Energy

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – In case you missed it, the Washington Examiner recently featured an op-ed by Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which highlighted how provisions within the Working Families Tax Cuts are unleashing American energy dominance and lowering energy and electricity prices.  In Case You Missed It:   “The energy prices that dramatically increased during the Biden administration are continuing to rise, and the attempts by Democrats to pin the increase on President Donald Trump’s policies willfully ignore how their reckless decisions during the previous administration have led us here.    “Since the Working Families Tax Cuts was signed into law, Democrats have tried to claim that Republican policies would cause energy prices to rise for families. This is false. The legislation strips subsidies for parts of the far-left energy agenda that have been driving up prices. On the contrary, the tax cuts law will save the average household $2,900 in 2026.    “The truth is that building the electricity grid on unreliable, taxpayer-subsidized wind and solar — as Democrats have advocated for the last decade — has driven up costs. As energy producers and grid operators have told us in hearings this year, subsidizing intermittent sources of electricity essentially requires building two systems to keep the lights on. One is the costly wind and solar system touted by liberal donors and the renewable energy lobby. The other is a reliable backup system necessary for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.    “Subsidies for wind and solar projects, as well as regulations aimed at hampering natural gas and coal generation, have been driving up rates and undermining reliability. It was the Biden administration that restricted energy supplies, forced the end of fossil fuel generation in favor of costly intermittent power, and failed to provide for increased demand from artificial intelligence data centers, advanced manufacturing, and the growing consumer economy.    “With those harmful policies of the past four years already built into state and utility planning decisions, families are continuing to see the legacy effect of rising costs in their household bills. The energy grid cannot be rebalanced to provide affordable, reliable power in a matter of months; it takes years.   “Energy prices rose nearly 30% under the Biden administration, 13 times faster than the previous seven years. That spike came from the far-left policies that rewarded Democrats’ anti-fossil fuel special interest allies and the green energy sector. The Obama and Biden administrations wielded the regulatory state to stifle the production of reliable baseload power, all while like-minded states continued to phase out reliable baseload power generation as well.    “Democrats are now claiming even more wind- and solar-powered electricity needs to be brought online quickly to meet our needs, which flatly ignores the effects we’re already seeing from these policies leading to rising costs and unreliability. Simply put, intermittent resources cannot reliably provide power during times of peak demand, especially during extreme weather events.    “This is not to say that there is no role at all for wind and solar energy, but the reality is that these sources must be supported in the background by natural gas, coal, hydropower, or nuclear. Adding more wind and solar inputs while closing and restricting more reliable power only drives up costs and increases risks of brownouts and blackouts. Just compare two of our largest states: natural gas-dominant Florida has seen electricity rates that are half those of renewable-dominant California.    “The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has heard testimony from grid operators that the current imbalance in the grid, caused by the retirements of reliable generation and a massive oversupply of intermittent wind and solar, is unsustainable and that there is a major need for more baseload power in the coming years. This is leading grid operators to take emergency steps to expedite the build-out of fossil fuel generation over wind and solar to rebalance the grid and avoid costly blackouts.    “In a recent report, the Department of Energy warned that outages could increase 100 times by 2030 if power plant retirements and the increase in overall demand for electricity continue at their current pace. Even as more renewables have come online, our grid is not prepared to meet the increased demand from AI data centers and domestic manufacturing. That is why the Working Families Tax Cuts created the Energy Dominance Financing Program, investing in projects that provide power 24/7, 365 days a year.    “By ending costly subsidies for unreliable sources, such as wind and solar, and leveling the playing field for natural gas, coal, nuclear, and hydropower, Republicans are making sure America gets the ‘best of the above’ energy for a balanced, reliable grid to serve families and industry far into the future.   “To be clear, it will take time for these policies to materialize into actual construction projects, but we have cleared some of the regulatory blockers that are allowing industry to start making these investments. We cannot go back to the policies that prioritized radical environmental agendas over families and brought higher prices, blackouts, brownouts, and a grid that cannot meet increased demand.      “The people know better. Alongside our president, House Republicans are working to restore reliable and abundant energy, lower electricity costs, and restore America’s energy dominance.” ###

