As Americans enjoy their freedom — as they have a God-given right to do — they drive where they want in privately owned cars (gas powered, hybrid, or electric), live comfortably in heated-and-air-conditioned homes, and spend their evenings cooking dinner on gas (or electric stoves), and watching whatever television program or sporting event they choose. All of it brought to them by virtue of abundant and affordable energy.
According to 2024 data published by the U.S. Department of Energy, 82.16 percent of the energy consumed in the United States came from fossil fuels, including coal, petroleum and natural gas. Another 8.67 percent came from nuclear power plants.
In other words, more than 90 percent of the energy used in this country last year came from these sources.
Only 1.64% came from windmills; and only 1.17 percent came from solar panels.
As this nation’s economy and population has grown, so too has its power needs. Since 1960, in fact, the consumption of energy produced by fossil fuels and nuclear power has more than doubled.
But the consumption of nuclear energy peaked in 2019 — and has stagnated since then — while facing a campaign of opposition from liberal environmental groups.
This is ironic, however, because as the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power increased in recent decades, greenhouse gas emissions declined. From 1990 to 2022, for example, fossil fuel consumption increased by 8.64 percent, according to the Department of Energy. But during that same period, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, greenhouse gas emissions declined by three percent.
Nonetheless, groups including the Sierra Club, 350.org, and the National Resources Defense Council have sought not merely to stop the growth of this type of energy production, but to roll it back. In theory, they would replace the production lost from nuclear power and fossil fuels with energy produced from “renewable sources,” including windmills and solar panels.
They are particularly opposed to the development of nuclear power — even though nuclear plants don’t emit greenhouse gases.
“The Sierra Club,” says its website, “continues to oppose construction of any new commercial nuclear fission power plants.”
350.org also opposes the construction of new nuclear plants. “New nuclear,” its website says, “is a dangerous distraction in the race to solve climate change.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) argues that “expanding nuclear power is not a sound strategy for diversifying America’s energy portfolio and reducing carbon pollution.”
However, some progress has been made recently in resisting this campaign to foist renewable energy development upon the United States. In 2021, some of this nation’s largest banks — including Wells Fargo, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America — joined the Net Zero Banking Alliance. This alliance, said the Sierra Club’s magazine, “signaled a commitment by member institutions to develop voluntary targets that support a climate goal of 1.5C above preindustrial levels.” Since then, however, each of these banks has dropped out of the alliance.
Unfortunately, the ”renewables only” advocates have also achieved some victories in recent years.
Since 2001, the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign has supported the closing of more than 300 coal-fired power plants in this country. In 2021, construction of a liquid natural gas export terminal in Oregon was also canceled. Then, in 2023, a proposed gas-fired power plant in Connecticut was canceled, too. These groups also pressured California into nearly shutting down the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which provides 9% of the state’s electricity, before state energy commissioners voted to extend its operation to 2030.
The relentless campaign to force America away from fossil fuels and nuclear power and towards wind and solar is also driving America toward energy dependence on the People’s Republic of China.
The Heritage Foundation published a report last year by Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Miles Pollard that showed how this is happening. “China has succeeded in dominating the world’s supply chains in green energy products and components,” it said. “If America continues to require the use of these green energy products, it will cede economic power to China, giving China control of American energy security.”
Limiting how we produce energy in the United States will, as a matter of course, impose limitations on our freedom. Reliance on China for our energy supply chain will make our country susceptible to economic coercion. Limiting how we produce energy, means less of it and fewer choices about how to use it. This is of course baked into the climate activists’ view of world, one where experts tell us we must drive EVs, use electric stoves, and eat less meat, so that even the smallest of life’s details are predecided.
To preserve freedom, we must unfetter ourselves from ideologically driven restrictions on fossil fuels and overcome decades of naysaying about nuclear power. In so doing we can ensure a future where abundant affordable energy gives every American real choice, which is the heart of freedom.
Governor Katie Hobbs is under fire from Republican lawmakers after vetoing a bill that aimed to block companies with ties to the People’s Republic of China from securing contracts with the State of Arizona.
The legislation, House Bill 2542, sponsored by Rep. Lupe Diaz (R-LD19), would have required companies bidding on state contracts to certify that they are not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. The bill included penalties of up to $100,000 and a five-year ban for false certifications.
Diaz, who chairs the House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee, expressed sharp disappointment with the veto, calling it “staggering hypocrisy.”
“The bill was simple,” Diaz said in a statement. “If a company wants a contract with the State of Arizona, it must certify that it is not owned or controlled by the People’s Republic of China. Lie about it, and you face consequences.”
