The EV Tax Credit Is a Climate Lemon

This op-ed originally appeared in RealClearEnergy on June 10,2024. 

The latest act of the Biden Administration’s energy policy tragicomedy debuted in the Senate earlier this month. In the limelight was Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s top energy diplomat, who appeared before a Senate Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation. While the event was billed as a briefing on the energy situation in Europe, like a tired stage production, it quickly became a rendition of the Left’s frayed energy fantasies before an incredulous audience.

With a rapid-fire revision of recent history, the performance quickly established itself as a farce with tragic consequences. In his first few answers, Mr. Hochstein asserted that Europe had found its own way into a precarious situation and that it was up to the United States to find a solution. The energy maestro of Foggy Bottom also threw in, for good measure, that he had long warned about the political risks of Europe’s reliance upon Russian energy.

Despite his promises on the campaign trail of being ‘tough on Russia,’ President Biden broke from the Trump-era precedent and gifted sanctions waivers for Russia’s prized Nord Stream 2 pipeline. That was despite a bipartisan majority of senators seeking to sanction the project and a wide recognition that it would enshrine European reliance on Russian energy. The administration’s ex-post prophesies must have seemed odd to an audience of senators who were personally lobbied by Mr. Hochstein and Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland just six months ago to vote against sanctioning the pipeline before the war began.

Read the full op-ed in RealClearEnergy here.