The Republican Tax Bill Stokes Energy Scarcity: Liam Denning

The energy provisions in the Senate’s version of the Republican tax bill, released this weekend and now being wrestled toward passage, are best described as steampunk. This offshoot of science fiction imagines a retro-futurist world where industrial steam power remains the cutting edge; think Jules Verne, zeppelins and Babbage machines. The description is all the more apt because the GOP appears to imagine that 19th-century energy sources will underpin US dominance of 21st century fields like artificial intelligence. Far from fostering leadership, it will hamstring America’s efforts.

Contrary to expectations, Republican senators intensified, rather than moderated, their House colleagues’ assault on renewable energy. Not only were phase-outs ...