Democrats voted to pass the Build Back Better Lite reconciliation package on a strict party-line vote over the weekend. They call it the Inflation Reduction Act, but even the New York Times dropped all pretense after the bill passed. When the paper e-mailed me the good news, the email referred to it as the “climate and tax” bill. One of the goals of this reconciliation package is to encourage more Americans to drive electric vehicles.
Apparently, purchasing an EV has some inherent virtue because it plugs into an outlet that just so happens to operate on a power grid that runs predominantly on fossil fuels. However, that little conundrum is just one of the environmental horrors electric vehicles cause. On a recent episode of Hannity, Fox Business host Charles Payne broke down the real impact of a “transition” in transportation.
Referencing a July report from the International Energy Agency on the supply chain for electric vehicles, Payne talked about the supply shortages and what it would take to resolve them.
“This is what the world is going to need just to meet 2030 goals. We’re going to need, the world, 50 more lithium mines, 60 more nickel mines, and 17 more cobalt mines,” he said
So how will producing these materials create the “green jobs” that the administration promised? In short, it won’t. Payne explained, “The cobalt comes from Congo. You ever seen videos of those kids, those seven-year-old kids, in filthy water? For about eight hours a day, twelve hours a day? No education, [being paid] pennies on the dollar.”
“Lithium, some comes from Australia, some comes from Chile,” Payne continued. ” You have got to poison the water to get it out of there. Some comes from Russia.” Undoubtedly we produce nickel, right? Actually, that metal comes from Indonesia, according to the report. Payne also explained the five stages of getting the raw mineral out of the ground, via strip-mining, and into the electric vehicle.
“Even if you loved the climate issue itself, the president is lying to you,” Payne said. “This bill does nothing on the climate side.”
So the New York Times was mistaken? The paper assured its listserv that this was a “climate and tax” bill. Payne explained: “What it means is we are going to continue to strip-mine the planet and poison the waters.”
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China receives a huge chunk of the economic benefit because processing the raw material and creating the cell components occur there
“Then you get the batteries,” Payne noted. “This is the most important part to remember. When the White House talks about energy security, I guess they’re talking about those batteries.” China’s share of the battery market is currently 77%, and according to Payne, the nation’s share will increase to 80% in the next several years. The United States’ share will fall from 9% to 6%.
“The only part of this equation that we play a role in is at the very end of it. We buy these things,” he stated.
Then Payne noted that the incentives to buy electric vehicles would go primarily to college-educated voters who do not need them because they can afford the price point.
“This whole thing is a complete farce. There is nothing economic about it, and it does nothing—zero, zero—to even save the climate,” he said.
Host Sean Hannity noted that electric vehicles are charged on a grid that uses 88% non-renewable sources after requiring products mined by equipment that uses fossil fuels. Then Payne emphasized, “Here’s the crazy thing. We just have to look to Europe. France and Germany. Their electricity rates will be 1000% higher this winter. One-thousand-percent higher than the average price for the last ten years.”
Payne reiterated that there are significant costs to the green energy “transition” that politicians, who have almost no idea how energy is generated, tout. “All this is is a money transfer. We’re transferring money to the richest Americans out there. Progressives who voted for Joe Biden. That is all this is.”
YouGov has consistently reported how inflation has been a top concern among voters since February of 2022. The pollster also reports that only 12% of respondents believe Build Back Better Lite will reduce inflation. Three times as many, 36%, believe it will make inflation worse. So, while left-leaning outlets are hailing the “climate and tax” bill as a big win for Democrats, it is a complete loser for average Americans.
WATCH the full segment: