Talk about a mighty political fall. In less than a year, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has gone from the VP shortlist to getting yelled at by her own constituents at her re-election launch.
Naturally, the governor responded in a mature and thoughtful way…by calling her own constituents “lizard people.” The rattled response from Lujan Grisham is catching the headlines, but there is another aspect of her announcement that needs to slither into the light: the hypocrisy of her green agenda.
It’s important to understand Lujan Grisham has spent the first three years of her term doing her very best to transform New Mexico into California. From failed lockdowns that have destroyed the state’s economy to embracing radical environmentalism and ignoring the fact that oil and natural gas provide over 40 percent of her budget. Just last fall at a virtual climate conference with embattled California Governor Gavin Newsom, Lujan Grisham told the world, “we need to transition out of fossil fuels.”
If Lujan Grisham’s botched re-election announcement is any indicator, the only thing she’s transitioning from is reality.
During her re-election remarks, the utility powering the venue of her event reported only 6 percent of the energy was coming from renewable resources. In other words, the very fossil fuels the Governor demonizes are keeping the lights on at her blundering event.
The governor’s own Green Agenda didn’t have the power when she needed it the most, a fact that should surprise exactly no one.
For proof, look no further than the target of Lujan Grisham’s unending adoration: California. The Golden State has embraced the radical green agenda like no other and in so doing made life even harder for working families. By working to eliminate affordable fossil fuels, Californians' electric bills jumped 30 percent from 2011 to 2019 – an increase seven times greater than the average American. Did the liberal agenda eliminate fossil fuels? Of course not, California imported 25 percent of its electricity in 2019, the most of any state in the country.
If California had to rely only on wind and solar for their power, it would be lights out.
It is easy to dismiss Lujan Grisham’s announcement screw-up or California’s liberal electric breakdowns, but unfortunately for the rest of us, the same kind of mentality is residing in the White House right now as well. President Joe Biden is beholden to the radical greens who are hell-bent on exporting these types of failures nationwide. Imagine for a moment we needed electricity, not for an inept re-election announcement, but for a hospital and we are forced to rely on the Lujan Grisham/Newsom/Biden plan for power. That’s when only having 6 percent power goes from a laughingstock to a human disaster.
When Governor Lujan Grisham speeds around New Mexico, she does so in a gas-guzzling SUV. When crippling blackouts hit California during triple-digit heat, the lights coincidentally stay on in Gavin Newsom’s house. And when Joe Biden hams it up for the cameras in a $40,000 dollar electric truck, you’ll notice Air Force One doesn’t run on solar power.
Politicians who force the green agenda on the rest of us are always hesitant to embrace it in their own lives. Perhaps they feel they are more important than you, thus making it acceptable for them to have double standards. Perhaps they think we’re not paying attention and will not call them out on it. Perhaps the real reason is more perverse: they know the green agenda doesn’t work, but that won’t stop them from forcing it on you because they know best.
Larry Behrens is the author of the new report, “Lights Out: How Green Mandates Are Undermining the Affordability and Reliability of Electricity.” He currently works as the Western States Director for Power The Future, an organization fighting for America’s Energy Workers. He previously served as Communications Director for New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. You can find him on Twitter at @larrybehrens and @PTFNewMexico or email at larry@powerthefuture.com.
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