U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is calling out the Biden administration for putting Americans at risk of wide-spread blackouts throughout the summer due to the closure of power plants as part of their push towards renewable energy. In a speech on the Senate floor, Ernst slammed the Biden administration for “taking the country back to the era of no electricity,” by targeting traditional power plants and reducing Americans’ electricity supply without reliable and affordable alternatives readily available.
Ernst’s full remarks are below:
“Two-hundred years ago, the Senate went about their business without computers, cell phones, or any of our other modern conveniences that run on electricity, including the very lights in this room.
“Working by candlelight might sound quaint today, but many Americans may find themselves doing just that in the not-too-distant-future because the Biden administration is taking the country back to the era of no electricity.
“Folks, with President Biden and his same team of advisors who created a nationwide baby formula shortage and out-of-control inflation overseeing their “energy transition” what could possibly go wrong?
“You don’t have to look any further than your energy bills to get an answer.
“Prices at the pump have nearly doubled since Biden’s first day in office when he started signing executive orders to turn off American energy supplies.
“And home electricity prices have increased more than 10 percent since just last summer.
“What’s worse than these expensive energy bills? Well, how about no power at all?
“Most of the nation is currently in danger of experiencing power outages due to energy shortages caused by the closure of power plants as part of the Democrats’ push towards renewables.
“These Biden Blackouts will make it impossible to even run fans and air conditioners on the hottest days of the summer!
“But not to worry, Biden’s Energy Department has issued some tips of “what to do in case of an outage,” which include: stocking up on candles, keeping an ice chest on hand, and having a gallon of water available for every person in your house for each day you are without electricity.
“Folks, that’s not the most reassuring advice since no one knows how many days we could be kept in the dark during a Biden Blackout…
“The reality is, these power outages pose a bigger problem than just the inconvenience of being uncomfortably warm or unable to watch TV for a few hours, or possibly days.
“Extended outages could be a matter of life or death for many folks who depend upon electronic medical devices or temperature-sensitive medicines.
“You’re probably wondering how it’s even possible in 2022 for there to be an energy shortage right here in the United States of America?
“It’s simple math: Democrat policies.
“The ongoing closure of traditional power plants is reducing our capacity to supply enough electricity for millions of homes and renewables are not yet producing enough energy on their own to make up the difference.
“The Democrats are predictably blaming global warming, but the truth is the rolling blackouts and rising prices are really being caused by man-made energy change.
“Just this year, the Biden administration has: reduced domestic oil and gas leasing; created regulatory barriers for building pipelines; and taken administrative actions that put hundreds of solar energy projects across the U.S. on hold.
“We can’t just turn off the power sources we depend upon without having reliable, abundant, and affordable alternatives readily available.
“Yet, that is exactly what the Democrats – at President Biden’s direction – are doing.
“I am proud that my home state of Iowa was the first state in the nation to adopt a renewable portfolio standard nearly 40 years ago.
“Today, Iowa generates most of our energy from renewables, with wind power being our primary source.
“Iowa also leads the nation in the production of ethanol and biodiesel.
“And despite what critics say, the use of corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel reduce greenhouse gas emissions while helping to keep our nation energy independent and our state green and clean.
“However, renewables still only produce a fraction of the total electricity the nation relies on to run, making it impossible—and irresponsible—to simply unplug our traditional energy sources.
“Just look at California, which has set a goal of achieving a carbon-free power grid.
“The state is forecasting that energy shortages could leave as many as four million California residents without power this summer!
“The state’s utility provider wants to build five new fossil-fuel power generators to ensure the availability of reliable electricity in the future.
“But the challenge is more than just making up for the reduction in power production because the transition to renewables is creating new demands for electricity.
“For example, our increasingly unreliable power grid will face even greater strains as more and more electric vehicles are plugged into it.
“To drive just 100 miles, an EV requires about the same amount of electricity as it takes to run a home for an entire day, including lights, heating and air conditioning, and appliances.
