America must break its addiction to fossil fuels
Few things are more critical to the quality of our lives than energy. So, should we be alarmed by President Trump's declaration that America has an "energy emergency?" And is Trump correct that the goal of national policy should be "energy dominance?"
The answer to both questions is yes, but not in the way Trump intends. The correct understanding of America's energy situation suggests a positive vision for our future and a strategy to achieve it. Democrats should pay attention if they want a unifying message for the country.
Hours after taking the oath of office, Trump issued an executive order declaring an energy emergency. Such declarations give presidents extraordinary powers. In this case, the president intends to accelerate fossil fuel production by circumventing environmental and social safeguards.
However, there is no shortage of fossil fuels in the United States and no pressing need to boost production unless Trump further alienates Canada, the principal source of America's imported oil. We are facing real emergencies, however: a public health crisis, economic instability, and destructive weather disasters caused by our long dependence on oil, coal and natural gas.
It is time to break the habit.
If Trump were really worried about an energy shortage, he would advocate the rapid deployment of clean, inexhaustible and indigenous renewable energy. Instead, he issued an order "Terminating the Green New Deal" and paused funding appropriated by Congress for clean energy technologies and infrastructure.
Although an energy crunch may be developing due to the power demands of artificial intelligence, new manufacturing plants, data farms and crypto mining, the solution is not more fossil fuels. The solution is to fill in the gaps in the nation's transmission infrastructure to move solar and wind power from where it's produced to where it's needed. Better yet, the new demand centers should maximize energy efficiency and locate clean power generation on-site.
As for energy dominance, it's a hypermasculine fantasy. Trump has been told repeatedly that no nation, including ours, can dominate oil and gas supplies and prices. The global oil market determines them.
If we want energy dominance, clean energy technologies are the place to achieve it. They are one of the world's biggest market opportunities. The International Energy Agency expects clean energy investments to rise to over $2 trillion in the next 10 years. Although the U.S. invented solar electric technology and wind energy was largely perfected here, China dominates the global market today.
This is where a new vision comes in. Our national goal should be to end the suffering caused by fossil fuels and leave our children a world where human society and nature coexist in "productive harmony." Contrary to industry propaganda, both goals are within reach.
If this sounds "woke," so be it. It is the goal Congress set 55 years ago in America's most important environmental law. It's still in effect today.
Consider the alternative. More than 5 million people per year are killed worldwide by fossil fuel pollution, even though clean energy technologies are available and cost-effective. The U.S. carries some responsibility for those fatalities because we lead the world in oil and gas exports.
Fossil fuels are the principal cause of air pollution that causes the premature deaths of more than 50,000 Americans yearly and raises healthcare costs by $600 billion. Climate change was a factor in 27 extreme weather disasters in 2024, each causing damages exceeding $1 billion. The events killed 568 people, displaced families, destroyed local economies and strained government spending. More than 400 such events have occurred since 1980, costing nearly $3 trillion.
For thousands of American families, the perverse impacts of fossil fuels are ever-present. They live in "sacrifice zones" where fossil fuel pollution is severe and where asthma, respiratory diseases and cancers are more common. Sacrifice zones are a "moral stain on the nation," as one advocacy organization puts it.
Trump's executive order claims that more oil and gas production will make us safer from "hostile foreign actors," but the opposite is true. As the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School notes, "the sum total of the political effects generated by the oil industry makes oil a leading cause of war. Between one-quarter and one-half of interstate wars since 1973 have been connected to one or more oil-related causal mechanisms. No other commodity has had such an impact on international security."
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared that any outside attempt to control the Persian Gulf region would be considered an assault against the vital interests of the United States. Since then, we have fought oil-related wars in Iraq-Iran, the Gulf and Iraq again.
For the good of our own country, Congress should formalize America’s participation in the Paris climate agreement and the goal to decarbonize the economy by 2050. It should codify a national commitment to restore the ecosystem services we have degraded or destroyed during the fossil-fuel era. The foundation for a "restoration economy" already exists with the jobs and GDP the nation's current environmental regulations create.
The truth is, the United States will be its own worst enemy so long as we remain addicted to fossil fuels. Although we have already locked ourselves into significant climate change, a better future is still possible. We saw it when the COVID-19 lockdown dramatically curtailed fossil-fuel consumption, and the "Earth found its rhythm" again.
Our obligation — and our opportunity — could not be clearer. It's to create an economy in which society and nature coexist in a healthy and prosperous relationship that can be sustained for countless generations to come. If Democrats, independents and centrist Republicans want a vision that can unify America, this is it.
William S. Becker is a former regional director at the U.S. Department of Energy and author of several books on climate change and national disaster policies, including the “100-Day Action Plan to Save the Planet,” published by St. Martin’s Griffin, and “The Creeks Will Rise: People Co-Existing with Floods,” published by the Chicago Review Press.
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