Some energy industry groups are expressing concern that the White House will declare a COVID-19-like emergency—but for the climate instead.
An emergency declaration on the climate could give the president “vast and unchecked authority to shut down everything from communications to infrastructure,” said Mr. Stewart, who has been a critic of the Biden administration.
Infrastructure around water and electricity could be affected by such a decision, he said.
The White House press office didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment about whether the administration might be preparing such a declaration.
President Joe Biden and other administration officials have said that the United States and the world are in the midst of a “climate crisis” and have used language describing it as an emergency. So far, Mr. Biden has stopped short of declaring an emergency, although some Democrats and environmental groups have pushed the idea.
“It wasn’t too long ago that even posing a question like this would be considered preposterous even from Democrats,” he said. “After all—one of the defining problems of Third World countries is the lack of reliable energy infrastructure and supply.”
Amid relatively high temperatures across the East Coast last week, the White House sent out what it described as the “first-ever” heat wave hazard alert for people working outside.
“President Biden has asked the Department of Labor (DOL) to issue the first-ever Hazard Alert for heat, and DOL will also ramp up enforcement to protect workers from extreme heat,” a White House fact sheet released on July 27 states. “For years, heat has been the number one cause of weather-related deaths in America.”
The largest power grid operator in the country also issued an emergency alert, which ended on July 28, because of high demand.
“PJM has issued these alerts to help prepare generators for the onset of intense heat,” the grid operator said. “A Hot Weather Alert helps to prepare transmission and generation personnel and facilities for extreme heat and/or humidity that may cause capacity problems on the grid.
“Temperatures are expected to be near or above 90 degrees in these regions, which drives up the demand for electricity.”
Earlier this year, PJM released a report that suggested that state and federal policies to de-carbonize the grid are “[presenting] increasing reliability risks during the transition, due to a potential timing mismatch between resource retirements, load growth and the pace of new generation entry.”
De-carbonization of the grid refers to the reduction of fossil fuel usage and greater reliance on solar, wind, and hydroelectric power sources.