Call It Greenflation — And Kamala Wants More Of It

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/09/23/call-it-greenflation-and-kamala-wants-more-of-it/

Every American should see (and share) the chart before they vote in November.

For families struggling to make ends meet, Kamala Harris claims she has a plan to lower energy costs. What she will deliver is more pain. Just ask anyone paying energy bills in a state her party controls.

On Harris’ campaign website, she pays lip service to reducing energy costs, but then rattles off a long list of plans to tackle the “climate crisis.”

We already know you can’t have one with the other.

At a congressional hearing last week, members of the House Budget Committee heard from witnesses about how Biden-Harris policies have fueled today’s energy crisis. One of the witnesses, Diana Furtchgott-Roth of the Heritage Foundation, presented lawmakers with a chart that deserves to be seen by anyone and everyone paying utility bills.

The chart ranks states based on the cost of electricity, as well as the cost of a gallon of gas.

Looking at the chart, you immediately notice something. Of the 16 states where electricity costs are higher than the national average, Republicans control only two. All the rest are either completely or partially run by Democrats.

Why are their energy bills so high? Well, all but two have imposed strict mandates for renewable energy – meaning that more than 15% of their electricity will have to come from “clean” sources by 2035.  What’s more, all but six also want 100% of cars sold in the state to be EVs by 2035.

In other words, these Blue states are fully bought into the climate “crisis.”

(Republican-controlled Alaska is an outlier because it has its own unique energy challenges.)

Meanwhile, of the 10 states with the lowest electricity rates, only Washington is controlled by Democrats. It has a strict renewable standard, and an EV mandate. But as Furtchgott-Roth notes, Washington is also a special case because 60% of its energy comes from hydropower (a cheap and “clean” energy source that environmentalists hate because it requires damming rivers).

The difference in household utility bills between these Blue and Red states is stark, with Californians paying nearly three times what Louisianans do, for example.

And this is just the beginning. Wait until those costly renewable mandates – combined with the surge in electricity demand that will result from state EV mandates and the growth of artificial intelligence – are in full force. Then Blue-state electricity costs will be stratospheric.

Keep in mind, too, that higher energy prices impact everything you buy because energy costs affect every business, and those costs are always passed down to consumers. So the overall cost of living in Blue states is higher as a result.

At the same time, the chart above also shows that gasoline prices tend to be higher in these Blue states. Sometimes much, much higher. A gallon of gasoline in California costs $4.75, but only $3.18 in Florida. These price differences, too, are largely caused by taxes and regulations.

What are those ratepayers and drivers in Blue states getting for all those extra costs?

Nothing.

Politicians in these states pass laws pushed by radical environmentalists to make themselves feel good. The costs are paid for by working families already struggling to make ends meet. And the impact on the climate is … zero.

Even if every state in the nation went 100% renewable, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to global temperatures, given that China and India are pumping out more CO2 each year than the U.S. could possibly ever cut.

The question Democrats need to answer is “Why do they hate their residents so much?”

But residents also need to ask themselves why they put up with such lunacy. Our guess is that most of them don’t know they’re being royally screwed.

The problem is that, no matter what Harris claims today, she desperately wants to make the entire country like those Blue states.

Which is another reason why every American should see (and share) the chart before they vote in November.

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