The House GOP report has highlighted a series of negative impacts stemming from the Biden administration’s climate change-fighting energy policies, such as higher gas prices, growing uncertainty in the power sector, and burdensome market regulation. These effects have disproportionately affected essential sectors of the economy and intensified existing problems through the stifling of domestic energy production potential to reduce fossil fuel usage.
In addition, the report criticizes a “regulatory blitz” initiated by the administration, which has slowed economic growth and innovation while rapidly raising costs for Americans. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer emphasized the committee’s responsibility in holding the administration accountable for detrimental Green New Deal policies affecting citizens across the nation.
Contrasting with the Biden administration’s focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through limitations on domestic fossil fuel production, the report argues that these energy policies are shortsighted and even detrimental. For instance, executive orders 13990 and 14008 were issued shortly after President Biden took office, placing a moratorium on federal onshore and offshore leases for oil and natural gas extraction. Although the ban was lifted in June 2022 due to legal action, the Department of the Interior (DOI) has since then leased the smallest number of acres for oil and gas production in almost a century.
This situation is compounded by increased electricity demand resulting from comprehensive electrification initiatives such as electric vehicles (EVs) and the scaling of artificial intelligence utilization, data center expansions, and federal incentivization of onshore manufacturing in the industrial sector. The combination of higher demand with unfavorable energy production regulation leads to higher utility costs for everyday Americans and additional financial burdens, including some tax dollars going towards energy subsidies and economic costs caused by businesses relocating overseas due to high electricity prices.
The federal subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are expected to impose significant costs on taxpayers, as demonstrated by testimony from Travis Fisher, Director of Energy and Environmental Studies at the Cato Institute. The report estimates that IRA production tax credits could cost taxpayers $3 trillion by 2050.
Moreover, by favoring intermittent sources of power like wind and solar, the administration is artificially suppressing the true cost of renewables and shifting it to taxpayers. This approach also undermines the reliability of the electrical grid.
The report also criticizes the financial burden imposed by the Biden administration’s numerous new regulations as part of its energy policy agenda. From President Biden’s inauguration through April 19, all costs from the 851 final rules adopted are estimated at $1.37 trillion and 267 million paperwork hours. This figure is in stark contrast to the $30.1 billion in regulatory costs during the Trump administration, which was notably active in reversing environmental rules imposed by his predecessors.