Unreliable Energy From an Unreliable 'Partner'

"Green" Policies Benefit Red China

Via RealClear Politics comes a story about large amounts of money being funneled into an entity known as "Energy Foundation China." The piece elaborates a bit on the large amounts of money involved and notes at least one donor that has found a novel way of avoiding taxes by doing so indirectly.

But it saves the "best" for near-last by indicating one way these shenanigans are harming American interests:

Image by, Peggy Greb (US Dept. of Agriculture) via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

[T]he Biden administration is pursuing wind and solar energy projects and potential electric vehicle mandates. Since China has the corner on rare earth minerals used to manufacture renewable energy, there's an obvious problem. President Joe Biden could put the U.S. in a position in which it must rely on Chinese supply chains. This is tragic because it was only back in 2019 that the U.S. became energy independent for the first time in 62 years — meaning energy production in the U.S. exceeded consumption on an annual basis. This was not the result of mere happenstance but of deliberate public policy decisions that enabled hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling to boost oil and natural gas production. [bold added]

I would have preferred the story to elaborate more on this angle than it did, and raise the alarm, rather than merely call for "greater transparency" regarding such donations.

Fortunately, others, including energy advocate Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress are doing just that. His podcast on "Our Dangerous Material Dependence on China" thoroughly discusses the extent of the problem caused by China's near-monopoly on rare earths (among other things); and I look forward to his "China's Power Play."

Until then, I will refer you to Epstein's "Energy Talking Points" on this issue. To slightly modify one of his headings: Joe Biden's unprecedented attack on domestic fossil fuel production, combined with mandates for unreliable energy from unreliable trading partners will reliably weaken our country and lower our standard of living.

-- CAV