EXCLUSIVE — The Heritage Foundation is urging lawmakers to pare back a number of green energy policies and proposals, arguing they have led to China’s growing dominance in the energy sector and have put the United States in peril.
The conservative think tank released its fourth and final pillar of the “Chinese Handcuffs” project on Thursday, outlining a number of policy recommendations to Congress and the White House to address China’s energy dominance. That strength, the report argues, has been vastly accelerated under the Biden administration through its “radical environmental agenda” which Heritage argues has weakened U.S. energy independence and benefited China’s interests.
“When it comes to energy security, the United States must be the solution—not the problem. The Biden-Harris administration’s green energy offensive has not only raised prices for millions of Americans, but it has also handcuffed the United States to its top adversary: China,” Victoria Coates, vice president of Heritage’s Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, said in a statement.
“American citizens must not be at the mercy of Communist China—and there is no reason for them to be,” she added. “The U.S., not China, should be a global energy powerhouse fueling the future.”
As part of its report, Heritage unveiled six policy recommendations to lawmakers that the group believes will strengthen the U.S. in the energy sector. The report is set to be released during a panel event with Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) on Thursday.
The report pushes for the expansion of permits for oil and gas development as well as the domestic mining of critical minerals as a way to preserve U.S. energy independence and export energy to allies. The group is also pushing to repeal any green subsidies and replace them with tax reforms to lower rates and expense investment.
Heritage is also looking to directly thwart China’s dominance by distributing materials explaining trade deals with countries in Africa and Latin America to “secure fair access to their materials” to ensure China doesn’t dominate the critical minerals market. Additionally, the group is urging a ban on Chinese electric vehicles as well as a rollback of mandates for renewable energy policies and for electric cars and trucks.
The policies are recommendations for the next GOP presidential administration and those elected to Congress next year. Heritage says they must work to “reverse the mandates and detrimental effects of the Biden-Harris administration’s green energy agenda.”
“America is the leading producer of oil and clean natural gas and should not sacrifice its energy independence to China due to myths about climate change,” said Diana Furchgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at Heritage and co-author of the report. “The 18 policy solutions found in this report would, if implemented, protect the U.S. homeland, safeguard America’s economy, and remove U.S. reliance on China.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The report comes as the final piece of Heritage’s “Chinese Handcuffs” project, which seeks to strengthen U.S. energy dominance against China. The group has argued that the push to adopt green energy policies has contributed to China’s power, accusing the Biden administration of implementing policies that will allow China to “dominate future energy markets for decades to come.”
The group previously released reports on how those green energy policies negatively affect the U.S. military as well as the country’s natural resources and minerals production.