White House: We’re Not Trying to Harm Coal, We’re Trying to ‘Speed Up’ to Economy that Has ‘Less Pollution’

On Thursday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi denied that the Biden administration is attempting to shut down the coal industry or slow any industry down, and stated that the issue is “about how do we speed up to a stronger economy, a more durable economy, and one that, frankly, puts less pollution into the sky?”

Host Connell McShane asked, “[C]oal executives, for the most part, are coming out and saying this — we can’t meet this. So, the real goal here is to kind of shut our industry down. Is that what’s happening?”

Zaidi answered, “No, the real goal here is to make sure that we take pollution out of the skies so folks can breathe easier, so that we can tackle the climate crisis. And we can do it at the same time as growing our economy and delivering cheap and affordable and reliable energy to more and more Americans.”

McShane then asked, “It will mean a shift right, in a lot of people’s jobs and a lot of industries and coal would be one of them. Is that fair? Is that a fair way to put it, that there’s going to be a real shift in the economy over the next number of years?”

Zaidi responded, “What we’ve been seeing over the last several decades and accelerating is a shift to cleaner energy. Today, almost 70 million homes worth of clean electricity is generated on our grid from sources like nuclear power, hydropower, geothermal, solar, wind, batteries. And as you look at the projections for this year, for 2024, not some year far in the future, 96% of the new power that will be built this year will be clean. So, I think that’s where the economy is today. That’s where the global economy has been racing. And finally, thanks to President Biden’s leadership, we are positioned to lead in that global economy.”

Later, McShane asked, “I know you guys don’t talk about this a lot, but there’s been kind of record oil production, for example, under the Biden administration, there’s been a lot of domestic oil production. It’s not advertised necessarily, but it’s there. I’m just wondering if you go in this direction, climate emergency, things like that, if it’s a net negative for the economy at a time like this?”

Zaidi answered, “No, look, I think what we’ve been focused on is putting our economy on a sturdier foundation and moving more quickly. If you compare the United States to other countries, the seven biggest economies in the world, we’ve seen growth that leads the pack, more and more, the United States become a magnet for private investment in the technologies of the future. So, that’s our focus. It’s not about slowing anybody down. It’s about how do we speed up to a stronger economy, a more durable economy, and one that, frankly, puts less pollution into the sky? We can do all of those things at once.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett