Open Thread

The Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan (SSCECP): a fast track approach for eliminating fossil fuels from America’s economy

August 28th, 2023 

Achieving Net Zero for America’s electric power sector by 2035, and Net Zero for America’s economy as a whole by 2050, cannot be accomplished without imposing strictly-enforced energy conservation measures on the American economy — measures which by necessity must be highly coercive in their impacts and effects. Under this conceptual plan, the United States would be consuming roughly two-thirds as much energy by the year 2030 as we consume today in the year 2023, and possibly only one-third as much energy by the the year 2050.

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President Biden is under strong pressure from climate activists to declare a national climate emergency in response to the wildfire disaster on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

That Joe Biden, himself a professed climate activist, hasn’t formally declared a climate emergency since he entered the White House in January, 2021, raises an important question.

How far could President Biden go in quickly reducing America’s consumption of fossil fuels using his own authorities as President — authorities already granted to him under current law?

This essay uses the conceptual framework of the Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan (SSCECP) as a vehicle for examining this question.

* Joe Biden’s Claim of Climate Change as an Existential Threat to Humanity *

President Biden has said that climate change represents an existential threat to the survival of the human race on planet earth, and is indeed the greatest threat to human survival ever faced by mankind.

His policy concerning energy and climate change is to achieve a 50% reduction in America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. In addition, America’s power generation sector is to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2035. America must be fully Net Zero by 2050.

Biden’s stated goal is to quickly replace fossil fuel energy with wind and solar energy backed by grid-scale energy storage and by a greatly expanded power transmission network. An expansion of nuclear power is supported by the Biden administration, but nuclear plays a comparatively minor role in the Net Zero transition.

With reference to climate change, as the President’s argument goes, America’s leadership in quickly reducing our own carbon emissions is essential for convincing other nations, especially China and India, to quickly reduce theirs. As of the summer of 2023, neither China nor India have made any committment to do so. 

With reference to American energy security, Biden claims the only viable pathway to energy independence is to reduce the energy intensity of our economy as a whole; and ultimately, to end our reliance on fossil fuels altogether.

And so President Biden’s policy goal of quickly reducing America’s consumption of energy is central to achieving both his climate objectives and his national security objectives.

Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, wind and solar, is claimed to be the best solution, technically and economically. In addition, nearly all energy consuming activities in the United States, both private and commercial, must be electrified. 

At the time of this writing in the summer of 2023, funding for renewable energy and for the Green New Deal has been partially enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act passed in the fall of 2022. However, the 371 billion dollars legislated under the IRA is a small fraction of the approximately 50 trillion dollars needed to reach the 2050 Net Zero target date.  

Biden’s national climate advisor Ali Zaidi claims that the president has left no stone unturned in finding ways to reduce America’s carbon emissions.

That claim is completely at odds with the facts. President Biden hasn’t come anywhere close to employing the full power of his office in quickly reducing America’s carbon emissions.

Progressive members of Congress have called upon President Biden to move well beyond the IRA and to formally declare a climate emergency which enables use of the full power of his office in quickly reducing America’s production and consumption of fossil fuels.

Even if the Green New Deal were to be fully funded, it is impossible to install enough wind turbines, enough solar panels, enough energy storage facilities, and enough new transmission lines nearly as quickly as President Biden and progressive members of Congress say that it must be done.

The hard reality is that President Biden’s policy goals for climate action and for securing American energy independence cannot be met without imposing strict and far-reaching energy conservation measures on America’s economy — conservation measures which by necessity must be highly coercive in their impacts and effects. 

* Objectives of the Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan *

These are the primary objectives of the Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan (SSCECP):

   – Implement a fast track approach for eliminating fossil fuels from America’s economy using only the President’s existing authorities as the nation’s Chief Executive.

   – Achieve President Biden’s climate change policy goals through a 50% reduction in America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, net-zero carbon emissions in the electric power sector by 2035, and fully Net Zero in the American economy by 2050.

   – Achieve President Biden’s energy security policy goals by cutting America’s consumption of fossil fuels 50% by 2030, 70% by 2035, and 90% by 2050.

