Gov. Doug Burgum (R-North Dakota), President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Interior Secretary, spoke during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on why reliable coal energy is a national security issue. I explained in detail what it is.
Burgum's Thursday comments came Sen. Jim Justice (R-West Virginia) highlighted concerns about a potential power crisis, specifically responding that “permits have become completely outrageous.”
“Our country is in an energy crisis, and the root cause is actually related to electricity,” Burgum said. “Power is on the brink. Our grid is at a point where it could become completely unstable. It could be months before prices for Americans skyrocket.”
Burgum then pointed to the need for electricity in the artificial intelligence “arms race” and stressed that wind and solar alone will not lead the United States to victory.
“And of course, as we talked about in the AI arms race, manufacturing requires electricity,” Bagum said. “And AI is about manufacturing intelligence. And if we don't produce more intelligence than our adversaries, it's going to impact every job and every company in every industry.”
“You understand that,” he told the judge. “And we have to get to work.Currently, some FERC queues allow [the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee] For power, that's over seven years…FERC's queue is 95 percent intermittent power and only 5 percent base load. ”
Burgum emphasized the need for a balance between baseload energy and renewable energy.
“We have to balance the two, otherwise the grid is like a giant machine that won't work, so we have to work on permitting reforms and speeding up permitting.” Burgum elaborated. , which criticizes the tax incentives that currently exist for renewable energy and the barriers that are erected for baseload energy.
“Right now we're stacking the deck… putting in obstacles for people who want to do baseload, but huge tax incentives for people who want to do intermittent, unreliable stuff. “And we have to get it back on line,” he added.
Burgum said the U.S. can achieve a healthier balance between renewable and baseload energy while also achieving “our desired goal of a cleaner environment.”
