President-elect Donald Trump has a golden opportunity to rescue America’s energy independence from the bureaucratic straitjacket imposed by the Biden-Harris administration. After four years of regulatory nonsense designed to strangle the energy industry while preaching utopian green goals, Trump’s return to the White House means American resources can finally be unleashed.
Let’s talk about Biden and Harris’s green hypocrisy for a moment. While they pushed pie-in-the-sky net-zero dreams, they crippled domestic mining and permitting processes needed to achieve those very goals. It’s almost as if they didn’t understand basic economics—or maybe they just didn’t care. They seemed perfectly happy to let America depend on China for the critical minerals needed for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels. Here’s a reality check: China controls the global supply chain for rare earth elements and critical minerals. That’s not just a dependency issue; it’s a national security disaster waiting to happen.
Meanwhile, America is sitting on some of the richest deposits of these materials in the world. The lithium reserves in the Smackover Formation alone could meet the global demand for EV batteries nine times over. But under Biden’s watch, you can forget about developing those resources. His administration made sure of that by revoking permits and imposing endless environmental red tape. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has become the left’s favorite weapon for holding up vital infrastructure projects—from mining to pipelines to roads. It’s no wonder investors are skittish.
Even Biden seemed to acknowledge this disaster when he signed the Building Chips in America Act, which conveniently exempts semiconductor projects from NEPA’s death grip. So, he gets it—but only when it benefits his pet projects.
Trump, however, has no patience for this nonsense. He’s already pledged to cut through Biden’s green tape, promising to rescind harmful rules and prioritize domestic energy and mineral development. He’s right to call out the hypocrisy of the outgoing administration, which banned solar and wind development on millions of acres of sage grouse habitat—a move that hilariously conflicts with their own renewable energy goals.
Trump’s approach is clear: unleash American resources, strengthen the grid, and prioritize national security. He’s even joked that he could end Biden’s 20-year mining moratorium in Minnesota “in about, what do you think, 10 minutes?” That’s the kind of decisive leadership America needs.
The new Republican Congress should follow suit by reforming NEPA and passing exemptions for critical energy projects. It’s time to stop playing by the left’s rigged rules and start putting American workers and families first. With Trump back in charge, there’s finally hope for an energy policy that makes sense—and doesn’t bow to China or the green lobby.
