Do you remember on multiple choice questions in school how there’d be five answers to pick from? A, B, and C would all be one specific thing, D would be “none of the above,” and E would be “all of the above.” It was frequently a guessing game as to how many D’s and E’s you might need to pick as the test-writers attempted to confuse and disorient you.
But when it comes to American energy strategy, there shouldn’t be any doubt: the correct answer is and always has been E, all of the above.
The world is still recovering from the Biden Administration’s terrible policies attacking oil and natural gas production. Savaging American oil caused out of control inflation and opened the door for Russia’s oil-financed army to invade Ukraine. This is why President Trump declared a National Energy Emergency on his day one, unfroze domestic oil and natural gas production, and issued executive orders to increase coal production. Gas prices are dropping, and the world is recovering.
Inasmuch as we want as much clean energy as possible, oil is essential for fueling our relatively stable world order. As global strategist Peter Zeihan writes in The End Of The World Is Only The Beginning, “Modern energy in general and oil in specific is what separates our contemporary world from the preindustrial. It separates what we define as ‘civilization’ from what came before.”
But inasmuch as the Trump Administration is supporting traditional energy, we should continue to support nontraditional energy as well.
As Congressional Republicans seek to slash federal spending to more sustainable levels, they are taking aim at clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. It may be tempting to want to get revenge on the Democrats’ favored type of energy after four years of their crusade against oil, but let’s remember: the proper energy solution has always been E, all of the above.
This is why you have Energy Secretary Chris Wright calling for keeping several energy tax credits for previously unappreciated energy technologies like geothermal and nuclear. It’s also why you have Dan Brouillette, Energy Secretary in the first Trump administration, calling for keeping clean energy tax credits known as 45Y and 48E (for electricity generation), 45V (hydrogen production) and 45X (advanced manufacturing).
If Congressional Republicans repeal these tax credits entirely or too hastily, it could cause consumer electricity bills around the country to shoot up. A repeal would affect some states more than others, with Utah predicted to see costs increase as high as 5.5%, according to a report by the Rhodium Group research organization. A separate report by the firm Energy Innovation found that the repeal would cost households $6 billion per year by 2030, while costing industrial customers as much as $14 billion per year.
Again, as we learned from the Biden Administration’s disastrous oil policies, theoretically small cost-of-energy increases ripple throughout the entire economy. After all the inflation we’ve suffered since 2020, Americans don’t need any more.
This explains why newly elected Sen. John Curtis signed onto a letter with three other Republican Senators in support of the energy tax credits. If you’ve sat through ads during the news or Jeopardy!, you’ve seen commercials thanking him for his support. (This paper has run letters saying the same thing.) The letter reads:
A wholesale repeal, or the termination of certain individual credits, would create uncertainty, jeopardizing capital allocation, long-term project planning, and job creation in the energy sector and across our broader economy. Given rising energy demand, it is imperative that any modifications to the tax code avoid worsening the economic pressures that American households and businesses already face.
An all of the above energy policy will help the Trump Administration to reshore manufacturing and secure supply chains, the letter continues, which will accelerate economic progress and job growth.
Conservatives may hate the Inflation Reduction Act – it’s a chore for me to type it out without using a phrase like “the laughably mis-named Inflation Reduction Act” – but all energy is good energy. Moreover, unless Republicans want to risk walking into a midterm election with too many Americans upset about their utility bills, we’re going to have to either keep these tax credits or phase them out more gradually.
Securing American energy leadership is essential for economic recovery, fighting any further inflation, and keeping civilization alive. We can’t compound one grave mistake on energy with another. It’s E for Energy: all of the above.