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, sent a letter to Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), highlighting the IEA’s decision to restore the inclusion of objective data analysis in the World Energy Outlook (WEO). By bringing back the Current Policies Scenario (CPS) in the report, the IEA is returning to its core mission and working to promote energy security. “Strengthening our nation’s energy security is vital to securing our grid, powering AI and domestic manufacturing, and ensuring that Americans have the energy resources they need,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Latta. “For the last several years, IEA forecasts incorrectly assumed the peak demand for oil and natural gas would come before 2030. As a result, these forecasts deterred investments by painting an inaccurate picture of what energy markets will need in the future. By finally standing up to activist pressure opposing the use of oil and natural gas to power our economy, the IEA will once again be able to provide the unbiased market forecasts decision makers rely on to provide reliable and affordable energy into the future.”   Key excerpts from the letter:   “Maintaining objective data analysis, free from activism, is imperative. The IEA has long stood as an invaluable source of unbiased data and analysis on the security of oil markets. The agency’s work carries significant weight for policymakers, the energy industry, and global financial firms. “Yet in 2020, the IEA, under pressure from climate activists eager to exploit the agency’s credibility to discourage oil and gas investment, abandoned its longstanding CPS, and began only publishing WEOs that relied on subjective scenarios that assumed different degrees of adherence to climate action agreements. These aggressive Stated Policies Scenarios (STEPS), rely heavily on policy aspirations, while ignoring market realities. “In the United States alone, oil and natural gas account for about 74 percent of the primary energy sources consumed every year, with natural gas accounting for approximately 43 percent of electric power generation. Due to artificial intelligence and other technologies, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts significant natural gas demand growth over the next several years. As you know, the EIA maintains the use of a policy-neutral baseline reference case. “Politicized and censored demand scenarios can distort policy decisions and misguide capital investment. Just last year, the Biden-Harris Administration leveraged these questionable IEA projections, while ignoring EIA data, to support banning liquefied natural gas export projects. This decision discouraged sufficient capital allocation toward critical energy supplies and emboldened Russia’s war machine.”   CLICK HERE to read the full letter. ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The following op-ed by Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, appeared in the Washington Examiner this morning. “The energy prices that dramatically increased during the Biden administration are continuing to rise, and the attempts by Democrats to pin the increase on President Donald Trump’s policies willfully ignore how their reckless decisions during the previous administration have led us here. “Since the Working Families Tax Cuts was signed into law, Democrats have tried to claim that Republican policies would cause energy prices to rise for families. This is false. The legislation strips subsidies for parts of the far-left energy agenda that have been driving up prices. On the contrary, the tax cuts law will save the average household $2,900 in 2026. “The truth is that building the electricity grid on unreliable, taxpayer-subsidized wind and solar — as Democrats have advocated for the last decade — has driven up costs. As energy producers and grid operators have told us in hearings this year, subsidizing intermittent sources of electricity essentially requires building two systems to keep the lights on. One is the costly wind and solar system touted by liberal donors and the renewable energy lobby. The other is a reliable backup system necessary for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. “Subsidies for wind and solar projects, as well as regulations aimed at hampering natural gas and coal generation, have been driving up rates and undermining reliability. It was the Biden administration that restricted energy supplies, forced the end of fossil fuel generation in favor of costly intermittent power, and failed to provide for increased demand from artificial intelligence data centers, advanced manufacturing, and the growing consumer economy. “With those harmful policies of the past four years already built into state and utility planning decisions, families are continuing to see the legacy effect of rising costs in their household bills. The energy grid cannot be rebalanced to provide affordable, reliable power in a matter of months; it takes years. “Energy prices rose nearly 30% under the Biden administration, 13 times faster than the previous seven years. That spike came from the far-left policies that rewarded Democrats’ anti-fossil fuel special interest