Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) is facing criticism and fact-checks over his recent remarks where he appeared to use religion to defend the Trump administration’s policies and claimed that there were no windmills in China.
Speaking to Fox News about President Donald Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act Saturday, Burchett defended the use of coal by saying, “God put coal in the ground, let’s use it.” He added, “There’s a reason, as Trump told me, that there’s no windmills in China.”
“It’s gonna be great for this country,” Burchett said of Trump’s signature legislation that was signed into law Friday. The new law grants unprecedented access to federal lands for the oil, gas, and coal industries, while eliminating major tax incentives for solar and wind energy.
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Burchett’s comment prompted energy experts and environmental advocates to push back on his claim.
According to the IEA Wind TCP, a global wind energy collaboration, China maintained its position as the global leader in wind power capacity in 2022. While the amount of new capacity added that year dropped by 10% from the previous year, the country still installed an impressive 50 gigawatts. This brought China’s total wind power capacity close to 400 gigawatts.
Several social media users shared that data while reacting to a clip from Burchett’s Fox News appearance that went viral.
Paul E Williams, Executive Director at Center for Public Enterprise, wrote on the social platform X: “China has almost as much wind capacity as the rest of the world combined.”
“China has more wind power than any other country and it’s not even close, where is this talking point coming from,” wrote Gregory Brew, a senior analyst at EuroAsia group.
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Author Stephanie Kelton shared an map of operating wind farms in China and wrote: “China is the global leader in installed wind capacity.”
John Jackson, a United States veteran for the Ukrainian armed forces, said: “Using religion as the basis for every government policy is what the Taliban does.”