Any fast-track approach for quickly reducing America’s consumption of fossil fuels must achieve these additional objectives:

1 — Motivate all energy consumers to quickly reduce their overall energy consumption.
2 — Be highly effective in quickly reducing America’s greenhouse gas emissions.
3 — Be highly effective in quickly reducing America’s consumption of fossil fuels.
4 — Be conceptually and operationally simple to implement, relatively speaking.
5 — Be in alignment with past regulatory practice and past legal precedent.
6 — Be constitutionally and legally defensible in the courts.
7 — Be formulated and written in a way which discourages lawsuits.
8 — Incentivize the participation of the fifty state governments in controlling carbon emissions.
9 — Incentivize the participation of private sector fossil energy corporations in reducing fossil fuel production and distribution.

* The Methods and Means of the Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan *

These are the methods and means through which the Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan can be implemented without additional legislation from the Congress:

A – Establish a unified energy policy framework for carbon emission reductions and for fossil energy conservation measures which is highly resistant to legal challenges in the courts.
B – Integrate the President’s environmental protection authorities with his national security authorities under the umbrella of an Energy & Climate Crisis Response Plan (ECCRP).
C – Reprioritize those policy goals addressing quick reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions, placing them above all other environmental, social, and economic policy goals.
D – Incentivize energy conservation through imposing higher prices for all forms of energy and through imposing direct rationing of fossil fuel energy.
E – Redirect capital investments away from fossil fuels and towards wind and solar energy technologies backed by grid scale energy storage technology.
F – Consolidate all currently existing greenhouse gas reduction plans and agreements into the ECCRP and place these plans and agreements under direct federal control.
G – Identify yearly reductions in America’s carbon emissions as the primary metric for measuring progress in fighting climate change.
H – Identify yearly reductions in America’s consumption of fossil fuels as the primary metric for measuring progress in achieving American energy security and independence.
I – Expand and extend federal regulation of coal-fired and gas-fired power plants by invoking Section 111 of the Clean Air Act in accordance with past historical practice.
J – Expand and extend federal regulation of all greenhouse gases by classifying carbon emissions as criteria pollutants under Sections 108 and 110 of the Clean Air Act.
K – Establish cooperative agreements with the states to enforce the EPA’s anti-carbon regulations.
L – Establish a system of carbon pollution fines which is the functional equivalent of a legislated tax on carbon.
M – Establish a carbon fuel rationing program which directly constrains the production, import, and distribution of all fossil fuels.
N – Establish production control agreements with private sector fossil fuel producers and distributors.
O – Establish a guaranteed profit schedule for the carbon fuels industry in return for production & distribution cutbacks.
P – Indemnify and insulate carbon energy corporations against climate change lawsuits brought in the courts.
Q – Ban the export of coal, liquefied natural gas, and crude oil to nations outside the North American continent after December 31st, 2029.
R – Identify those lands, waters, and properties, either publicly owned or privately owned, which are to be reserved by the federal government for wind, solar, energy storage, and power transmission development.
S – Bypass or remove any and all regulatory review and planning obstacles to the siting and construction of new wind and solar energy facilities.
T – Establish a hard-target schedule for closing the greater portion of America’s legacy fossil fuel energy production and support infrastructure.
U – Continuously monitor and assess America’s progress in achieving President Biden’s climate change and energy security policy goals.

* The Eight Program Elements of the Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan *

These are the eight major program elements of the SSCECP:

Element I: Establish the legal basis for regulating all of America’s carbon emissions (1941-2023. Status ‘Complete’)
Element II: Declare a Carbon Pollution Crisis, a Climate Change National Security Crisis, and an Energy Independence National Security Crisis. (2023)
Element III: Expand and extend federal regulation and control of all carbon emissions (2024)
Element IV: Establish an expanded carbon emission regulation program managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (2024)
Element V: Establish a carbon fuel rationing program managed by the Department of Energy (2024)
Element VI: Establish a process for expedited energy project siting, permitting, and approval. (2024)
Element VII: Publish and implement a National Energy Infrastructure Transition Plan (2024)
Element VIII: Perform ongoing monitoring & control activities (2024 through 2050)

These are the lower-level implementation details of the SSCECP, organized by major program element:

SSCECP Element I — Establish the legal basis for regulating all of America’s carbon emissions (1941-2023. Status ‘Complete’)

