By this point, most of you have likely grown accustomed to the Biden administration issuing new, crushing regulations every time the mood hits them, all in the name of supposedly saving the climate. They particularly seem to enjoy going after home appliances of various sorts, ranging from gas stoves to air conditioners and heaters. But how do they arrive at these decisions and who is setting all of these destructive standards? Most of them originate in the Department of Energy, which is rather odd to begin with. However, an investigation by the Free Beacon revealed that the ideas don't all come out of the DOE. Nearly every announcement of new regulations has included an advisory that the rules were crafted with "the help of recommendations from a wide range of stakeholders." Fair enough, but who are these wise and educated stakeholders? As it turns out, nearly all of them that have been identified are climate activist groups and left-leaning environment or consumer groups that are heavily funded by the usual list of suspects. So that's who has been trying to take away your gas stove.
Each time the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized regulations targeting popular home appliances—including stoves, clothes washers, refrigerators, and water heaters—over the last several months, the agency included a similar line in the announcement: The new rules were crafted with the help of recommendations from a "wide range of stakeholders."
According to the DOE, the stakeholders included industry partners and consumer advocacy organizations. A Washington Free Beacon review, however, shows 7 out of the 10 stakeholders whose recommendations DOE consulted are climate activist groups or left-leaning consumer groups. Those groups collectively boast substantial financial backing from grantmaking nonprofits that regularly funnel money to a wide range of progressive social and environmental initiatives.
Among the stakeholders are the Consumer Federation of America, Appliance Standards Awareness Project, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Earthjustice, National Consumer Law Center, National Resources Defense Council, and Consumer Reports.
The groups listed above all lean hard to the left and they have been given prime seats at the table when decisions are being made about new regulations. They are funded by outfits such as Bloomberg, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the TomKat Foundation. If you follow the link to learn more about TomKat's charitable work, the number one item on their list of priorities is the goal of creating "a world with climate stability." What would these people know about natural gas consumption rates, emissions, and efficiency rates?
Do you know who doesn't appear on the list of stakeholders for the DOE? This is not a single energy company that is actually responsible for producing any of the products in question or delivering the energy that allows them to operate. Wouldn't you imagine that the Department of Energy might be interested in receiving some input from, oh... I don't know... some energy companies? Instead, they're letting a bunch of climate alarmists with flowers in their hair determine when you can run your air conditioning and what temperature it can be set at.
How have these modified regulations been working out thus far? Last year the DOE issued its new rules for air cleaners and room air conditioners. The announcement was filled with all manner of amazing claims about how Americans would be saving millions of dollars in electric costs and reducing their carbon footprint even further. What they didn't tell you was that the manufacturers who make those products are nowhere near reaching those levels of efficiency using current technology and even if they manage to do it they will have to drive up their prices considerably. While making the announcement, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was quoted saying, “DOE will continue to engage with our public and private sector partners to finalize additional proposals like today’s." Now we know who those private sector partners are and where their priorities lie.
This is what happens when you put someone like Jennifer Granholm in charge of the Department of Energy. She's not a scientist or an engineer with any knowledge of the field. She has a Bachelor of Arts and a law degree. She has spent almost her entire career in and around politics. She wouldn't know a power grid from a popsicle stick. But she knows what the agenda of the radical left is all about and it doesn't involve ensuring your comfort at home or keeping your lights turned on. I'm grateful to the Free Beacon for their work in exposing all of these people. Now we just need to get someone new in charge at the Department of Energy and start cleaning house and backing down from all of these insane restrictions.
