Friends,

In this week’s edition of The Charge, we feature Heritage Foundation experts Kevin Dayaratna and Miles Pollard on “The Power Hour” to discuss their recent report, “Powering Human Advancement: Why the World Needs Reliable and Affordable Energy.” In our “Quick Takes” section, we look at Europe’s electricity-price woes, America’s reliance on Russian uranium, and what a second Trump term would mean for the environment. Our “Ask the Experts” series features Roy Spencer, a visiting fellow in the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment.

The CECE Team

(Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment)

The Charge is edited by Andrew Weiss

For more information, please contact us at CECE.info@heritage.org.

For media inquiries, please contact heritagepress@heritage.org. 

Q: Should Climate Models Determine Carbon Regulations?

A: Warming of the global climate system over the past half-century has averaged 43 percent less than that produced by computerized climate models used to promote changes in energy policy. In the United States during summer, the observed warming is much weaker than that produced by all 36 climate models surveyed here. While the cause of this relatively benign warming could theoretically be entirely due to humanity’s production of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning, this claim cannot be demonstrated through science. At least some of the measured warming could be natural. Contrary to media reports and environmental organizations’ press releases, global warming offers no justification for carbon-based regulation.

Read the entire report here.

—Roy Spencer is a visiting fellow in the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation.

Energy and Human Flourishing

Join host Jack Spencer this week for a conversation with Heritage Foundation experts Kevin Dayaratna and Miles Pollard on their recent Backgrounder, “Powering Human Advancement: Why the World Needs Reliable and Affordable Energy.” The timely report presents in clear terms how access to affordable energy is a key ingredient of human flourishing and how threatening that access will harm human progress. Read the Backgrounder here.

House Making Important Effort to End America’s Dependence on Russian Uranium

In his latest Washington Times article, CECE senior research fellow Jack Spencer writes:

America is a major consumer of low-enriched uranium. We rely on nuclear energy for just over 18% of our electricity. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, America’s commercial reactor operators got 24% of their enrichment services from Russia in 2022.

We and our allies pay for this dependence. In 2022, U.S. companies sent over $850 million to Russia for nuclear fuel services. Adding in our European allies raises that amount to $1.7 billion. Not only does America depend on Russia for nuclear fuel, but we are helping fund the Kremlin’s war.

Spencer lists the challenges of addressing the issue and then describes Congress’ attempt to solve it.  

Unfortunately, private companies can’t start commercially producing more low-enriched uranium with the flip of a switch. Expanding enrichment capacity takes time and a lot of money. It also needs the clear assurance of predictable, long-term demand to justify the investment.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington Republican, has introduced the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act.

Explicitly stating how much Russian uranium will be allowed in America and for how long would provide the enrichment industry with the certainty it needs to justify the major capital investments necessary to replace Russian fuel entirely.

Read the full Washington Times article here.

High Electricity Prices Have Europe Facing Deindustrialization; Don’t Let it Happen Here

The Hill published Mario Loyola’s article on the negative consequences of Europe’s destructive green energy policies. Loyola, a senior research fellow in CECE and a professor of environmental law at Florida International University, wrote,

Despite Germany shuttering its nuclear plants and sanctions disrupting the supply of Russian natural gas, the European Union has doubled down on renewable energy mandates, further constricting the supply of fossil fuel power.

Loyola says that Europe’s electricity prices are triple their pre-pandemic levels, and that they won’t fall anytime soon.

When electricity prices rise, production costs soar along with inflation in virtually every sector, negatively affecting trade and investment across the economy. Industrial output in the Euro area plummeted 5.8 percent in the 12 months ending November 2023. Capital goods production was down nearly 8.7 percent. Investment in plants and equipment has plummeted.

Desperate to cushion the blow of soaring electricity prices, Germany is now plowing more than 4 percent of GDP into energy price mitigation for households and businesses. That’s almost the entire U.S. budget deficit in an average year.

U.S. policymakers should heed warnings from Europe, and embrace a policy of making American electricity once again the most reliable and affordable on Earth.

Read the full article here.

A Second Trump Term Would Be Good News for the Environment

In her recent article for Newsweek, CECE director Diana Furchtgott-Roth analyzes the consequences of the Biden Administration’s choice to halt future exports of liquid natural gas:

Halting American exports of natural gas would result in greater worldwide use of coal, thereby increasing global CO2 emissions. Europe has already been turning to coal to deal with energy shortages in the aftermath of Russia’s cutoff of natural gas. Those concerned about carbon emissions should be fighting to reduce global emissions, which means avoiding the use of coal where possible.

A second Trump administration would likely encourage production of natural gas and faster permitting of pipelines and LNG terminals to be able to move it from the interior of the country to ports, and into export terminals to be shipped to Europe and Asia.

The more natural gas the U.S. exports, the lower global emissions would be. With Trump in office, faster infrastructure permitting would allow natural gas to travel where it is needed. Biden’s halt of natural gas exports harms the environment and benefits America’s enemies. A second Trump term would reverse this disastrous policy.

Read the full article here.

Regulatory Crusade

Last week, the Bureau of Land Management, which manages most of the federal land in the Western states, proposed to add 5.4 million acres in five states that would be eligible for streamlined permitting of utility-scale solar projects. The proposal would completely rewrite the failed 2012 Solar PEIS (Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Six Western States). This proposal would substantially cut local constituents out of crucial decisions about where solar projects and transmission lines are built, potentially transforming their communities without any input from them. The proposal is an attempt to circumvent the National Environmental Policy Act, which environmental activists have built up into an impossible tangle of red tape for energy, transportation, and water infrastructure that Americans urgently need. Now the Bureau of Land Management is desperate to cut through the red tape, but only for its pet projects. Heritage and other conservatives won’t let them. Starting with significant regulatory comments, to be followed by potential legal challenges, we will insist that the Biden Administration follow the law. And we will make sure that when the law is amended, it is amended fairly, for everyone.

—Mario Loyola is a senior research fellow for environmental policy and regulation at The Heritage Foundation.

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