A reasonable energy policy for our nation

It was reported recently that in 2025, the contiguous 48 states of the U.S. experienced the hottest annual average temperature ever recorded.

The record setting average was 76.89 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 1/8 of a degree warmer than the hottest annual average recorded during the Dirty Thirties.

This fact — along with heat domes, more frequent tornadoes and devastating straight winds, record rainfalls, extended droughts and wildfires in all regions of the US and globally has led the scientific community and rational persons to conclude that climate change caused by human consumption of fossil fuels and the accompanying release of heat capturing gases is not just a theory; it is the reality of our world today.

Tragically, President Donald Trump is not among those we identify as being a part of the scientific community or known rational persons.

Trump the denier not only continues to refer to climate change brought on by global warming as a Chinese hoax; but he also is taking active steps to foster the life of the fossil fuel industry and to impede the implementation of green energy policies.

Recently, without specific authority, he ordered the allocation of $850 million to upgrade 13 coal fired electrical generating plants and to build two new coal fired plants. In doing so, he spoke of “beautiful clean coal” which is a reference that has no basis in fact.

In further support of the fossil fuel industry, he has ordered the drastic reduction of federal monument designations and opened the land up to coal and oil exploration, mining and drilling.

He has not been satisfied with simply boosting the fossil fuel industry in defiance of climate change warnings; he also has halted policies adopted earlier to combat climate change.

The development and use of alternative energy sources is a sound economic and effective policy in response to global warming. Again, without specific authority, he allocated $4 billion to purchase 12 leases that had been awarded earlier to foreign corporations for construction of offshore wind turbines. The companies were then offered an incentive to conduct fossil fuel research and development in the US. In addition, the federal incentives to produce and market EVs have been cancelled leaving the US lagging behind our global competitors in the production and marketing of the vehicles of the future.

Alternative energy research is being defunded by the Trump Administration and fossil fuel research is being encouraged.

I accept the argument that we must go through a period of transition from heavy reliance on fossil fuels to heavy reliance on alternative energy sources. But transition does not mean fluctuating policies of pro-fossil fuels versus pro-alternative energy with each new administration in Washington.

Trump One brought us four years of delay and retreats and Trump Two has brought us more years of delay and retreat.

In the meantime, the production and consumption of fossil fuel continue nearly unabated, and climate change becomes more of a witnessed reality.

I do not believe that government mandates to prohibit the production and consumption of fossil fuels will ever meet with popular approval, but I do believe the pricing of energy sources will eventually lead consumers away from coal, natural gas and oil to less expensive and less harmful energy alternatives.

It was not government regulations alone that brought about the demise of coal in the US. Coal has plunged as a preferred energy source in the US over the last two decades because corporations began to capture, transport and sell more natural gas as a less expensive and cleaner alternative to coal as an energy source to generate electricity. It became a matter of consumer preference.

I believe the same can happen with alternative energy sources including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, hydrogen, battery energy storage systems, nuclear and others.

Price will ultimately determine consumer preference for alternative energy, but climate change deniers fostering fossil fuel policies and impeding alternative energy research and development will push that point farther into the future. Perhaps too far.