It is no secret that New Hampshire and Granite Staters are on a big climate cult meat hook, not entirely of our own making. Yes, we still have lingering mandates like carbon credit schemes (neutered but not gone) alongside renewable portfolio mandates. These should have been flushed down the toilet years ago, but bitter climate clingers have kept them on life support. Those need to go, but the bigger threat comes from states with whom we share an electrical grid.
That’d be the rest of New England, blue states all, peddling EV mandates and wind and solar fantasies whose pursuit would make electricity more expensive for everyone on the grid – including New Hampshire.
Last week, the US House voted to end California’s special power to regulate emissions, which both of NH’s congress critters opposed. A small step that needs to take a larger leap in the US Senate. But every surrounding state has some level of buy-in on California’s plan, so ending it shows promise. Short of a sea change or a lead-footed energy plan that powers New Hampshire regardless of what our dipshit regional cousins do, we need more help.
The US Department of Justice to the rescue?
It’s not just the California standards. States like Vermont have passed legislation that purports to manage air and water resources. Things that make living in New England more expensive by making electricity more expensive. EV mandates and heat pump mandates that increase demand, and more reliance on more pricey wind and solar rather than reliable, cheaper fossil fuel energy. Price pressures that leak into your utility bills, for which we have little recourse.
Is there some light at the end of this tunnel?
The feds are suing Vermont (and several other states) on the pretense that they lack the authority to exercise power over things of an interstate nature. and in violation of the Clean Air Act. [Related”Vermont’s Dumb (and Unconstitutional) Bill to Fine Big Oil for “Emissions”]
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil suit against the State of Vermont for Act 122, the 2024 climate Superfund law. …
The feds claim that these proposed measures conflict with the Clean Air Act and are unconstitutional, asserting that such litigation hinders energy production, raises energy costs for Americans, and weakens national security against foreign threats.
“The Superfund Act is preempted by the Clean Air Act, exceeds the territorial reach of Vermont’s legislative power, unlawfully discriminates against interstate commerce, conflicts with federal interstate commerce power, and is preempted by federal foreign-affairs powers,” says the lawsuit. “The Superfund Act is a brazen attempt to grab power from the federal government and force citizens of other States and nations to foot the bill for Vermont’s infrastructure wish list,” continues the complaint.
Vermont is already getting sued over the same leap. The Petroleum Institute and US Chamber of Commerce filed suit in January, claiming S.259 (Act 122) was unconstitutional and exceeded the state’s authority.
The outcome is unclear, and a climb up the judicial ladder seems likely, but absent pushback, these proglodytes would happily drag us down the same hole as the people who elected them into office.
On the bright side, the legislature is advancing bills that restructure energy policy in the state, from cleaning up the clutter to promoting small-scale nuclear. We even have a bill to look at leaving ISO-New England (the regional vehicle by which our neighbors have us over a demand/supply and price barrel).
I can’t say I expect much from it, but the movement is going in the right direction. And if Democrats were in charge, or ever manage to again, they’d be doing everything to make energy less abundant and more expensive.
I’ll take any wins we can get.
