How Trump and Harris contrast on energy issues 

Polls show the most important issues to U.S. voters in the 2024 presidential election are inflation, illegal immigration, healthcare and jobs. Those challenges, coupled with questions of leadership, competence and the general direction of the country, dominate most news coverage of the campaigns.  

Kentucky Living, as the flagship publication of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives, focuses on the co-op mission to improve members’  quality of life, providing safe and reliable electricity as cost-effectively as possible.  

How would Kamala Harris or Donald Trump address America’s looming electric reliability crisis and the escalating costs of a rushed reliance on intermittent energy sources, such as solar and wind power? 

Reliability 

The most significant threat to electric reliability and affordability in the United States today is self-inflicted.  

In April, the Biden-Harris Administration issued a rule requiring power plant carbon dioxide emissions be reduced by 90% within the next eight years. But, the “carbon capture and sequestration” technology the Environmental Protection Agency proposes is both unproven and cost prohibitive. Electric costs would double under the EPA rule, which is described as “unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable” by Jim Matheson, the CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.  

The EPA is effectively forcing the premature closure of existing power plants, including nine coal-fired plants in Kentucky, an agenda endorsed by Vice President Kamala Harris. 

“When President Biden and I took office, we set an ambitious goal … to cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050,” Harris reiterated at a speech in Baltimore last year. 

When Donald Trump was president, the Environmental Protection Agency adopted more realistic timelines for utilities to meet emissions goals while not jeopardizing electric reliability. 

 “When I return to the White House, I will end this anti-American energy crusade and terminate Kamala’s so-called Power Plant Rule,” Trump said at an August speech in Pennsylvania. “Kamala is on a regulatory jihad to shut down power plants all across America. It’s a disaster for our country. Instead of shutting down power plants, we will open dozens and dozens more, and they’ll happen fast.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona on August 9. Photo: GAGE SKIDMORE

Inflation Reduction Act 

In 2022, Harris cast the deciding vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which directed hundreds of billions of taxpayer subsidies for electric vehicles, wind, solar and other energy technologies. 

The IRA included several provisions backed by electric co-ops, including access to energy innovation tax credits when co-ops deploy new energy technologies, and a $9.7 billion co-op grant and loan program to support new clean energy systems.  

“You mentioned the Green New Deal,” Harris said to CNN’s Dana Bash in an August interview. “I have always believed, and I have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act.” 

While Harris was an early and key supporter of the “Green New Deal,” Trump says it is a scam. 

“Under Kamala’s Green New Scam, billions and billions of taxpayer dollars are being sent to subsidize solar panel factories, windmill factories, battery production and car production, all based in China,” Trump said.  

“We will end the ridiculous and actually incredible waste of taxpayer dollars that is fueling the inflation crisis,” Trump added. 

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona on August 23. Photo: GAGE SKIDMORE

Costs 

“For working families, we have reduced heating and electricity bills,” Harris claimed at a Maryland speech last year. “So, folks have more money in their pocket to buy things like school supplies, replace the dishwasher, or take a family vacation.” 

Trump says a top priority for his administration will be to cut the cost of energy in half within the first 12 months of taking office. “That includes heating, air conditioning, electricity and gasoline.” 

“By slashing energy costs, we will in turn reduce the cost of transportation, manufacturing and all household goods,” Trump said at the Republican National Convention. “So much starts with energy.” 

Fracking 

Over the last 20 years, fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, has contributed to a significant decrease in natural gas prices, prompting the construction of more natural gas power plants. 

Citing environmental concerns, Harris is a longtime opponent of the practice. 

“There is no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris said at a CNN Town Hall in 2019, adding she would also ban offshore drilling. “Yes, and I’ve again worked on that.” 

During the CNN interview in August, however, Harris offered a different position. 

“No, and I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020, that I would not ban fracking,” she said. “As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.” 

Trump has consistently touted fracking.  

“Remember, we have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country by far,” Trump said at his acceptance speech. “We are a nation that has the opportunity to make an absolute fortune with its energy. We have it and China doesn’t. Under the Trump administration just three and a half years ago, we were energy independent. But soon we will actually be better than that. We will be energy dominant and supply not only ourselves, but we will supply the rest of the world.” 

Nuclear energy 

In May, the White House hosted a nuclear energy summit, aimed at bolstering the domestic nuclear industry and reasserting the Biden-Harris Administration’s support of a multi-country pledge to triple nuclear energy capacity globally by 2050, developing new reactor designs and extending the service lives of existing nuclear reactors.  

Asked about nuclear power during a 2019 interview, Harris acknowledged benefits but criticized plans to store radioactive waste in a federal repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. 

“While we are thinking about nuclear power, we cannot think about it without thinking about waste, and what are we going to do with that?” she said. 

Trump promises rapid approvals for new energy infrastructure, embracing all forms of energy, “including nuclear,” he said in July. “Nuclear is a great energy.” 

The future 

Regardless of their respective positions or campaign promises, whoever wins the presidential election will take office at a critical time for electric cooperatives and the challenge of delivering reliable and affordable energy.