Voters oppose Biden pipeline order. 60% expect energy prices to rise.
/By Rubashov
On his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden signed an executive order blocking further construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Rasmussen polling organization reports that most voters disagree with Biden’s decision.
According to Rasmussen, only 36 percent of Likely U.S. Voters think it is a good idea to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport oil from Canada to the United States. 51 percent say canceling the pipeline is a bad idea, and 13 percent are not sure.
60 percent of voters expect energy prices to increase because of President Biden’s energy policies. Only 8 percent think Biden’s energy policies will lead to lower prices, while 25 percent expect prices to stay about the same.
77 percent of Republican voters oppose Biden’s Keystone XL Pipeline decision, but so do 20 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of voters not affiliated with either major party.
Expectations that President Biden’s energy policies will lead to higher energy prices are broadly shared, with 83 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of unaffiliated voters and even 37 percent of Democrats saying they expect to pay more because of Biden. Only 10 percent of Democrats expect Biden’s policies will lead to lower energy prices.
New Jersey residents face a double threat, with the administration of Governor Phil Murphy pushing a Wall Street backed $100 billion Energy Master Plan that will raise costs across the state. The Murphy energy plan pushes a new taxpayer-subsidized, government-mandated solar program like the one pushed on the residents of Sussex, Morris, and Somerset Counties a few years ago – the program that became known, infamously, as “the solar scam”.
The solar scam left taxpayers on the hook for millions, while generating lucrative fees for politically-connected law firms, government vendors, and Wall Street bankers. The taxpayers got nothing but the bill. The children and grandchildren of the taxpayers who were promised the benefits of this solar program will be paying for its corrupt broken promises.
We are concerned that the same kind of scam is going on now – only on a vastly larger and ultimately more disastrous scale – with Governor Murphy’s energy plan. Like the scam that so damaged the fiscal stability of northwest New Jersey, the first sign that something is up (something that they don’t want you to see, let alone comment on) is the lack of transparency.
According to Ron Morano, Executive Director of Affordable Energy New Jersey, the Murphy administration’s failure to provide transparency has revealed Murphy’s own concerns about his plan. In a backhanded compliment, aimed at administration officials who clearly recognize the flaws in Murphy’s plan, in December, Morano wrote:
“We applaud state government officials for finally recognizing that releasing the details of their $100 billion green fantasy will show that it is far too expensive for New Jersey taxpayers to stomach.”
“The fact is, when times were good before the COVID pandemic, the state failed to release this information for the public to see the true costs of Phil Murphy’s Energy plan. Now they are attempting to use the pandemic to distract from the fact that they continue to keep the public in the dark about their flawed plans.
While the Murphy Administration says they need to go back to the drawing board before releasing any analysis of costs, the fact is they need to go back to the drawing board on Phil Murphy’s Energy Plan itself.”
In response to Murphy’s lack of transparency, Affordable Energy for New Jersey submitted an OPRA request to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, asking for a copy of a report outlining the cost of NJ’s energy goals. Murphy has repeatedly delayed the release of this analysis, which details what the state’s energy policies will cost consumers and businesses to transition to a clean-energy economy.
AENJ's own analysis has totaled just the electrification costs at a minimum of $65 billion. This is only a portion of what is calculable, as the state refused to release additional cost analyses. The overall total is significantly higher.
Government works better when it is open and transparent. That’s not only our opinion – it is the opinion of the civilized world. Governments around the globe have signed-up to the United Nation’s Open Government Partnership. So, why is New Jersey under Phil Murphy lagging behind? Why isn’t New Jersey living up to international standards and universally recognized norms?
On transparency and open government, New Jersey needs to pull itself out of the gutter and up to the level of international norms. The Legislature, the Counties, and local governments should demand a financial impact statement from the Murphy administration. Make Murphy detail how his Energy Master Plan will affect the lives of the state’s residents, as they struggle through a pandemic – the government reactions to which have left people without the means to afford basics like health care.
“A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.”
— President James Madison
N.B. We welcome a conversation on this and all topics raised on this website. Jersey Conservative is entirely open to your ideas and opinions. To submit a column for publication, please contact Marianna at Marianna@JerseyConservative.org.
