The budget bill now in the Senate will do more than eliminate Medicaid for over 13 million Americans, reduce food stamp benefits, and make us sicker. It will also gut renewable energy programs even as red states are discovering that solar is the best and cheapest for them.
The “drill, baby, drill” ideology has run up against the reality that coal and fossil fuel plants have slowed down. In Texas, for example, hardly a bastion of environmental thinking, solar projects have increased rapidly. But the proposed budget plans to axe connections of solar to the national energy grid.
This is what happens when ideology wins over practicality. Big Oil doesn’t care how much we have to pay for energy, only that it continues its outrageous profits at the cost of consumers. But those oil executives all pledged millions to certain politicians, and their money talks in Washington, for sure.
Prayer for the Day
Searching for answers, we come to you, O God,
Burdened by our cares, we turn to you, O Lord,
For we long for the peace that only you can give.
Be with us, O Holy One, in our daily lives,
And help us to share your peace with others.
In the name of the One who is our example,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
For 199 of the 210 coal plants, local solar replacement is less expensive than existing coal, and for 104 plants, local wind is less expensive. For 89 plants, both local wind and local solar were cheaper than coal, indicating a clean energy portfolio including local wind and solar is a viable replacement option for those plants, while providing additional grid reliability value.
Energy Innovation Report issued 2024
Indeed, the budget that cleared the House last month requalified nuclear projects for tax credits but moved the start date to 2028, a timeline many nuclear projects cannot meet. Even natural gas, the only fossil fuel price competitive with renewable energy, can’t make up the slack.
James Hassett for The Washington Monthly (June 2025)
Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,
Who says to a king, “You scoundrel!” and to princes, “You wicked men”
Who shows no partiality to nobles, nor regards the rich more than the poor.
For they are all the work of God’s hands?
Job 34: 17-19