I-a: Impose government-mandated energy rationing in response to a declared national emergency, World War II. (1941-1945)
I-b: Pass legislation establishing the regulation of harmful atmospheric pollutants under the Clean Air Act. (1970)
I-c: Establish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and further define and implement the process for controlling and reducing pollutants. (1970-2023)
I-d: File and win lawsuits to allow regulation of carbon dioxide and other carbon GHG’s as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. (2007)
I-e: Publish a Clean Air Act Section 202 Endangerment Finding as a prototype test case for regulation of carbon GHG’s. (2009)
I-f: Successfully defend the Clean Air Act Section 202 Endangerment Finding in the courts. (2010-2012)
I-g: Invoke a recent precedent, the War on Terror, for taking strong government action in response to an existential and long-lasting national security threat. (2001-2023)
I-h: Invoke a recent precedent, the COVID-19 pandemic, for taking strong government action in response to a declared national emergency. (2020-2023)
I-i: Invoke a recent precedent, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for taking strong government action to quickly reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels. (2022-2023)
I-j: Invoke a recent precedent, the destrUction of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii, for taking strong government action to quickly reduce America’s consumption of fossil fuels. (2023)

SSCECP Element II — Declare a Carbon Pollution Crisis, a Climate Change National Security Crisis, and an Energy Independence National Security Crisis. (2023)

II-a: Issue an Executive Order declaring a Carbon Pollution Crisis under the President’s Clean Air Act (CAA) authorities.
II-b: Issue an Executive Order declaring a Climate Change National Security Crisis under the President’s national security authorities.
II-c: Issue an Executive Order declaring an Energy Independence National Security Crisis under the President’s national security authorities.
II-d: Issue an Executive Order placing all current regional, state, intra-state, and local GHG reduction plans and agreements under direct federal authority and control.
II-e: Issue an Executive Order banning the export of coal, liquefied natural gas, and crude oil to nations outside the North American continent after December 31st, 2029.
II-f: Publish an Energy & Climate Crisis Response Plan (ECCRP) which establishes a defined strategic mix among three major policy directions covering: a) zero-carbon energy production; b) energy conservation technology; and c) mandated energy conservation measures.
II-g: Establish a comprehensive list of carbon emission reduction targets plus a detailed strategy and plan for reducing each category of carbon emissions.
II-h: Establish a comprehensive list of fossil fuel reduction targets plus a detailed strategy and plan for reducing each category of fossil fuel consumption.
II-i: Establish a formal process for coordinating and reconciling America’s carbon emission reduction goals with its environmental justice, climate justice, and social justice goals.
II-j: Assign a Climate Crisis Joint Interagency Task Force (CCJITF) comprised of all cabinet level departments, plus the National Security Agency, to manage the actions taken under the Energy & Climate Crisis Response Plan.
II-k: Create a joint interagency control board chartered with management and implementation of a phased systematic reduction in the production, import, and distribution of all carbon fuels.
II-l: Place this control board under the direct supervision of the President and his national security staff.
II-m: Defend the President’s energy & climate crisis actions as needed in response to lawsuits filed in the courts.

SSCECP Element III — Expand and extend federal regulation and control of all carbon emissions (2024)

III-a: Issue an Executive Order further defining the character and scope of the Carbon Pollution Crisis.
III-b: Issue an Executive Order further defining the character and scope of the Climate Change National Security Crisis.
III-c: Issue an Executive Order further defining the character and scope of the Energy Independence National Security Crisis.
III-d: Issue an Executive Order further defining the scope and objectives of the Energy & Climate Crisis Response Plan (ECCRP).
III-e: Issue an Executive Order integrating all current regional, state, intra-state, and local GHG reduction plans and agreements into the ECCRP.
III-f: Issue an Executive Order establishing an expanded carbon emission regulation program to be managed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
III-g: Issue an Executive Order establishing a carbon fuel rationing program to be managed by the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.
III-h: Issue an Executive Order establishing an ongoing program for continuous monitoring and control of carbon emission reduction activities.
III-i: Issue an Executive Order establishing an ongoing program for continuous monitoring and control of fossil energy rationing activities.
III-j: Issue an Executive Order suspending the application of anti-trust regulations in the energy marketplace.
III-k: Issue an Executive Order allowing for the suspension of portions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in order to expedite environmental reviews of new-build wind and solar facilities.
III-l: Issue an Executive Order granting authority to the President to reverse the final decisions of federal, state, and local permitting agencies if those decisions are deemed to be ‘not in the national interest’ as that stipulation is defined within the Energy & Climate Crisis Response Plan.
III-m: Issue an Executive Order granting authority to the President to assert federal eminent domain over all lands, waters, and properties, either publicly owned or privately owned, identified as being necessary for the siting of new-build energy facilities.
III-n: Defend the President’s expansion of federal authority as needed in response to lawsuits filed in the courts.

