The Case for Energy Security Finds an Ally: ALEC in National Review
"A new declaration of independence — of the national-energy kind — has been promulgated by the American Legislative Exchange Council."
A recent article in National Review showcased one of ALEC’s newest model policies: The Affordable, Reliable, and Clean Energy Security Act. As ALEC’s Jonathan Williams explained to National Review, this model seeks to shift control of energy security from Washington, D.C. to the 50 states, giving state leaders a larger role in shaping energy policies.
A new declaration of independence — of the national-energy kind — has been promulgated by the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as “ALEC,” which this week unveiled model legislative policy aiming to redirect the vital and contentious issue of American energy away from its Washington, D.C., battleground and to the 50 states, for the purpose of providing we the people a greater and more-localized say in energy security.
The Affordable, Reliable and Clean Energy Security Act, a product of ALEC’s nonpartisan Task Force on Energy, Environment and Agriculture, articulates a decidedly patriotic take on power — that thing of watts, volts, and miles per gallon — highlighting energy security, affordability, reliability, and cleanliness, each aspect with the potential to cause ideological umbrage.
Prompting the pushback effort, says Jonathan Williams, ALEC’s chief economist and vice president of policy, is “radical progressives’ war on energy.” Charging that leftist activism “has led to a myriad of problems — from driving the crushing inflation burden on hardworking Americans to threatening the security of America and our allies abroad,” Williams says. “It is essential for America to change course and lead the way by providing energy and infrastructure security in this time of global turbulence.”
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On security, ALEC’s model bill emphasizes domestic production of fuel, as well as infrastructure “necessary to deliver energy to the customer,” thereby minimizing “reliance on foreign nations for critical materials or manufacturing.”
It defines an “affordable energy source” as one having a “stable and predictable cost” and that is a “cost-effective means of heating, cooling, and generating electricity.” The model definition of affordability eye-pokes Green New Deal worshippers by (a) prioritizing energy that “delivers substantial savings to homes and businesses compared to other resources based on the average cost per unit of energy output for the past five years,” and (b) is inclusive of “energy generated by reliable hydrocarbon as a resource.”
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Conservatives, if not all Americans, should be cheered by this attempt to bring state leadership to an issue that is vital to national security, economic growth, energy abundance, and human flourishing. “Thankfully,” says Williams, “states are already leading the way in pushing back against politicized ESG divestment campaigns that weaken energy independence and instead supporting an ‘all of the above,’ free market approach for energy abundance.” He calls ALEC’s proposal “yet another key free-market energy-policy idea available to lawmakers across the nation. As the federal government continues to suffer from gridlock, we can always count on the states — the 50 laboratories of democracy — to provide innovative policy solutions to our key policy challenges.”