Op-Ed: Daniel Turner: "Drill Baby Drill" sounds easy, but implementing it requires hard work
“Drill, baby, drill!” was a pithy and clever campaign slogan. Voters supported the call for robust American energy production and understood it would lower prices and rid the country of Biden’s record-high inflation. But federal agencies in Washington must align with the President’s energy dominance vision. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should be the first.
FERC is a so-called “independent” agency, but how did that work in the Biden era? Former FERC Chairman Richard Glick had regular check-ins with the Biden White House, as revealed from Freedom of Information Act inquiries. Glick’s hyper-partisan rulings against the fossil fuel industry were so problematic that Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), at the time Chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, stopped his renomination and ended his career.
President Donald Trump has made moves to ensure agencies like FERC are more accountable to the American people. FERC’s mission shouldn’t be to assess America’s energy needs in accordance with Paris Climate Accords. It is not to see permitting and process through the lens of any agenda. America is in an energy emergency and making sure FERC is up to the task would be an enormous step in the direction of robust energy development.
Consider the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s recent report which put 1/3 of continental USA in the danger zone heading into summer. America’s electricity-intense lifestyle and the AI revolution are driving demand to historic levels. Projected electricity demand from last summer to this one are double the actual increase of the year before. Yet we’ve seen 2.5 gigawatts of natural gas powered electricity come offline in that same time period.
The former Biden administration staffers and their Green New Deal acolytes will point to wind and solar projects to cover the delta but therein lies the problem and the obfuscation. 2.5 gigawatts of electricity from natural gas does not equal 2.5 gigawatts of capacity from wind and solar. Weather is always a factor, and no amount of wind and solar can produce the electricity America needs when the wind is not blowing or the sun not shining.
What will Mother Nature bring tomorrow? We have apps on our phone and effervescent TV weatherman telling us what they expect, but with zero certainty. The numbers tell that story.
Nationwide, Americans are paying 30 percent more for electricity than we did in 2020. California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, has asked people not to charge their electric vehicles at night, putting many people in a bind for their morning commute. Even red Texas, the energy capital of the world, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) — the governing body that oversees its electric grid — regularly ask people to raise or lower their thermostat.
The biggest challenge facing wind and solar is not even Mother Nature but the Republican Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives. Rep. Chip Roy (R., Texas) has once killed President Trump’s signature “one big beautiful bill” because the green subsidies were not stripped, as promised. Everyone in elected office, Republican and Democrat, knows that without subsidies and mandates, wind and solar will collapse, taking the grid and the economy with it.
“Drill, baby, drill!” is a great campaign slogan, but energy policy is much messier. Ronald Reagan said “There are no easy answer, but there are simple answers.” Making electricity reliable and affordable is simple: use more of what works. Reopen the 2.5 gigawatts of gas-powered electricity plants, get FERC to stop being an arm of the environmental left, and plan new construction of pipelines and infrastructure to bring Americans the power they need.
Our impending energy crisis is not just to protect the summertime luxury of swimming pools and the comfort of well-air-conditioned homes. Energy is everything. It is the stability of our peacetime. It is the functioning of our economy. It’s the fuel that will win the race for AI supremacy. We do not have the luxury of hoping Mother Nature gives us a sunny tomorrow and a windy evening. We are Americans. We depend on no one for our well-being and prosperity, and that includes the weatherman.
Summer is coming, that is for sure. Whether or not the weather will determine our fate is the gamble, and the American people deserve much better than politicians and FERC commissioners crossing their fingers and hoping things work out. The solution is not easy, but it is simple and its within our grasp. We only need the will to do it.
Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at daniel@powerthefuture.com and follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF
