How President Joe Biden Could Be Responsible for Turning Off 60% Of America’s Electricity

At last year's COP28 event, the annual United Nations climate change meeting being held in Dubai, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry declared that current power plants would have to be removed. As part of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which is composed of over 60 nations, Kerry said that the United States will expedite the phase-out of coal-fired power plants, except the very few that are equipped with carbon capture and storage.

The Environmental Protection Agency under President Joe Biden said in 2023 that it would set higher pollution standards for power plants, which coal facilities would find almost hard to comply with. According to EPA regulation, power plants that burn coal and natural gas would have to shut down or reduce their carbon emissions to almost nothing over the next ten years.

As per Fox News, President Biden said previously that wind and solar power will take the place of coal facilities 'all across America' when they are closed. As reported by the New York Post, Vice President Kamala Harris announced new regulations aimed at 'sharply reducing methane from the oil and natural gas industry.' The rule could significantly lower methane and other dangerous air pollutants produced by the oil and gas sector, encourage the use of state-of-the-art methane detection technologies, and have a positive impact on public health by lowering hospital visits, missed school days, and even fatalities.

Harris, the senior American delegate to the summit, said that the United States and other countries need to take decisive action to address the effects of climate change. The U.S. methane emissions legislation is a component of a larger Biden administration initiative that also includes financial incentives for the purchase of electric cars and infrastructure upgrades; according to Harris, these expenditures will come to almost $1 trillion over ten years.

However, the outlet highlights how America's ability to produce electricity will be severely limited if coal and natural gas facilities are eliminated. These rules would result in nationwide rolling blackouts and brownouts, similar to what was seen in California, the state that pioneered America's extreme anti-fossil fuel laws.

There could be periodic blackouts, and household air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter will need to be restricted or turned off. In the absence of gas and coal plants, industries, factories, schools, hospitals, and the Internet would often shut down due to the unreliability of alternative energy sources. The outlet also pointed out that America may soon lose up to 60% of its electric power output. Approximately 20% of electricity is still produced by coal, while 40% is produced by natural gas. 

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on December 10, 2023. It has since been updated.