Build Back Better Boondoggle
I like Michael Shellenberg. I enjoy reading his blog. I like him because he’s a thinker; not an ideologue. This is evident in his blog post, “Climate Dogma Killed Biden’s “Build Back Better.”
Michael Shellenberger
“Build Back Better,” the $1.7 trillion climate change boondoggle President Biden and progressive Democrats tried to push on the American people, went down to defeat when Senator Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia killed the legislation by refusing to vote for it. Build Back Better was also a sneaky way to lay the groundwork for higher taxes and beefing up the IRS to make sure they are paid.
“Progressives, environmentalists, and Democrats are furious with Sen. Manchin, but it was their own climate and renewables dogmatism that doomed the legislation. Democratic Senators could have written legislation that expanded nuclear energy and natural gas, the two main drivers of decarbonization, which are strongly supported by Manchin, and Republicans, but instead investments went overwhelmingly to solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars.”
Who would benefit financially from the Build Back Better subsidies, grants and spending: solar energy entities and foreign suppliers. After decades of trying, solar energy is still unproven as a large-scale energy option. What were the lessons learned by the Solyndra debacle, the Silicon Valley solar start-up that left taxpayers on the hook for $535 million in federal guarantees? Solar energy also brings its own environmental problems, which progressive Democrats ignore at our peril. “Solar Panel Waste – The Dark Side of Clean Energy.”
Shellenberg has the right idea: “The core principles of the energy legislation that comes next should be reliability, affordability, and sustainability. Only nuclear and natural gas fit the bill. Both are produced domestically, in contrast to solar panels and wind turbines. It also has to work politically. In October, a YouGov poll found that 53% percent of those polled in West Virginia thought Build Back Better would result in higher inflation, taxes, and interest rates.”
Go back and craft a better bill with bipartisan support and realistic funding. 