“Tesla, the world’s top EV car maker, is already asking EV owners to not charge their cars during certain hours of the day to better ration the use of electricity…
“And while President Biden and the Democrats keep telling Americans to buy an electric vehicle to cut down on the cost of gas, the high sticker price makes EVs unaffordable.
“Folks, the cold hard truth is: electric vehicles are not as economical, environmental, or ethical as the Democrats want us to believe.
“Proponents of the Green New Deal portray themselves as heroes in a fairy tale riding to the rescue—on an EV, of course—to defeat the greedy corporations polluting the planet for profit so we can all live happily ever after.
“But the truth is, it ain’t that easy being green!
“Consider the component parts used in both EVs and solar panels…well, they are largely produced by communist China’s state-supported corporations, often using slave and child labor.
“As a result, the world will be more dependent on Communist China for some energy products in a post-carbon economy than we are on OPEC for petroleum today.
“President Biden’s own Energy Department admits that “U.S. decarbonization goals are reliant on both Chinese firms and the Chinese government.”
“And while we will rely on China for the technology, the communist regime will rely more heavily on the forced labor of children and modern day slaves to produce it.
“Consider, almost half of the world’s supply of polysilicon used in solar panels is made in Communist China, often by the hands of forced labor of ethnic and religious minorities.
“And nearly every silicon-based solar panel is likely to contain components that originated in the area of China where forced labor camps are widespread.
“China also has significant financial control over the world’s supply of cobalt, which is an essential element used in the batteries of EVs.
“The Congo produces 70 percent of the world’s cobalt and Chinese-backed companies own or have a financial interest in most of the African nation’s cobalt mines.
“These Chinese corporations are subjecting the miners to physical abuse and hazardous conditions in exchange for very little money.
“Tens of thousands of children—some as young as four years old—are exploited to work in the mines with few safety protections.
“President Biden promised to create green jobs… but he didn’t mention that they would be done by children in Africa or slaves in China.
“These poor kids are mistreated and malnourished and even drugged to suppress their hunger so they can work for longer hours.
“Breathing in toxic fumes causes long term health problems including lung disease and heart failure as well as birth defects.
“And miners are often buried alive when tunnels cave in.
“These are some of the kids who mine the cobalt to make an EV run.
“And in the other photo are some folks in Iowa who produce ethanol for motor vehicles.
“Who powers your vehicle?
“In addition to the toxic harm to humans, the extraction of cobalt also causes severe environmental pollution to the water, air, and soil.
“Just take a look at this picture, this is a mine in Congo where cobalt is extracted to make batteries for EVs.
“NOTHING about this landscape looks like an environmental success story to me.
“By contrast, the picture next to it is a beautiful farm in Iowa where corn is grown to make fuel for motor vehicles.
“Every year, I drive through mile after mile of cornfields on my 99 County Tour, it’s the type of scenic drive that reconnects you with nature and reminds you of the importance of proper stewardship of the land we live off of.
“Folks, we can all have a cleaner conscience knowing the energy made in Iowa is creating economic opportunities for our neighbors while keeping our communities green, rather than exploiting children or creating a toxic wasteland.
“Can the same be said about the initiatives being pushed by the Biden administration?
“Like— begging OPEC to pump more oil; sending our nation’s strategic oil reserves to China; or subsidizing China’s market in slave and child labor?
“Are we going to tell the truth to the children riding the electric schools buses—that the Biden administration is spending $5 billion to purchase—what really makes the wheels on these buses go round and round is the exploitation of other children who are their age, or even younger?
“Or are we just going to tell them more green fairy tales?
“It’s time to come clean about the Democrats’ Green New Deal.
“Just like President Biden’s other policies— this radical agenda is creating problems, not solving them, including: Greater dependency on foreign adversaries like China and Russia; Reliance on child and forced slave labor; Harm to human health and the environment; Higher costs; And energy shortages and blackouts.
“Democrats are literally trying to keep America in the dark about these inconvenient truths.
“Folks, the Biden Blackouts will be the latest unneeded reminder that the Democrats’ Green New Deal can’t hold a candle to the Republicans’ record of producing an abundant supply of affordable energy right here in America.”
