Clinton's "Open Borders" Comment And Supergrids

Donald Trump has tried mightily to make Hillary Clinton pay for the excerpt of a speech she gave to a Brazilian bank that was released by WikiLeaks where she mentioned the phrase “open trade and open borders”. Chris Wallace actually carried the water for Trump on this issue in the last debate where he specifically asked Hillary, “Secretary Clinton, I want to clear up your position on this issue, because in a speech you gave to a Brazilian bank, for which you were paid $225,000, we’ve learned from the WikiLeaks, that you said this, and I want to quote. ‘My dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders.’ So that’s the question…Is that your dream, open borders?”. In fact the full text of the Wikileak document is, “My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere.” Clinton responded to Wallace’s question by pointing out the true context of the remark pertained to energy, as it most assuredly does. In any case, open borders does not necessarily equate to open immigration, which is the point that Trump and Wallace were clearly trying to make. And, as usual, the New York Times piled on Hillary with an editorial today which criticized her for not releasing the full text of her speeches and raising her phrasing again without providing the full context.

It was interesting, then, to read this article on the massive new investments in supergrids which are designed to carry energy produced by wind and solar farms across large distances, even across national borders. This year, over $8 billion dollars are being invested in these supergrids, primarily in Asia. China is leading the way as it looks to create massive wind farms in the north of the country and send that power to its populous south. But, as one of the authors of the study on supergrids points out, “[n]ational territory lines and governments are probably the biggest barrier to the widespread use of supergrids”, primarily because of the individual state’s fear about losing energy security. In fact, the US has been importing energy from Canada for decades. But for other countries, that fear of energy insecurity is quite real and is the main reason supergrids may initially be more common within national borders. As the author says, “Until there’s greater political will, it’s not going to take off” across borders. So perhaps Hillary actually knows what she’s talking about when it comes to her vision to create open borders for energy transmission. Or this study could just be another plant by the corrupt Clinton campaign that’s designed to cover her tracks for turning our country over to terrorists.