Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending May 11. Feedback is always welcome at info@clearpathaction.org.
HOUSE APPROPRIATORS TEE UP ENERGY SPENDING BILL
House appropriators have teed up a vote soon on a FY19 Energy and Water spending bill which boosts nuclear research funding by $128 million (10.6%) over last year and overall science funding by 5%.
A bill approved May 7 by the House Energy and Water subcommittee also includes funding for Department of Energy advanced energy loan guarantees and the department’s highly successful ARPA-E program.
ENERGY INNOVATION ISN’T JUST DOLLARS AND CENTS
Steady and sufficient funding is essential for all advanced energy research. But clean energy innovation is also more than just dollars and cents. These bills, when done right, also include significant policy reform – providing important direction to DOE to make sure that dollars are well spent on key clean energy outcomes.
For example, the recent FY18 budget deal directed DOE to map out a “moonshot” goal for demonstrating advanced nuclear technologies with the private sector. The upcoming FY19 bill should further include such a goal for energy storage. That type of prioritization already has proven successful in helping the Department spearhead both expansion of hydraulic fracturing and solar technologies.
Next, world-leading energy research programs don’t stop and start – they are built on multi-year commitments allowing innovators to map out ambitious programs and attract top talent. The FY18 deal wisely invested in the long run, including five-year commitments to the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (developing extraordinary new batteries) and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (using just sunlight to turn water into clean hydrogen fuel).
Last, a core function of DOE is to provide shared test equipment and other lab facilities to private sector innovators that no single company could afford alone. The FY18 bill renewed support for such public-private partnerships in clean fossil fuels through the National Carbon Capture Center test facility in Birmingham, and began designing an amazing new shared nuclear test device – a “versatile fast test reactor” – that’s critical to the development of advanced nuclear.
CLEARPATH WELCOMES LEADING EXPERTS TO ADVISORY BOARD
ClearPath has added thought leaders in the fields of energy policy and technology, as well as conservative politics and messaging, to its advisory board. “It’s exciting to welcome such an impressive collection of smart and savvy voices to our effort,” ClearPath Founder Jay Faison said.
The new advisers are:
George David Banks, President Trump’s former Special Assistant for International Energy and Environment and currently executive vice president of the American Council for Capital Formation
Ed Holland, former president and CEO of Southern Company Holdings and executive vice president of Southern Company Services
Richard Mroz, former president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and chair of the Critical Infrastructure Committee for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
Terry Sullivan, founding partner of Firehouse Strategies and former campaign manager and strategist in more than 100 Senate, gubernatorial, presidential and other campaigns
PERRY: SAUDIS SHOULD STRIKE NUCLEAR DEAL WITH US
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said it’s in the best interest of both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to reach a nuclear deal, or risk ceding to a deal the Kingdom could strike with China and Russia that would be less stringent on enrichment of uranium.
If the Saudis don’t sign a 123 agreement with the U.S., the “message will be clear to the rest of the world that the Kingdom is not as concerned about being leaders … when it comes to nonproliferation and nuclear power in the Middle East,” Perry told the House Science Committee May 9.
In addition, the message from the U.S. is that “if you want the best reactors in the world, you have to come to the United States and you have to use Westinghouse,” Perry said.
Meanwhile, the White House this week officially sent Congress nuclear agreements with the United Kingdomand Mexico.
NEWS NUGGETS
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill (H.R. 4606) from Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) that would allow expedited approval of small-scale shipments of liquefied natural gas that qualify for categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute has launched a new multi-platform initiativeto highlight energy innovation efforts by industry. The EnergyInnovates tour kicks off with Alabama Power’s Smart Neighborhood, a partnership that includes Southern Company and Oak Ridge National Laboratory which employs a microgrid capable of reliably powering a community with solar, batteries or a backup natural gas generator.
