Electricity is Essential to National Security

President Trump has inherited a world with extensive threats and conflicts concerning energy, global navigation, and shifting populations just to name a few.

As the new administration pursues a more America-centric agenda, efforts should be strongly focused on minimizing our vulnerabilities at home while ensuring strength and deterrence abroad. Among the most critical domestic vulnerabilities is our energy generation and distribution system to ensure a reliable supply of electricity.

The demand for electricity is growing at an unprecedented rate. Data centers, for instance, have become significant facilities for banking, healthcare, defense, and a host of other economic generators, but face a serious risk from electricity shortages in many parts of the country. Meeting the escalating demand for electricity holds strategic importance because much of this growth is being fueled by geopolitically and nationally strategic industries such as semiconductor chip manufacturing, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, along with research and development at our national laboratories. We risk falling behind our adversaries and undermining our national security if we cannot provide the electricity these industries need.

Unfortunately, over the last four years, the focus has been on quixotic green energy visions rather than sound energy policies. In their efforts to appease climate alarmists, the Biden administration issued harmful and illegal EPA rules designed to eliminate coal and natural gas, two of our most abundant and reliable sources of electricity. If the new administration does not rewrite these Biden rules, electricity will continue to become more expensive and less reliable.

In sharp contrast, China is moving in the opposite direction. China has the world’s largest fleet of coal-fired power plants, more than six times the size of the U.S. coal fleet. In 2023, China was responsible for 95% of new coal power construction globally. This investment will help guarantee that the Chinese military-industrial complex has access to cheap and dependable energy for decades to come. It is also part of the reason why China’s economic growth has continued to outpace the United States.  

If we fail to adopt sound energy policies to effectively counter this capability, we will struggle to build out our own strategically important industries and be put in the unenviable position of either accepting a major Chinese strategic advantage or, even worse, be forced into foreign dependencies for critical and strategic commodities. This dependency would give leverage to our competitors and adversaries. America suffered immense strategic and domestic humiliation during the mid to late 1970’s energy crisis when weak American foreign and domestic policies allowed the cartelization of the world’s oil supply by OPEC. We can never again allow ourselves to be placed in that situation.

Emerging technologies with significant military applications, including autonomous systems and quantum computing, are vital to rebuilding and maintaining America’s national security posture. These technologies are incredibly energy intensive and require dependable around-the-clock electricity. Renewable energy sources are not capable of providing reliable, high demand energy needs. If our country’s coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants are forced to shut down, American industries will struggle to compete with China in the development of these technologies, and military applications could be compromised and delayed.

With electricity demand skyrocketing, it is essential that America’s energy policies include resourcing and providing an abundant and reliable supply of electricity. Energy is the economic and social lifeblood of any civilization. We rely on electricity for virtually everything, from turning on the lights first thing in the morning to powering major industries. In an increasingly dangerous and unstable world, our military preparedness depends on a reliable electrical grid for everything from monitoring our airspace, to producing guidance chips for our most advanced weapons.

We can take steps to protect our environment, but the singular goal of a responsible energy policy is to ensure our nation has all the energy it needs, when it needs it. A reliable electrical grid is not merely for our day-to-day comforts and convenience but is absolutely essential for our national security and survival as a nation. We should never play ideological games with it.

Rep. Anthony Hartsook is a Colorado State Representative and the Minority Caucus Chair. He served with honor and distinction during a highly successful 26-year career in the U.S. Army. He is a decorated combat veteran with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the first Gulf War, along with tours in Italy, Korea, and the Pentagon Joint Staff.  He was an intelligence officer and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.