America has reduced its emissions by more than any country in the last 20 years, largely due to tech innovations in the power sector. But, if we don’t get our public policy right, these technologies will be built in China or Russia instead of at home.
In his latest blog post, our Chief Strategy Officer Jeremy Harrell lays out the top five areas where conservative clean energy policy can lead to more American innovation, reduce emissions, and strengthen our economy:
Implementing recent landmark energy legislation;
Continuing support for federal energy innovation;
Enacting permitting reform;
Furthering America’s industrial competitiveness; and
Growing U.S. clean energy exports, trade, and investment abroad.
What’s clear: America’s economy is the strongest on the planet. If we let our free-market advantage work, we will lead on lowering emissions and lowering costs, and America will win.
2. ClearPath expands operations and development portfolio
This week, we added Katie Prendergast as Chief of Staff to the CEO to our team. Katie previously served as Director of the White House Management Office under former President Trump.
Katie has also served in communications roles at the Small Business Administration and on the press team for Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA). She joins ClearPath from No Labels, a nonprofit advocacy organization, where she led operations and worked closely with Congressional and business leaders.
Maggie Carroll who was most recently Chief of Staff, has been promoted to Senior Director of Development. In this new role, Maggie will lead ClearPath’s development strategy and philanthropic engagement.
“We are so excited to add Katie to our growing team,” said ClearPath CEO Rich Powell. “Her operations and communications experience in the nonprofit sector, on the Hill, and in the Administration will be extremely valuable in advancing ClearPath’s mission through optimizing our internal systems and strategies.”
Hydropower developer rPlus Hydro has submitted a Final License Application (FLA) for its Seminoe Pumped Storage project – making it one of only six pumped storage projects to reach this stage of development since 2000.
The 900 MW project, located in Carbon County, Wyoming, will bolster grid reliability, especially as the state increases intermittent renewables like solar and wind.
Seminoe Pumped Storage is expected to create up to 500 construction jobs and 35 full-time positions when complete.
rPlus Hydro plans to submit another FLA for its White Pine Pumped Storage Project in Nevada in the coming months.
What’s clear: Pumped storage hydro is America’s most abundant and reliable source of long-duration energy storage. Congress and DOE should build on the foundation in the Energy Act of 2020 and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support next-generation pumped storage.
4. New joint venture for advanced nuclear fuel
Nuclear companies Framatome and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation are planning to form a joint venture to manufacture nuclear fuel to meet demands in the U.S. and worldwide.
What’s clear: It is crucial that the U.S. develop a domestic supply chain for advanced nuclear fuel to reduce reliance on adversarial nations for our clean energy supply chains.
Plug in: Our Policy Advisor Natalie Houghtalen and Government Affairs Fellow Mallory Shaevsky discuss the International Nuclear Energy Act, which would develop a civil nuclear export strategy to compete against China and Russia and establish a fuel security program to reduce reliance on nuclear fuel supplied by adversarial nations.
5. DOE invests $131 million in carbon management
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced $131 million in funding for research and development of carbon management projects.
$38 million will go toward 22 carbon capture, storage, and utilization (CCUS) or carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects as part of DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot initiative, including some of the first DOE carbon mineralization funding; and
$93 million will go toward the 11 projects from DOE’s CarbonSAFE initiative.
What’s clear: CCUS, DAC, and other carbon removal technologies are crucial components of America’s clean energy portfolio. Learn more about carbon removal here.
6. E&E: DOE staffing is a clean energy implementation challenge
DOE is facing staffing challenges as it begins implementing the tons of new energy programs authorized and funded through the Energy Act of 2020 and bipartisan infrastructure law – Brian Dabbs of E&E News reports on the issue.
“The Department had not been prepared to implement big programs,” said ClearPath Chief Strategy Officer, Jeremy Harrell. “When you look at those sheer numbers, it’s crazy. It’s effectively doubling the applied budget at DOE every year for five straight years. There are real challenges because this is the biggest injection of resources in innovation since the Manhattan Project.”
Plug in: ClearPath CEO Rich Powell and advisor Paul Dabbar, former undersecretary for Science at DOE, recently published a column in Bloomberg, How the US Can Beat China and Russia in New Energy Tech with some suggestions for the Department.
Wednesday, 2/8, 12:00pm: Our CEO Rich Powell will join an ACORE panel on the state of the grid post-Winter Storm Uri. Rich will participate alongside former FERC Chairman Rich Glick, ACORE President and CEO Greg Wetstone, Grid Strategies Vice President Michael Goggin, and former Senior FERC Advisor Alison Silverstein. Register for the event here.
8. ICYMI
ClearPath advisory board member Richard Mroz published a paper on How Advanced Nuclear Generation Technologies Support Electric Grid Resilience in the Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy.
The Economist published a column highlighting how “preventing clean-energy infrastructure from being built is no way to save the planet.”
ClearPath Senior Director of Government Affairs Colleen Moss was featured on a CRES Forum panel about policy solutions for industrial decarbonization moderated by Abigail Regitsky, Senior Manager, U.S. Policy and Advocacy, Breakthrough Energy and alongside Erik Oswald, Vice President, Advocacy and Policy Development, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, and Jordan Kearns, Vice President of Project Development, Antora Energy. Moss focused her comments on the opportunities for industrial decarbonization in the 118th Congress, particularly related to cement and concrete.
(L to R) Abigail Regitsky, Erik Oswald, Colleen Moss, Jordan Kearns
That’s all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