He added that the legislation was crafted in response to ongoing concerns about Chinese government-linked companies undermining American industries and infiltrating U.S. supply chains through surveillance-capable technology, including drones, routers, and 5G equipment.
Diaz argued that the veto contradicts recent rhetoric from the Democratic governor, who had previously criticized the legislature for not doing enough to confront foreign threats. “You can’t issue press statements about ‘getting tough on China’ while vetoing a bill that actually would,” he said.
Supporters of the bill pointed to findings from the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, which has warned about China’s economic and technological influence in the U.S. marketplace.
Diaz pledged to reintroduce the bill in the next legislative session and urged Hobbs to reconsider her position. “Vetoing this bill sends a message that Arizona is still open for business with hostile regimes,” he said. “I will not let that slide.”
HB 2542 is one of several state-level attempts across the country to restrict economic ties with China amid broader geopolitical tensions and growing scrutiny of foreign influence in public procurement and infrastructure.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona Republican Congressman Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08) has issued a request for a full investigation into credible allegations that election security protocols in Arizona were breached during the 2024 General Election, putting the integrity of the election into question.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Congressman Hamadeh requested an investigation to specifically examine the handling of ballots from multiple states throughout the west by Runbeck Election Services.
Blank ballots should never be mixed with live ballots. I’m urging the @DOJ to investigate Runbeck Election Services and Maricopa County’s role in Arizona’s 2024 election.
Hamadeh cited credible reports that large stores of printed blank ballots from several western states were “improperly mixed in a warehouse with returned voted mail ballots that were in the process of being prepared for tabulation.”
He wrote, “This alarming situation raises serious questions about the security and integrity of the election process in Maricopa County and potentially beyond. The comingling of blank ballots with live ballots poses a significant risk to the accuracy and fairness of election results. It is crucial that we have confidence in the integrity of our elections, and any potential mishandling of ballots must be investigated to ensure that the will of the voters is accurately reflected.”
Hamadeh has requested that DOJ investigators determine:
1) The circumstance surrounding the mixing of blank ballots with voted ballots in the Runbeck warehouse.
2) The security measures in place to prevent such incidents and whether they were followed.
3) The potential impact on the accuracy of election results in Maricopa County and any other affected areas.
4) Any other relevant factors that may have comprised the integrity of the 2024 election. The Congressman also pointed to an announcement by FBI Director Kash Patel that the bureau has “turned over documents to Sen. Chuck Grassley involving an intelligence report in which China is alleged to have mass-produced fake U.S. driver’s licenses as part of the CCP’s effort to rig the 2020 election with fake mail-in ballots in favor of President Joe Biden.”
The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP.
I have immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over to the Chairman Grassley for further review. pic.twitter.com/sBVNUgN2BJ
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 17, 2025
“These include allegations of plants from the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to manufacture fake driver’s licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots–allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public,” Patel revealed. “In accordance with Chairman Grassley’s request for documents, I have immediately declassified the material and turned the document over to the Chairman for further review.”
In a statement following his request for an investigation, Hamadeh said, “We have known for years that our election processes in Arizona are flawed and ripe with opportunities for nefarious forces. There appears to be a clear pattern and practice of security breakdowns, system failures, and outright manipulation that must be investigated and remedied.”
He concluded, “Now is the time for our Department of Justice to investigate credible allegations and offer sound recommendations to ensure that the integrity of our elections is restored in full.”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes faced a setback last week in her legal challenge against President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a favorable ruling for the President, allowing the tariffs challenged by Mayes’ and eleven other state Attorneys General to remain in effect pending appeal.
The appeals court blocked an order from the U.S. Court of International Trade, which struck down the tariffs on May 28th in State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al. The appeals court acknowledged the Trump tariffs’ raise “issues of exceptional importance” and agreed to expedite the case. It will hear arguments before the entire court on July 31st. In the ruling, the court found that “both sides have made substantial arguments on the merits” and stated, “The court also concludes that these cases present issues of exceptional importance warranting expedited en banc consideration of the merits in the first instance.”
Responding to the ruling, President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “A Federal Appeals Court has just ruled that the United States can use TARIFFS to protect itself against other countries. A great and important win for the U.S.”
The May 28th ruling against the President resulted from two separate lawsuits, one brought by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small U.S. businesses which depend on foreign imports and the second from a coalition of 12 states including Arizona.
I'm leading a coalition of attorneys general in urging the Court to step in and block the President’s reckless and unlawful tariff scheme before it does even more damage.
