Rep. Balderson’s New ARC Energy Security Act Is Smart Legislation

Green Promises, Red Bills — Time to Power America the Right Way

America’s energy landscape is shifting under the weight of surging demand from AI data centers and revitalized industry. At the same time, Biden-era policy failures are delivering skyrocketing electricity costs that squeeze family budgets, while an overburdened grid struggles to keep pace.

President Trump and his administration are doing great work to restore energy common sense, and another step toward a practical solution is at hand. Congressman Troy Balderson (OH-12) has introduced the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act of 2025, a bill that anchors energy policy in clear, evidence-based definitions of “affordable,” “reliable,” and “clean” aims to steer us toward stability and affordability.

Here’s a fact advocates of the Green New Scam want you to forget: under Joe Biden’s administration, electricity prices climbed a staggering 29.4%, outpacing overall inflation by about 50%. Families across the country felt the pinch as the cost of running a dishwasher or keeping the lights on became a budget-buster. This wasn’t some natural market shift—it was the direct result of an aggressive push toward wind and solar mandates that shuttered reliable baseload power plants without adequate replacements. As The Wall Street Journal highlighted, cheap natural gas kept rates stable for years before Biden’s green agenda kicked in, but now we’re paying the price for policies that prioritized ideology over reality.

Green projects won’t deliver the energy

The evidence is overwhelming that green projects are not the solution for a stable grid. A recent analysis from Power The Future, drawing on over 500,000 federal electricity records, shows a clear pattern: states that aggressively retired fossil fuel generation in favor of intermittent renewables saw sharp price hikes. California lost 57 million MWh/year of fossil generation since 2010, driving prices up 8.3 cents per kWh. Massachusetts fared even worse, with a 74% drop in fossil output leading to a 6.4-cent increase. These aren’t anomalies; they’re the predictable outcome of replacing dispatchable power—sources that can ramp up on demand—with weather-dependent alternatives that require costly backups, storage, and transmission infrastructure.

And the crisis is only deepening. Electricity demand is poised to double by 2030, largely driven by AI workloads that could consume as much power as 40 million homes. Without firm, reliable generation, we’ll see higher rates and economic fallout. Working families are already struggling—73% of Americans are concerned about rising energy bills, with 64% reporting higher costs than last year, according to national surveys. For a typical family of four, a 30% rate hike adds $600 annually just in utility bills, plus hundreds more in inflated prices for groceries, goods, and services.

An energy emergency

This is why the Trump Administration is absolutely correct in declaring an energy emergency. We’ve seen decades of bad policy: renewable portfolio standards forcing coal phase-outs, carbon regulations, and state mandates in places like New York and Oregon that rushed plant closures without backups. Democrats like Elizabeth Warren cheered these moves, only to blame Trump when the bills came due. But finger-pointing won’t keep the lights on. We need continued action to prioritize grid stability.

Congressman Balderson’s bill does exactly that. It ensures policies are grounded in science, not “Green New Deal” rhetoric. Within 90 days of enactment, agencies must review and report on their actions, and within 180 days, update rules to align with these terms. This provides congressional oversight and protects reliable sources of power as vital to our energy mix.

America’s energy future demands an approach that prioritizes affordability and reliability. Congressman Balderson’s Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act is part of the roadmap to get there, lowering costs for families, bolstering our grid against surging demand, and securing our energy independence.

If we don’t continue to prioritize affordable and reliable energy today, we sow the seeds for the next price shock tomorrow.

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.