Last year, Republicans in Congress canceled billions in Biden-era clean energy projects and let the federal electric vehicle rebate program expire. By Suzanne Potter Aug 13, 2026 Listen to this story HERE Experts in national security and conservation are calling attention to dependence on foreign oil, saying it leads to wars, instability and high gas prices in California and […]
Last year, Republicans in Congress canceled billions in Biden-era clean energy projects and let the federal electric vehicle rebate program expire.
By Suzanne Potter
Aug 13, 2026
Listen to this story HERE
Experts in national security and conservation are calling attention to dependence on foreign oil, saying it leads to wars, instability and high gas prices in California and across the U.S.
The group Elected Officials to Protect America hosted a roundtable in Washington, D.C., this week.
Yetide Badaki, an actress from Nigeria, said allowing fossil fuels to stick around leads to pollution and conflict.
“Policies that double down on fossil fuels do not save money,” Badaki contended. “They hike costs, trash our public health, and destabilize nations. Everyday people pay the price at the pump on their utility bills and in the air that they breathe.”
Badaki pointed to the Iran war, which has so far cost at least $38 billion to $42 billion, according to Pentagon estimates. Foreign policy experts said the situation has given Iran new leverage to choke off energy and fertilizers in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump has said the war is necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Paul Foster, a member of Parliament in the United Kingdom and veteran of the Iraq War, says Russia has targeted Ukraine’s oil and gas pipelines, so Ukraine is working toward 100% renewable energy.
“Every wind turbine erected, every solar panel array deployed is a direct strike against the geopolitical leverage of hostile regimes. Unlike gas, nobody can ration the wind. Nobody can turn off the sun,” Foster pointed out.
Alex Cornell du Houx, cofounder and president of the advocacy group Elected Officials to Protect America, a Marine Corps combat veteran and a former Maine State Representative, said the U.S. needs to build a grid with distributed clean energy, which is getting cheaper every year.
“Batteries went down 45% in cost last year. That’s 93% since 2010. Solar has decreased in cost from over $100 a watt to less than ten cents a watt now,” Cornell du Houx outlined.
The cost reductions for battery storage technology and other renewables are cited by the International Renewable Energy Agency and industry groups.
In making its own argument for energy independence, the Trump administration has taken steps to kill offshore wind projects, including some in California, and open up new leases for fossil fuel drilling.
Welcome to the Solon Center for Research and Publishing first bimonthly issue of Insights Literary/Art Journal. Stories from authors published and unpublished will debut here. Original art will accompany the stories. We’ll host contests, working with Gallery Fukurou, of Rockland, Maine and the Maine publisher Polar Bear & Company.
Maine Insights, a 501(c)4, connects our main streets with lawmakers in Augusta, highlighting state policies, technological innovations, agriculture, education, community growth and economics with factual analysis, individual profiles and exclusive in-depth coverage. We also report on areas where justice is not being served in the hope to be a contributing catalyst for change.
Your contribution today, will ensure our reporting continues into the future. Please send your donation to 8 Brook St., Solon, ME 04979.
Visit PEN for in-depth coverage of how America is addressing the climate crises. Systemic racism has held back progress, along with the deep pockets of industry that don’t want to change the status quo.
Protect Earth Newsmagazine highlights what lawmakers from the local level on up to the Federal Government are doing to protect the earth. We also report on community ingenuity and innovations that will help the U.S.A. transition to being powered by 100 percent, clean renewable energy. A 501(c)3 project of the Solon Center for Research and Publishing.
Maine Insights Newsmagazine 