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) May 13, 2025
Mayes claimed in a post to X that “The president does not have the authority to implement tariffs unilaterally.”
Big news! The US Court of International Trade just struck down Trump’s illegal tariff scheme as invalid under IEEPA. The president does not have the authority to implement tariffs unilaterally. Glad to have co-led this case with Oregon to protect Arizona families and small biz. pic.twitter.com/wkN9R0m87U
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) May 28, 2025
White House spokesman Kush Desai responded to the ruling saying, “The Trump administration is legally using the powers granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to address our country’s national emergencies of persistent goods trade deficits and drug trafficking. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ stay order is a welcome development, and we look forward to ultimately prevailing in court.”
At issue in the case are the discounted reciprocal tariffs that the Trump administration announced on April 2nd, which apply a 10% minimum tariff across the board, particularly in Europe, while applying more punitive tariffs, as high as 49%, in the case of Cambodia which charges the U.S. a 97% tariff or 34% initially for China, which at that point charged 67% on U.S. imports.
Through subsequent negotiations with China and a ratcheting upward of the tariffs, the U.S. duties on China stabilized at approximately 55% and will remain there under a new trade deal, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC.
Despite the legal imbroglio with leftist State AGs, President Trump announced Wednesday that China’s duties on U.S. goods will remain at 10%, where they paused in May when both sides agreed to a 90-day reprieve, and he provided a glimpse into the new agreement pending with Beijing.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump wrote, “OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!). WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”
When the history of America is written, it will certainly have a section on our global rivalry with our first existential threat of the twenty-first century: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In that narrative, we’ll be reminded of the leadership of President Donald J. Trump who has taken the fight to communists who wish to see our nation collapse. When I am the next governor of Arizona, I’ll follow the President’s lead by working with the State Legislature to get a bill prohibiting the ownership of real property in Arizona by the Chinese government passed and signed into law within the first 60 days of my administration.
Unfortunately, right now our country is stuck with too many weak politicians like Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who has failed to stand up to China and protect Arizonans.
Through subversion, cutouts, and espionage, China has attempted to infiltrate the United States and develop surveillance capabilities within our own borders. The CCP’s most recently emergent strategy is to purchase land in the United States, preferably near sensitive military sites and energy infrastructure, to garner intelligence.
At the federal level, I cosponsored the No American Land for Communist China Act to address this problem. Many states are also taking action to proscribe purchases to prevent potential probing by the Chinese government. Arizona’s Legislature recently passed, with exclusively Republican votes, Senate Bill 1109, which safeguarded the United States.
The bill makes clear that the purpose is to protect critical infrastructure, and to, “…protect this state from global security threats and halt or reverse the influence operation of the Chinese Communist Party that poses a risk to the national security of the United States.”
As you might expect, you cannot find a Democrat who supported this national security bill. Nor would you be surprised to see that Governor Hobbs vetoed the bill.
Why would Governor Hobbs permit our nation’s enemy, and make no mistake that China’s hegemonic ambition defines it as more than an economic competitor, to purchase lands in our state?
Arizona has one of the largest nuclear power plants in the United States. We have multiple dams that ensure Arizona’s water needs are met, as well as military training facilities used by our services and allies. Our state is home to a huge aerospace and defense complex, with military bases housing advanced military machinery and personnel. Our state’s high-tech industry has grown businesses and fostered talent from across the state and country to become a global giant.
Protecting these assets takes strong leadership, but Governor Hobbs has shown to be weak and indecisive when it comes to protecting Arizonans.
She has failed to recognize the CCP threat that has come across our border, which includes Chinese students attending universities that have been arrested for spying on U.S. military bases. The Chinese military has made scale mock-ups of U.S. aircraft carriers ostensibly to train on how to defeat them. And Chinese bellicosity over Taiwan included a demand that the Chinese military prepare to go to war.
And we’ll never forget the most pronounced example of Chinese surveillance in America when a spy balloon was permitted to float over U.S. airspace, oddly taking a course that flew directly over several sensitive United States military assets before being destroyed over the Atlantic Ocean.
Joe Biden failed to act and keep our nation secure, just like his good friend Governor Katie Hobbs has failed to protect the best interests of Arizonans.
The comparisons between Hobbs and Biden are too similar to ignore: weak, timid, and unable to take action that puts our citizens ahead of foreign threats.
Arizona needs a strong, decisive leader who knows what it takes to keep our state safe. It’s clear now that Katie Hobbs would rather protect the CCP than Arizonans.
Rep. Andy Biggs serves Arizona’s Fifth District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is currently running for Governor of Arizona in the 2026 election.
