California’s ambitious plan to generate clean electricity from offshore wind suffered a considerable blow recently when the Trump administration canceled nearly half a billion dollars in federal funding for the state’s largest project. Photo by Dreamstime/TNS
You do not have to care about climate change to believe that clean energy is an important and strategic resource. Solar and wind power are now cheaper than coal in many places and sometimes cheaper than oil and gas. Clean energy sources help both hold down costs for Americans and prevent the United States from having to import so much foreign oil from countries hostile to our interests.
These advantages help explain why the right energy policy for the United States is an all-of-the-above strategy. The country should continue using fossil fuels like natural gas while shifting toward cleaner energy that does less damage to the planet. The combination can help Americans struggling with slow-growing incomes while also addressing climate change.
President Trump, however, has rejected the all-of-the-above approach in his second term. He is instead waging a war on solar and wind power. It is a mirror image of the strategy that conservatives criticize the fringes of the environmental movement for favoring. Rather than trying to put oil companies out of business, Mr. Trump is going after clean energy, and Americans will face higher bills as a result.
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