An honest discussion on “green energy” should focus on its impact on the environment and the economy, national security, and morality.

All forms of energy cause environmental impacts, from its extraction, creation, use, and disposal. We deserve honest information to balance pros and cons and make judgments because it’s not simply “good vs. bad.” Government imposed policies slowing oil and gas production and forcing “green energy” have economic, national security, moral and environmental costs. Individuals and businesses should be free to make choices once armed with the facts.

First, there is no such thing as pure “green energy.” Politicians and activists tout “green energy” as if there’s no waste or negative impacts to the environment from electric cars, windmills or solar panels. Those politicians are either clueless, misleading us, or blindly advocating a religion-like ideology.

Constructing a solar panel or windmill requires natural gas components, such as plastics. Factories making “green energy” products require electricity — usually coming from gas or coal-fired plants. Delivering the parts and completed solar panels and windmills require gasoline, diesel fuel, and perhaps jet fuel.

There’s also no accounting for when it’s cloudy. When there’s little to no breeze, a windmill’s diesel-fueled engines kick-in. Storing their energy requires batteries that are inherently inefficient and made from minerals needing to be mined. (We’ll come back to that.) When those enormous, sky-scraper sized windmills wear out or tip over and break, they are “buried” in windmill graveyards. And, we would need to set aside land the size of cities to bring wind and solar to even 25 percent of American energy production — that’s before we talk about our nation’s inadequate electric-grids to transmit electricity. 

Does that sound “green?”

Second, electric cars (“EVs”) are not “clean.”

When you take into account the EVs’ environmental impacts from parts, manufacturing, charging and disposing of the eventually-dead battery, the impacts are about the same as a traditional car albeit in different ways.

EVs require enormous mineral-rich 1,000-pound batteries — as compared to less than 400-pound traditional engines. Those minerals require mining and drilling with enormous multi-ton drills and earth-movers (many are larger than homes). Those mega-machines require thousands of gallons of diesel to operate, as does the processing of the millions of tons of earth and rock that must be crushed, washed and sifted to find the exact minerals needed. This is part of a process creating billions of gallons of waste water every day.

In the name of “saving the environment,” our government prohibits mining for minerals in areas in Minnesota, Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, or California. Thus, the minerals needed to construct batteries come from mines in China or Africa — and many African mines are owned or operated by Chinese businesses. Perhaps by choice, many seem unaware that in many cases the sifting for minerals is done by teenage or pre-teen children from Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria or South Africa.

To build EV batteries, companies use countless gallons of fuel, billions of gallons of wastewater, grueling child labor, and a growing dependence on Chinese-processed minerals, all for an American EV car market of 3 million cars, in a nation of over 278 million vehicles — a little over one percent. Plus, EVs have to be charged, with electricity most likely produced by a coal or gas-powered plant.

How much more fuel and water would be needed, how many more Chinese companies would we enrich, and how many more African children would have to mine to get America’s fleet up to even ten percent? And how would that small goal even be attained — even if it was desirable? How is that “green?” 

Third, President Biden’s policies, speeches and intentionally slow permitting process efforts have intentionally reduced the growth of America’s oil and gas production. The results are higher energy prices and inflation, growing dependence on our enemies and harming the very environment that Biden claims to care about. 

Worse yet, Biden’s actions have guaranteed lower production in the future by discouraging companies from exploring for new deposits of oil and gas and developing plans for new pipelines, necessary to safely and effectively transport energy into our homes and businesses.

Anyone who has lived in the real world knows that reducing the supply of something drives up the cost. Americans have paid the price — literally. Gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil, natural gas, propane, and fertilizer have all gone up and caused inflation. (Many politicians have stated they want higher energy prices to discourage use, yet still decry the price hikes when they happen.) Americans have sacrificed, started buying differently or have loaded-up our credit cards to deal with higher costs.

Since American production is down, where does the rest of our oil come from? Our strategic petroleum reserve (“SPR”) and Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. These nations are not exactly known for their stewardship of the environment. So, we’re paying more, becoming more dependent on our enemies and making the environment worse. Plus, Biden has drained our “SPR,” putting us at risk from a natural disaster, terrorism or war.

Politicians and “environmental-activists” fighting to end or greatly reduce American production of oil and gas are, again, either clueless, misleading us, or blindly advocating a religion-like ideology.

America can lead the way on both energy production of all types, as well as environmental stewardship. Virtue-signaling, shouting slogans, and hiding the realities that no energy source is truly “green” and that energy-production is integral to our economy and national security is no way to create policy — let alone impose it.

We should create a multi-faceted energy policy that makes us energy independent, helps our environment, creates jobs, and makes us less dependent on our enemies and their use of child-labor — to make us a true world leader.

Guy Ciarrocchi is Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, and a columnist with
Broad+Liberty and RealClearPennsylvania. Follow him @GuyCiarrocchi.