Everyone is talking about affordability and the rising cost of energy to power our lives — with good reason. Leading up to Winter Storm Fern, natural gas prices skyrocketed more than 50% in just two days. Since President Trump took office, electricity prices have risen by 13%, despite his promise to cut them in half in his first year. Now, 16% of U.S households are behind on their electricity bills, and that number is expected to rise throughout the winter.
And we all know that much more energy will be needed in the years ahead to meet our electrification needs. The Trump administration and its well-funded allies in the fossil fuel industry are blocking our ability to put the cheapest, most reliable energy onto the grid. They are standing in the way of progress, pushing a false narrative that our country needs more dirty, expensive energy to bring costs down.
Our state and local leaders, environmental advocates, and businesses are the ones pushing to build more. They are the ones focused on a pro-growth agenda that invests in the U.S. economy and meets new energy demand with clean energy. Now is the time for all Americans to stand together, not in anger or frustration, but with hope, inspiration, and resilience. We already have the technologies, policies, and practices we need to deliver a cleaner, safer, and more affordable world. We just have to build it.
It’s time to push for common-sense policies that quickly scale up the cheapest forms of energy — solar, wind, and battery storage — to protect our health and natural resources. And it’s high time we let families keep their hard-earned money rather than pay to keep dirty coal and other volatile and expensive fossil fuels — including natural gas — alive.
Our federal government is propping up polluting sources of energy that are draining our economy. They are forcing coal plants to stay open while costing ratepayers millions. In fact, Trump’s U.S. Department of Energy just extended its order to keep Michigan’s JH Campbell coal plant running for four more months, forcing consumers to pay a whopping $113 million in costs so far, despite the state’s utility saying that “no energy emergency exists.”
Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is stripping states and Tribes of their authority to protect water resources that their communities depend on to allow more oil and gas pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure to be built, doubling down on the very problem that is driving prices up. Retail natural gas prices have risen 11% year over year, far outpacing inflation. Moreover, gas price spikes have been a major factor in rising retail electricity bills, particularly in the Northeast and Southeast. We’re seeing similar cost increases as a result of Trump’s liquified natural gas export policies and his constant attacks on the Inflation Reduction Act.
Let me be clear: Renewable energy is the fastest and cheapest option to add power to the grid. Period. Full Stop. Already nearly 80% of planned power plant capacity is tied to renewable sources, according to Cleanview.co. Solar made up 98% of new capacity this fall. States with the highest levels of wind and solar generation, like Iowa and Oklahoma, have the lowest utility bill rate increases in America. States like New Mexico are already ahead of schedule to meet their clean energy goals, while also keeping rates down.
So don’t buy what the Trump administration is selling. We can have long-term, stable economic growth built on cheap, clean energy that doesn’t trash our watersheds and destroy the places we love. In Nevada and Utah, the Sierra Club worked alongside Fervo to secure a new deal to supply 24/7 carbon-free energy to a large Google data center built with new environmental principles for advanced geothermal. And in Michigan and Illinois, a broad coalition of environmental leaders worked with industry stakeholders to achieve common sense permitting reform to facilitate faster adoption of more affordable energy onto the grid in the Midwest.
We all know from experience that the fossil fuel industry will do everything it can to force us to stick with the status quo. They aren’t going to stand idle and give up their foothold on dirty energy, which they have long enjoyed. That’s why we must deliver pro-growth solutions and stand up against those blocking progress to line their pockets with families’ hard-earned money.
It’s time for us to take charge and build a clean, affordable energy future. We need to call on our policymakers in states and cities to stand up for their constituents. And we need business leaders to invest in our economic future. Now is the time to demand the healthy, low-cost, clean energy future that empowers all of us.
