Viewpoint: War exposes folly of Trump’s energy policy
Sneed Collard
It’s a safe bet that Trump is not getting what he wanted out of the Iran War. Far from rallying America behind our president and diverting attention from Trump’s disastrous economic policies, the war has further exposed the glaring weaknesses in the GOP’s abilities to govern. Nowhere is that more evident than in Trump’s energy policy.
Trump came into the White House bellowing a simple-minded philosophy of “Drill, baby drill!” It was an idea that even many in the oil industry failed to embrace. At a moment in history when the US stood on the cusp of becoming competitive with China in renewable energy, Trump suddenly waved a white flag. It’s as if he was telling China, “Oh hey, we can’t compete after all. We are delighted to give you the world’s biggest economic engine into the future.” He wasn’t passive about it either as he purposely set about gutting our domestic solar and wind industries, throwing tens of thousands of people out of work.
Trump followed up that neat trick by trying to bully foreign countries into buying our oil. From the get go, this was doomed to failure since by now, most other countries realize that their energy futures lie in the independence that renewables offer—not shackling themselves further to petroleum producing nations.
Ironically, it is Trump’s war with Iran that has most revealed the idiocies of Trump’s own policies. The war—especially the closing of the Straits of Hormuz and the disruption of Middle East oil production—is a giant “Ah-ha!” moment for the entire world. Americans and plenty of others across the globe are wondering, “Isn’t it time to free ourselves from being held hostage by the oil industry?” That won’t come from chanting “Drill, baby drill!” It will only come by the increasing adoption of clean technologies—the very solar and wind technologies Trump has bent over backward trying to destroy.
What’s incredible is that this is the first time in the industrial age when switching to these technologies is not only possible, it makes far greater economic sense than doubling down on fossil fuels. Nations across the globe are realizing that it’s smarter to install wind and solar energy than to build traditional fossil fuels-based power plants. Not only are renewables cheaper, they can be much more modular, often delivering power without the huge investments in infrastructure that fossil fuels require.
Americans are discovering the same thing. Thanks to solar tax credits from previous administrations, my family and many others were fortunate enough to be able to install rooftop solar panels. The electricity generated by our own system promised to pay for itself in six or seven years—before the recent electricity price hikes caused by data center electricity demands.
Now, those with rooftop solar have been shielded from these spikes by our own mini power plants. This will become even more possible with the adoption of inexpensive plug-in solar modules that anyone will easily be able to buy and use—if and when, of course, Montana follows the smart examples of Utah and Vermont and approves them for use in our state!
All of this, together with the price shocks of the Iran War, makes you wonder just what the Trump administration has been thinking about energy. The only conclusion I can reach is that it hasn’t really been thinking at all. Like almost all of the administration’s actions, Trump hasn’t been guided by common sense, but by infantile impulses—leaving the rest of us, once again, to try to deal with his mess.
Sneed Collard is a writer from Missoula.