Presidential “Special Envoy for Climate” John Kerry has been living it up at the UN climate change summit in Dubai (COP-28). On Saturday, he unveiled yet another jarring announcement. Without so much as a hint of any debate in Congress, to say nothing of a vote, Kerry revealed that the United States would be completely ending the construction of any coal-powered plants in the United States and “phasing out” the existing plants. And he claims that we are going to complete this conversion in a little more than a decade, by 2035. Joe Biden has reportedly already signed off on the plan. How the areas that still rely on coal power are supposed to replace all of that juice on the grid was not mentioned. (NY Post)

The Biden Administration announced Saturday that the United States is committed to phasing out coal power plants nationwide and not building new ones as it moves ahead with its green agenda.

U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry announced at the annual United Nations climate change summit in Dubai, called COP28, that America is joining 56 other nations that comprise the Power Past Coal Alliance.

“We will be working to accelerate unabated coal phase-out across the world, building stronger economies and more resilient communities,” Kerry said in a statement.

I would call this announcement offensive and insane, but I’m growing tired of sounding redundant. Those terms apply to pretty much every “climate” scheme that the Biden administration rolls out. But this one is far more problematic than their proposed bans on gas stoves and non-electric vehicles. Also, the fact that the announcement is coming from Kerry and not directly from the White House is even more problematic, which we’ll get to in a moment.

First of all, I’m not sure if Joe Biden either knows or cares about this, but coal still provides roughly 20% of the electrical power in America. Wiping all of that out in a decade would leave a major hole to fill. Wind and solar projects are currently failing all over the country, so telling the areas relying on coal power to “just put up more windmills and solar panels” is not a viable option. Many areas, including Texas, are already experiencing more rolling blackouts, just as winter arrives. You can’t simply delete one-fifth of our electrical grid with a wave of your hand without causing dire consequences. This is madness.

There are also significant political implications to be considered. Perhaps that will grab Biden’s attention if he doesn’t care about the grid. There are still nearly 60,000 people directly employed by the coal mining industry and even more working at coal-fired plants. Lots of them are located in swing states like Pennsylvania. That’s an awful lot of families where you’re talking about wiping out their livelihoods in barely ten years. Something like this could make an elected official pretty unpopular. It’s reminiscent of when Biden said he was going to “end drilling” for oil while campaigning for president. His team had to send him out scrambling for weeks to try to walk that one back.

And then there is John Kerry himself. He’s not an elected official. He was never even confirmed by the Senate or put through any sort of process to be a “climate envoy.” It’s a term the Biden administration simply made up. And this plan sounds like it was probably Kerry’s idea, even if Joe Biden was told to go along with it. It’s all supposed to be done to “save the climate.” Meanwhile, China is constructing new coal plants at a rate of more than one per month. They’re openly laughing at us as we slit our own throats economically and in terms of maintaining our power grid.

John Kerry has no authority to declare this sort of sweeping mandate or any other, even if it’s being done in the name of a “climate emergency.” Despite his lack of standing he’s been given an office and a staff, all generously funded by the taxpayers. He operates completely in the shadows. Nobody knows if Kerry himself draws a salary (not that he needs it) or how much he is paid if he does. We also don’t know how much his staff is paid or what expenses are being covered. That’s because an investigation last year ran into a brick wall. Kerry’s office simply refused to provide information as to how much taxpayer funding was going into his office. A Freedom of Information Act request was denied. They said the information will not be released until October of 2024, conveniently close to the election where, if Joe Biden manages to lose, Kerry will likely be on his way out the door anyway.

This isn’t just madness. It’s dangerous madness that will carry severe consequences for the country. And it’s all being done with zero congressional oversight. If Biden and Kerry are allowed to destroy the coal industry, they will take down a fair portion of the country with it.