STEVE MILLOY: ‘All Of The Above’ Is DEI For Energy
OPINION(Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Steve Milloy
Contributor
May 11, 2025
9:28 AM ET
Editor’s note: Big Tent Ideas always aims to provide balancing perspectives on the hottest issues of the day. Below is a column from Steve Milloy, where he argues that wind is hopelessly useless as an energy source and the wind industry doesn’t actually believe in “all of the above” energy. You can find a counterpoint here, where Hillary Bright and Heather Reams argue that support for wind energy is actually consistent with President Trump’s energy strategy, and that progressives merely used the industry for their own purposes.
The Restoring Energy Dominance (RED) Coalition recently produced an ad advocating for “all forms of energy.” “You voted for it, you got it,” the ad starts. It features a clip of President Trump saying “All forms of energy, yep…” What exactly does “all forms of energy,” or its 21st century shorthand, “all of the above” really mean? Is it good policy” And, is President Trump for it?
The concept of ‘all of the above’ dates back to a mid-2000s convergence of energy-related events including: (1) the then emerging but imaginary “climate crisis” and (2) an actual energy crisis caused by a combination of factors including the Iraq war, US dependence on OPEC, the rise of energy-hungry China and India, the notion of Peak Oil and more. Congress’s solution to this was the Energy Policy Act of 2005 signed into law by President Bush. It called for expanding domestic energy production, including: oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, and renewables. “All of the above” wasn’t in common usage at the time, but the law essentially embodied it. (RELATED: HILLARY BRIGHT AND HEATHER REAMS: Trump Should Embrace Offshore Wind)
“All of the above” subsequently came into more common use, albeit with different variations, during President Obama’s “war on coal” and his embrace of Executive action to cut emissions because of “climate change.” For President Obama, “all of the above” meant all forms of energy except for coal, which he tried to regulate into extinction. To counter Obama, the coal industry and its Republican supporters used “all of the above” as a desperate means of including coal in the US energy equation.
But the tables have now turned. President Trump supports the booming oil and gas industry, the now-crippled coal industry; the flailing nuclear industry and solar power. He campaigned and has repeatedly spoken against the onshore and offshore wind industry. He has also issued an executive order to review offshore wind projects and has, thus far, paused one specific project. It is now the wind industry’s turn to scream “all of the above” in hopes of remaining part of the US energy equation.
https://dailycaller.com/2025/05/11/opinion-all-of-the-above-is-dei-for-energy-steve-milloy/
