This news won’t go over very well with the “keep it in the ground” crowd. The new crop of Democrats in Congress are still pushing their “Green New Deal” (GND) plan and are preparing to introduce specific legislation to begin the process. One of the loudest voices calling for this GND on the campaign trail was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and she’s teaming up with Senator Ed Markey to introduce an outline for how it’s going to work. They’re looking for a way to “eliminate the U.S. carbon footprint” in barely a decade. But there’s one liberal touchstone missing from the arrangement. It wouldn’t completely eliminate the use of fossil fuels. (Politico)

Legislative text being crafted by Democrats calls for “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” but doesn’t explicitly call for phasing out oil, gas and coal…

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are expected to introduce a resolution outlining elements of the plan within days, which will include a goal for eliminating the U.S. carbon footprint by 2030, according to multiple sources.

The text includes an aim to “achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for a fair and just transition for frontline communities and displaced workers,” among other high-level ambitions. It also opens the door to using still-unproven technology to eliminate carbon pollution from fossil fuel use — an avenue that many climate activists dismiss as an expensive dead end. But it does not explicitly call for eliminating fossil fuels themselves.

So this grand plan won’t immediately wipe out the entire oil and gas industry. It will just make affordable energy stupidly expensive. It also includes no plans for nuclear energy (which has zero carbon footprint) as part of our future. What it will include is a big carbon tax and requirements for carbon capture technology where coal, oil and natural gas are still in use. Just as a side note for those keeping score, those technologies are still years away from being optimized and generally available. They’ll also drive up the cost of conventional energy sources dramatically.

Who’s cooking up these plans? Oh, that’s right. It’s AOC and her allies. Not for nothing, but wasn’t she a bartender a few months ago? And now she’s developing our energy policy?

You can read more here about how even scientists concerned with climate change see nuclear energy as a critical part of our energy strategy. There’s also plenty of information available about how the American oil and gas industry is already very far ahead of Europe in reducing greenhouse gas levels without any new scheme like this. But if we let the Democrats push this progressive debacle through, we’ll just throw all that out the window, pay skyrocketing energy bills and leave the grid teetering if the wind dies down or it’s cloudy for too many days.

What a wonderful plan. The future’s so bright you’d better wear shades. And buy a warmer coat. And stock up on batteries for your flashlight.