SSCECP Element IV — Establish an expanded carbon emission regulation program managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (2024)

IV-a: Invoke language in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 which identifies carbon GHG’s as pollutants and which has the effect of granting direct Congressional authorization for EPA regulation of carbon emissions.
IV-b: Publish a series of anti-carbon regulations under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act targeted at coal-fired and gas-fired power plants. 
IV-c: Publish a Clean Air Act Section 108 Endangerment Finding which complements 2009’s Section 202 finding.
IV-d: Classify carbon emissions as ‘criteria pollutants’ under the Clean Air Act.
IV-e: Establish a National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for carbon pollution.
IV-f: Declare carbon emissions as Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) under CAA Section 112.
IV-g: Use the NAAQS for carbon pollution as America’s tie-in to international climate change agreements.
IV-h: Defend the Section 108 Endangerment Finding, the NAAQS, and the Section 112 HAP Declaration in the courts.
IV-i: Publish a regulatory framework for carbon pollution under Clean Air Act sections 108, 111, 112, 202, and other CAA sections as applicable.
IV-j: Establish cooperative agreements with the states to enforce the EPA’s anti-carbon regulations.
IV-k: Establish a system of carbon pollution fines which is the functional equivalent of a legislated tax on carbon.
IV-l: Establish the legal basis for sharing the revenues collected from these carbon pollution fines among the federal and state governments.
IV-m: Defend the comprehensive system of carbon pollution regulations in the courts.

SSCECP Element V — Establish a carbon fuel rationing program managed by the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense (2024)

V-a: Research and publish a system for government-enforced carbon fuel rationing managed by the Department of Energy and the Deparment of Defense under the Defense Production Act.
V-b: Establish a time-phased, hard-target schedule for reducing the production and distribution of all carbon fuels.
V-c: Establish cooperative agreements with the state governments to enforce the federal government’s system of carbon fuel rationing.
V-d: Establish production control agreements with private sector fossil fuel producers and distributors.
V-e: Establish a guaranteed profit schedule for the carbon fuels industry in return for production & distribution cutbacks.
V-f: Indemnify and insulate the carbon fuels industry from climate change lawsuits in return for production & distribution cutbacks.
V-g: Defend the government’s system of carbon fuel rationing in the courts.

SSCECP Element VI — Establish a process for expedited energy project siting, permitting, and approval. (2024)

VI-a: Research and publish a system and process for expedited governmental review and permitting for the siting and construction of new-build wind, solar, energy storage, and power transmission facilities.
VI-b: Establish cooperative agreements with federal and state agencies for expedited reviews and approvals of energy infrastructure projects.
VI-c: Establish a register of new-build wind, solar, energy storage, and power transmission projects eligible for an expedited permitting review and approval process.
VI-d: For those projects listed on the expedited review register, establish a process and a procedure to be followed if the President reverses the final decisions of federal, state, and local permitting agencies, if those decisions are deemed ‘not in the national interest’.
VI-e: Establish a register of lands, waters, and properties, both publicly owned and privately owned, which may become the targets of federal reservation actions for the siting of new-build energy infrastructure.
VI-f: For those lands, waters, and properties listed in the reservation action register, establish a process and a procedure to be followed if the President asserts federal eminent domain over those lands, waters, and properties.
VI-g: Defend the government’s expedited siting, permitting, and environmental review processes in the courts.

SSCECP Element VII — Publish and implement a National Energy Infrastructure Transition Plan (2024)

VII-a: Research and publish a National Energy Infrastructure Transition Plan (NEITP) for the siting and construction of new-build wind, solar, energy storage, and power transmission facilities.
VII-b: Publish and implement a hard-target schedule for deployment of new-build wind and solar facilities, new-build grid-scale energy storage facilities, and new-build energy transmission capacity.
VII-c: Publish and implement a technology resource implementation plan which specifically identifies those energy technologies to be prioritized for near term investment, development, production, and deployment.
VII-d: Publish and implement a US Treasury policy plan for redirecting energy market financial investments as needed to support the federal government’s GHG and fossil fuel reduction goals.
VII-e: Publish and implement an Energy Infrastructure Land Use Plan (EILUP) which identifies those lands, waters, and properties, either publicly owned or privately owned, which are to be reserved by the federal government for wind, solar, energy storage, and power transmission development.
VII-f: Publish and implement an Energy Facility Closure Plan (EFCP) which specifically identifies which fossil energy facilities and their supporting infrastructures are to be permanently retired, including a specified target date for each facility and each infrastructure component.
VII-g: Defend the government’s national energy infrastructure transition plan in the courts.

