1. Hearing happenings: House proposal to modernize permitting
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman’s (R-AR) proposal to reform the National Environmental Policy Act was discussed at a legislative hearing this week. The proposal:
Modernizes the energy permitting system to meet increasing energy demand and maintain American energy leadership;
Expedites project timelines to help create more market predictability; and
Speeds up court challenges that are currently slowing projects for years.
“We are another big step closer to modernizing the federal energy permitting system in order to help meet dramatically increasing energy demand and lower emissions in the United States,” said Jeremy Harrell, CEO of ClearPath Action.
What’s clear: ClearPath Action supports this proposal and believes it pairs well with the Senate’s Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, which recent analysis shows would not only speed up project permitting but also dramatically lower carbon emissions.
Drilled 15 wells and proved steady production and well temperature from its Cape Station project located near Milford, Utah.
Demonstrated 10MW of capacity from a single production well, tripling levels from its Project Red pilot.
Electrified 100% of drilling operations, replacing on-site diesel generators, with a goal to make this the industry standard.
Plug in: The success of these early deployments underscores the importance of federal policy support to bridge the valley of death for new technologies. ClearPath CEO Jeremy Harrell covered what’s next for geothermal innovation in this blog.
3. NEW blog: How to protect American intellectual property
The House of Representatives took important steps this week by passing bills focused on the increasing threat of influence from China to protect American interests.
These actions are especially relevant given the Department of Energy’s cutting-edge research that makes it a high-profile target for malicious actors that seek to pilfer U.S. intellectual property (IP). DOE has a duty to protect American IP and its licensure. DOE can do this by:
Prioritizing earlier, improved vetting of funding applicants and aligned compliance between the National Labs through common IP licensing templates.
Reducing its reliance on waivers and clarifying terms and conditions for funding applicants.
Plug in: Check out these recommendations in our first blog in a series covering DOE reforms by ClearPath’s Senior Program Manager of Clean Energy and Permitting, Matt Mailloux and former Senior DOE Official, David Solan on protecting American intellectual property.
4. South Texas DAC Hub accelerates with latest funding
DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) issued $50 million (of the total project federal cost share of up to $500 million) to the South Texas DAC Hub to begin the second phase of one of the nation’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hubs in Kleberg County, TX.
OCED is working with 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, to manage the project and with technology provider Carbon Engineering. The DAC Hub:
Can capture 500,000 metric tons of CO2 per year with the goal of capturing up to 1 million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere;
Draws air into its facility using large fans, where a chemical solution binds to CO2 molecules from the air and creates a CO2-rich solution; and
Compresses captured CO2 for transportation and permanent storage.
What’s clear: The United States is advancing DAC innovation thanks to pioneering bipartisan policies.
Plug in: Check out this blog by Senior Program Manager of Carbon Management Savita Bowman.
5. Hillary on the Hill: The importance of decarbonization
L-R: Hillary O’Brien, Senior Program Director for Carbon Management and Science, ClearPath; Dr. Alexandra Hakala, Acting Chief Research Officer, National Energy Technology Laboratory; Dr. Tim Hopkins, Technology Director, Newark, Area Technology Sites and Grant Strategy, The Chemours Company; Dr. Claus Daniel, Associate Laboratory Director for Advanced Energy Technologies, Argonne National Laboratory; Scott Parent, Chief Technology Officer, Ansys.
ClearPath’s Senior Program Director for Carbon Management and Science Hillary O’Brien spent a day on the Hill this week in both the House and the Senate, moderating panels about accelerating clean energy innovation.
The panelists discussed diversifying opportunities in advanced R&D, advancing tech efficiencies while lowering emissions, and securing domestic supply chains.
Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) and Bill Foster (D-IL) gave remarks.
6. ICYMI
Karen Obenshain, ClearPath’s Program Manager for Natural Gas spoke at the Real Decarbonization Consortium: eNGO Collaboration Half Day, hosted by Stanford University’s Natural Gas Initiative and Adamantine Energy.
A recycling center for critical minerals opened up in Ohio featuring a system that yields nickel and cobalt from a form of shredded lithium ion batteries and nickel scrap from electric vehicles and consumer electronics.
Google announced a deal to support Holocene’s early-stage direct air capture (DAC) project.
DOE published a report finding between 60-95 GW of new nuclear can be built on either existing or recently retired nuclear plant sites.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on Matthew Marzano to become a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
That’s all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
