That’s why I’m voting for Trump.” Deal with it!
It’s not just Trump derangement, it is TOTAL derangement!!!
Project 2025 obviously threatens the Democratic party, Progressives and Woke adherents. It is well thought out and has clear, achievable objectives that support the USA. The Democratic Party platforms and agendas are Marxist based which have no basis in reality nor support the interests of the USA.
Only news I want to hear, is how they intend to fix it.
People, if you want the source of the marching orders and talking points for most ardent leftists, you can find them here each day. Watch how fast this stuff leaves the traps of the loudest left wingnuts and how fast it makes the media. They don’t just arrive at these statements from their mental acumen, all they do is rip and read. Read it first and see what you’re up against. americanprogress.org/issues/
“Big Egg called up Big Dairy who e-mailed Big Meat who messaged Big Poultry who did a drive-by of Big Oils house… and that’s why everything costs so much!”- Kumalas economic theory.