Summer’s here, and the time is right for driving in the streets. The problem is that gas prices remain high, are likely headed higher, and still more than $1 a gallon higher than the $2.33 a gallon they were in January 2021.
Not only that, the cost of electricity is rising as fast as it has since the Iranian Revolution triggered an energy crisis in in 1979-80, causing oil prices to more than double to the equivalent of $100 a barrel in today’s dollars and electricity prices rose 13% over three years. Since 2021, electricity prices have risen by more than 8%, the highest rate of price increases since then, according to a BofA Securities report.
These everyday realities and their impact on our wallets are just a few of the financial chickens that will come home to roost at the ballot box in November. When added to higher interest rates and the highest inflation in a generation, families and business owners have every right to be frustrated, and a bit worried, that our energy policies seem to be making the situation worse.
No one is seeing energy becoming more affordable, or more reliable. In fact – despite America’s energy wealth and ingenuity – the policies coming out of some states and Washington continue to take us in exactly the wrong direction.
Maybe that’s why no American believes unsupported statements that inflation has cooled, since that isn’t being reflected at the gas pump when they fill up, the grocery store when they check out or when they pay their electricity bill.
Here’s the thing about energy policy: While they can be abstract in concept, they lead to things we see and feel – sometimes policies can have an immediate impact, other times it can take a few years to feel the impact at home. But because energy is ubiquitous and affects every man, woman and child, regardless of economic status, hundreds of times a day, policy impacts eventually hit our wallets. Energy is as essential as having a roof over our heads, clothes for our backs and enough food to eat. Energy policies matter.
Higher energy prices mean running a home costs more, eating costs more and running a business – such as manufacturing clothing or a neighborhood restaurant – costs more.
The restrictive, poorly conceived and outright bad energy polices we are seeing around the nation (read: California) are rendering our energy either less available or less affordable. It’s time to take back our energy policy.
In its latest forecast, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation predicts that parts of the U.S. are increasingly likely to have electricity brownouts or blackouts on high-demand days due to lack of electrical power generation.
Why is this happening? In large part, state and federal policies that limit our energy choices, and restrict infrastructure development, allow for excessive and prolonged legal challenges, and – in some cases – encourage extremists to protest and block critical energy projects. The result: energy is increasingly expensive and blackouts are becoming more likely.
And, yet, these situations are avoidable and no American should tolerate political proposals that hinder our energy opportunities, and force us into making sacrifices we would not otherwise have to.
One of my colleagues at Consumer Energy Alliance recently talked to a CEA member who is a retiree, living on a fixed income. She said she couldn’t afford the monthly gas bill to drive 15 miles each way to get her doctor-ordered physical therapy, so she was forced to make the impossible choice to sacrifice her health because of high pump prices. Millions of people on fixed incomes like her or struggling with poverty are making choices and sacrifices like this every day, as Consumer Energy Alliance’s latest annual “Fueling America” analysis shows.
That’s simply not right.
The biggest impact on energy price, availability and reliability are misguided and/or restrictive energy policies that lead directly to higher prices, less availability and lower reliability. Because there is often time between the approval of a bad policy and the impact it has on the public, elected leaders either have time course-correct, or– more likely – avoid the blame by safely being out of office.
But consumers (read: voters) are not so easily fooled.
The European Green parties that promulgated restrictive energy policies that increased costs, made energy less reliable and failed to provide any meaningful environmental improvement got walloped at the ballot box in June’s European Union parliamentary elections. While other factors played a role, political analyst Ruy Texeira noted that “greenlash” played a big part. Which is to say that voters understood who enacted the policies that restricted their choices for vehicles or energy, raised energy prices to unaffordable levels and made farming costlier through aggressive regulations.
That reality is also true with American voters, with poll after poll showing energy costs and related inflation and economic fears among the top voter concerns. We can also see how recent actions in Washington and in states like California and New York have added to our energy woes since 2021.
The Administration has taken hundreds of actions in the last three years to make domestic energy production more expensive and less reliable – the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, restricting production in the Gulf of Mexico, and regulations to restrict natural gas, to name a few – none of which have offered any tangible environment benefit, especially relative to the cost.
The latest salvo is new Environmental Protection Agency fleet fuel efficiency standards that would effectively ban most new gas cars and trucks in just eight years, an action CEA joined with allies to go to federal court to strike down.
President Abraham Lincoln’s wise admonition comes to mind: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
The November ballot may yet prove the wisdom of that saying once again.
David Holt is president of Consumer Energy Alliance, a U.S. consumer energy and environment advocate supporting affordable, reliable energy for working families, seniors and businesses across the country.
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