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‘Deeply Flawed’: Democrats’ Climate Bill May Supercharge China And Its Carbon Emissions

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The Democrats’ massive climate spending bill, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, may empower China’s green energy manufacturing while doing little to curb carbon emissions.

The $369 billion package will rapidly accelerate the development and usage of solar, wind and battery power. However, it is likely that a significant portion of green energy manufacturing will take place in China, the world’s top carbon emitter, where fossil fuels are a main source of energy, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

“It’s a deeply flawed and not fully thought-through plan,” Mark Mills, energy and tech expert at the Manhattan Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Massive quantities of essential minerals including cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium and graphite are needed for batteries, solar panels and other renewable energy products. However, China, a nation that is considered an “entity of concern,” has a stranglehold on both the global supply and refinement of these minerals, according to a 2021 International Energy Agency report.

“The other part of the picture being ignored is that the pursuit of more minerals than the world (or China) can supply will cause mineral prices to inflate to record levels,” Mills said. “That will impact the costs of building not just wind/solar/battery machines, but everything else made from the same minerals, such as copper and nickel.”

China, which uses coal as a primary energy source, produces 80% of the world’s solar panels and 77% of lithium-ion batteries. Coal, which accounted for 58% of China’s energy production in 2019, emits about twice the amount of greenhouse gases as natural gas, an energy source that is commonly used in the U.S.

“The bill is doing more to help China’s economy than America’s,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprises Institute, told the DCNF.

The tax credits and reductions in the bill are intended to strengthen domestic supply chains for green energy. However, the Biden administration continues to obstruct mining projects that would help its ambitious energy transition such as lithium mining in Nevada and nickel, cobalt and copper mining in Minnesota.

“There’s no chance – none – for the U.S. to expand domestic mining and refining rapidly enough to dent Chinese dominance in the near future,” Mills stated.

The White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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One Comment

  1. So we are going to enrich the world’s largest polluter and a coal energy based country to pursue a “Green New Deal” policy that’s failed spectacularly all over Europe. Here’s some more truths about the new bill.
    “The inflation reduction act” will further collapse our economy and destroy what’s left of the middle class. More inflation, billions in tax credits for “Green” energy and billions more to literally double the size of the IRS in case you are not compliant. The Globalists are wrecking economies across the world with their “Green New Deal” policies and our politicians are doing it here. It is inconceivable to me that they can watch Germany and all of Europe become slaves to Russian gas and oil, after decades of shutting down their coal fired plants and installing windmills and solar, and then want to do the same thing here. Of course it’s not reported but all of Europe is now funding Putin and we are sending endless billions to Ukraine for a war that we didn’t want, didn’t vote on and can’t win. That’s insane! The supreme irony is the destruction of the middle class in the name of “saving the planet”, but it’s all a scam.

    In the bill there’s even 47 billion for “environmental equity”. Are you kidding me? Can anyone define that or tell me what that means? It’s nothing but a slush fund for big Democratic donors.

    Then of course, there is 80 billion dollars (that we don’t have) to add 87,000 more IRS agents. Biden said that only those making over $400,000 would pay more taxes. Would we need to double the size of the IRS to audit the 1.8% of the population that makes over $400,000. No, historically over half of the IRS audits are on people making 75,000 or less. So it’s another lie, everyone will be paying higher taxes and they are clearly coming again for the middle class. And in case you are audited, you better have tens of thousands of dollars to try and prove your case. So the message, as always, is “comply or else”.

    As the country collapses further and the middle class is destroyed, Americans will beg for more government “help” which means more government control. The new government policies (already being put in place) will purge the military, businesses, and, of course, all the government of any opposition. The Mainstream and Social Media are obviously complicit. Coup complete. That’s also why they are “hands off” on the CCP; that’s their working model. We will become the western version with a Communist/Socialist ruling class in collusion with select obedient, monolithic corporations and the poor masses that will own nothing. Just like every other Socialist/Communist state in history.

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