allies and the green energy sector. The Obama and Biden administrations wielded the regulatory state to stifle the production of reliable baseload power, all while like-minded states continued to phase out reliable baseload power generation as well. “Democrats are now claiming even more wind- and solar-powered electricity needs to be brought online quickly to meet our needs, which flatly ignores the effects we’re already seeing from these policies leading to rising costs and unreliability. Simply put, intermittent resources cannot reliably provide power during times of peak demand, especially during extreme weather events. “This is not to say that there is no role at all for wind and solar energy, but the reality is that these sources must be supported in the background by natural gas, coal, hydropower, or nuclear. Adding more wind and solar inputs while closing and restricting more reliable power only drives up costs and increases risks of brownouts and blackouts. Just compare two of our largest states: natural gas-dominant Florida has seen electricity rates that are half those of renewable-dominant California. “The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has heard testimony from grid operators that the current imbalance in the grid, caused by the retirements of reliable generation and a massive oversupply of intermittent wind and solar, is unsustainable and that there is a major need for more baseload power in the coming years. This is leading grid operators to take emergency steps to expedite the build-out of fossil fuel generation over wind and solar to rebalance the grid and avoid costly blackouts. “In a recent report, the Department of Energy warned that outages could increase 100 times by 2030 if power plant retirements and the increase in overall demand for electricity continue at their current pace. Even as more renewables have come online, our grid is not prepared to meet the increased demand from AI data centers and domestic manufacturing. That is why the Working Families Tax Cuts created the Energy Dominance Financing Program, investing in projects that provide power 24/7, 365 days a year. “By ending costly subsidies for unreliable sources, such as wind and solar, and leveling the playing field for natural gas, coal, nuclear, and hydropower, Republicans are making sure America gets the ‘best of the above’ energy for a balanced, reliable grid to serve families and industry far into the future. “To be clear, it will take time for these policies to materialize into actual construction projects, but we have cleared some of the regulatory blockers that are allowing industry to start making these investments. We cannot go back to the policies that prioritized radical environmental agendas over families and brought higher prices, blackouts, brownouts, and a grid that cannot meet increased demand. “The people know better. Alongside our president, House Republicans are working to restore reliable and abundant energy, lower electricity costs, and restore America’s energy dominance.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, sent a letter to Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), highlighting the IEA’s decision to restore the inclusion of objective data analysis in the World Energy Outlook (WEO). By bringing back the Current Policies Scenario (CPS) in the report, the IEA is returning to its core mission and working to promote energy security. “Strengthening our nation’s energy security is vital to securing our grid, powering AI and domestic manufacturing, and ensuring that Americans have the energy resources they need,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Latta. “For the last several years, IEA forecasts incorrectly assumed the peak demand for oil and natural gas would come before 2030. As a result, these forecasts deterred investments by painting an inaccurate picture of what energy markets will need in the future. By finally standing up to activist pressure opposing the use of oil and natural gas to power our economy, the IEA will once again be able to provide the unbiased market forecasts decision makers rely on to provide reliable and affordable energy into the future.”   Key excerpts from the letter:   “Maintaining objective data analysis, free from activism, is imperative. The IEA has long stood as an invaluable source of unbiased data and analysis on the security of oil markets. The agency’s work carries significant weight for policymakers, the energy industry, and global financial firms. “Yet in 2020, the IEA, under pressure from climate activists eager to exploit the agency’s credibility to discourage oil and gas investment, abandoned its longstanding CPS, and began only publishing WEOs that relied on subjective scenarios that assumed different degrees of adherence to climate action agreements. These aggressive Stated Policies Scenarios (STEPS), rely heavily on policy aspirations, while ignoring market realities. “In the United States alone, oil and natural gas account for about 74 percent of the primary energy sources consumed every year, with natural gas accounting for approximately 43 percent of electric power generation. Due to artificial intelligence and other technologies, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts significant natural gas demand growth over the next several years. As you know, the EIA maintains the use of a policy-neutral baseline reference case. “Politicized and censored demand scenarios can distort policy decisions and misguide capital investment. Just last year, the Biden-Harris Administration leveraged these questionable IEA projections, while ignoring EIA data, to support banning liquefied natural gas export projects. This decision discouraged sufficient capital allocation toward critical energy supplies and emboldened Russia’s war machine.”   CLICK HERE to read the full letter. ###