SSCECP Element VIII — Perform ongoing monitoring & control activities (2024 through 2050)

VIII-a: Issue a further series of Executive Orders, as needed, to further define and further implement America’s carbon emissions regulatory framework, America’s carbon fuel rationing program, the federal government’s expedited energy facility permitting process, and the government’s energy infrastructure transition plan.
VIII-b: Identify yearly reductions in America’s carbon emissions as the primary metric for measuring progress in fighting climate change.
VIII-c: Identify yearly reductions in America’s consumption of fossil fuels as the primary metric for measuring progress in achieving American energy security and independence.
VIII-d: Monitor the effectiveness of the EPA’s carbon regulation framework in reducing America’s GHG emissions.
VIII-e: Monitor the effectiveness of renewable energy projects in reducing America’s GHG emissions and its fossil fuel consumption.
VIII-f: Monitor the effectiveness of energy conservation programs in reducing America’s GHG emissions and its fossil fuel consumption.
VIII-g: Monitor the effectiveness of carbon fuel rationing programs in reducing America’s GHG emissions and its fossil fuel consumption.
VIII-h: Monitor the progress of the National Energy Infrastructure Transition Plan in closing legacy fossil fuel energy facilities.
VIII-i: Adjust the schedule of carbon pollution fines upward if progress in reducing America’s GHG emissions and its consumption of fossil fuels lags.
VIII-j: Adjust the carbon fuel rationing targets upward if progress in reducing America’s dependence on fossil fuel lags.
VIII-k: Continue to defend the comprehensive system of carbon pollution regulations and the government-mandated energy rationing programs in the courts.
VIII-l: Continue to indemnify and insulate carbon energy corporations against climate change lawsuits brought in the courts.
VIII-m: Continue to assess the need for enforcing the government’s GHG reduction and fossil fuel rationing programs beyond the year 2050.

* GENERAL REMARKS *

This essay does not advocate for adoption of the Supply Side Carbon Emission Control Plan. Rather, as said previuously, the essay uses the conceptual framework of the SSCECP as a vehicle for examining the question of how far could Joe Biden go in quickly reducing America’s consumption of fossil fuels using his own authorities as President.

Under this conceptual plan, the United States would be consuming roughly two-thirds as much energy by 2030 as we consume today in the year 2023, and possibly one-third as much energy by the the year 2050.

The SSCECP is a highly coercive approach for quickly reducing both our greenhouse gas emissions and our consumption of fossil fuels.  It is also legal and constitutional under current law, both our national security law and our environmental protection law.

Moreover, the SSCECP is the ultimate expression of how a close alliance among government agencies and private corporations can be employed in promoting their mutual social, environmental, and profit making objectives. 

The SSCECP can be implemented unilaterally by the Executive Branch using its existing environmental protection and national security authorities. Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a Congressional act which specifically identifies carbon GHGs as pollutants, removed the last serious roadblock to the regulation of carbon emissions. Not another word of new legislation is needed from Congress either to enable the SSCECP legally or to fund its operation.

Nor does the plan require a separate line of funding in the federal government’s budget. The planning activities and regulation roll-out activities are easily accomplished within the existing spending authorities of the US-EPA, the US-DOE, the US-DOT, the USDT and the US-DHS.

A plan like the SSCECP will generate many lawsuits. But if the plan is applied with equal force against all major sources of America’s carbon emissions, and with equal impact upon all affected economic sectors and demographic groups, those lawsuits will go nowhere.

The SSCECP is specifically designed to survive any lawsuits brought against it, including those which might invoke the Major Questions Doctrine as it was applied in West Virginia versus EPA.

Even if the Congress passed specific legislation forbidding adoption of a plan like the SSCECP, a Presidential veto can kill that legislation with the stroke of a pen.

And so the big question remains. How far will President Biden go in acting upon his stated convictions? Will he, or won’t he, do all that is in his power as Chief Executive to reduce America’s carbon emissions and our consumption of fossil fuels just as far and as fast as he himself claims is necessary?

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Disclosure: I’ve spent thirty-five years in nuclear construction and operations. Because the bulk of my occupational radiation exposure has come from beta-gamma sources, my internet handle is Beta Blocker.