‘Communist in its nature’: Daniel Turner slams green energy movement at congressional hearing

Daniel Turner, the President of energy advocate group Power The Future, did not hold back in criticizing the green transition at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday, saying that the Democrats’ green agenda is “Communist in its nature.”

Responding to a tense exchange between himself and New Jersey Democrat Rep. Bill Pascrell, Turner clarified and doubled down on his comments, even saying that calling the green movement communist might be “too gentle.”

“I’ve stood in small towns in West Virginia that used to be thriving,” Turner continued. “We have sent [small town jobs] overseas… [Billionaire coal investors] will be damned if a man in West Virginia works in a coal mine, but a nine-year-old girl in Malaysia… or China, they have absolutely no problem with,” Turner iterated. “So when I call the green movement communist in its nature, maybe that is being too gentle of a term.”

Turner went on to defend “rural America[ns]” whose struggles he attributed to Biden and the Democrats’ relentless push for a green energy transition.

“No one is asking how [rural Americans] how they’re paying for gas, how they’re paying for 30% price [increases] in food,” Turner told the committee, adding that they are “absolutely and categorically denied” a say in their way of life being transformed. 

“Right now, rural American and rural American energy workers are struggling tremendously, and they’re being ignored.” 

Republicans on the committee were gathered to discuss the Democrat-sponsored “tax breaks” that they said benefits “big banks, billion-dollar companies, and China,” as the Pentagon expressed concerns this week that Biden’s green push could risk national security.

The subsidies criticized by the Committee Republicans are outlined in the 2022 “Inflation Reduction Act,” which include hundreds of billions of dollars for green energy initiatives such as electric vehicle tax credits, green manufacturing credits, green home credits, and foreign tax breaks. 

Such provisions, the GOP members said, are to China's benefit because car companies like Ford are “exploiting a loophole in the law” to gain credits funded by taxpayers by “using Chinese workers and technologies.” Solar panel manufacturer LONGi – which is tied to the CCP – is also partnering with an American company and thus will “utilize IRA 'green' tax credits,” the Committee stated. 

Daniel Turner also touched on these concerns, stating that energy “undergirds everything” in American life, “from our economy to our national security.”

“70% of EVs and green technology are manufactured in China… 90 to 95% of the rare earth elements in those technologies are sourced from markets dominated by China. As a consequence,” Turner said, “every tax break, subsidy, or government program meant to incentivize the purchase of EVs is really a direct benefit to China.”

Biden’s Department of Defense has also highlighted national security concerns with green energy projects. In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, Pentagon spokesperson Kelly Flynn suggested Biden’s offshore wind development plans could present “complicated compatibility challenges” if the wind turbines were placed near Naval training bases.

"This discussion includes impacts to… military readiness and includes mitigation strategies to overcome the impacts," Flynn said, adding that the Defense Department is "committed to facilitate development while protecting national security.”

Follow Addison on Twitter.