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Yesterday, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, along with Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, penned a letter to Secretary Jennifer Granholm questioning the Department of Energy’s involvement in the Biden-Harris Administration’s decision to prevent new offshore oil and gas production, leading to higher prices for consumers and harming U.S. energy security. KEY LETTER EXCERPT: “Closing off swaths of U.S. offshore areas to energy production, as the Biden-Harris Administration reportedly intends to do, will lead to higher energy prices for American families, the loss of American jobs, and greatly diminish our country’s energy security. As the Secretary of Energy, you have an obligation to weigh in on this matter and insist on a full review of the energy security and economic impacts before any decisions are finalized. “The United States stands at an energy crossroads, facing mounting global security threats and soaring demand for power. Instead of leading the world in energy production, we’ve allowed misguided “green” policies to hamstring our potential. It’s time to unleash American energy dominance again—the federal government must become an ally, not an obstacle, to our nation’s energy security. We look forward to your prompt response to this request, no later than January 10, 2025.” Read the story  here . BACKGROUND: This morning, the Biden Administration announced that more than 625 million square miles of coastline would be off-limits for energy production. Republican Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have continuously called on the Biden-Harris Administration to end its attack on American energy production before leaving office on January 20th. The letter requests an explanation of the DOE’s involvement in the decision and whether the White House or the Department of Interior consulted with the DOE about the plans to close off access to offshore resources. Any decision to shut down access to significant American energy resources impacts U.S. energy policy and should be reviewed by the DOE. The Biden Administration’s energy policies have continued to create major harm to America’s energy production and workforce. A unilateral ban on energy production in large swaths of the U.S. coastline will have lasting impacts on American energy production and security.

“DOE is threatening domestic jobs and economic development, weakening the energy security of European allies, and strengthening our adversaries” Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) sent a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm demanding the agency stop rushing to prematurely release its anti-liquefied natural gas (LNG) study, which aims to hamstring the incoming Presidential administration. The letter also calls for DOE to lift the pause on LNG exports, which was a politically motivated decision by the Biden administration to appease radical environmental activists at the expense of American energy security and the security of our allies. KEY LETTER EXCERPTS: “Despite DOE’s prior findings and published reviews in favor of U.S. LNG exports, and contrary to DOE’s limited statutory authority under the NGA, the Biden administration’s DOE announced that it would expand its environmental review as part of a ‘managed transition’ to reduce use of fossil fuels. Recent press reports indicate that DOE is racing to complete a study on the climate impacts of LNG exports to hamper the incoming Republican administration and provide opportunities to challenge future project approvals in court.” [...] “ The results of the 2024 presidential election are clear, and DOE leadership will soon change. As a traditional part of the peaceful transfer of power, DOE should immediately stop work on any plans to expand the scope of review or add new conditions to LNG export licenses. DOE should immediately lift the ban on LNG export approvals in compliance with the NGA and the District Court order.” BACKGROUND: January 26, 2024 : The Biden administration announces indefinite “pause” on LNG export permits. Chair Rodgers immediately rebukes the decision, calling it a “gift to Putin.” February 5, 2024 : More than 150 House Republicans demand President Biden ends his de facto ban on American LNG exports. February 15, 2024 : E&C Republicans lead bipartisan passage of H.R. 7176 to reverse President Biden’s LNG export ban. April 8, 2024 : The Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security holds a field hearing in Port Arthur, Texas, with local leaders and energy workers to highlight the economic and public benefits of American energy production, including job creation. November 7, 2024 : Bloomberg Law reports that the “Biden administration is racing to complete a study that could complicate President-Elect Donald Trump’s plan to immediately approve new liquefied natural gas export terminals.” CLICK HERE to read the full letter.