House Republicans Roll Out Energy Innovation Agenda
This week, House Republicans rolled out the Energy Innovation Agenda: Conservative Solutions for a Better Climate with a suite of 30 bills in three key pillars:
Innovation
Clean Energy Infrastructure
Natural Solutions and Conservation
The impressive rollout included a series of videos and blogs hosted on Republican Leader McCarthy’s official website, with more than 40 Members contributing. All are available here.
ClearPath supported the agenda’s rollout with a video talking about can we make the United States’ energy sector cleaner and more affordable by advancing policies that accelerate breakthrough innovations to reduce emissions in the energy and industrial sectors. An example of this can be found with the passing of the bipartisan Energy Act of 2020. Watch the video here.
Schweikert, Wenstrup, Miller Lead Effort to Improve Carbon Capture Tax Credit
On Monday, Ways and Means Republicans David Schweikert (AZ), Brad Wenstrup (OH) and Carol Miller (WV) joined House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy in introducing legislation as a part of the House Republicans’ Energy Innovation Agenda. Schweikert, Wenstrup, and Miller’s legislation would significantly improve and permanently extend 45Q, the federal tax credit for carbon capture. Read more
Rich’s Take
“The 45Q tax credit is one of the main drivers for developing new carbon capture projects, and this legislation will significantly enhance the credit by not only providing long-term certainty for carbon capture projects, but also broadening the potential of carbon capture to more domestic industries. Carbon capture technology is primed for major developments, and expanding 45Q has the potential to create thousands of American jobs – it’s a win-win policy.”
ClearPath to Host Virtual Event on TRi Energy Partnership Announcement
X-energy, Energy Northwest, and Grant County Public Utility District recently established a mutual partnership, called the TRi Energy Partnership, to support the development and commercial demonstration of X-energy’s advanced nuclear reactor, the Xe-100. Next Thursday, April 29, ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell will moderate a panel with the partnership’s members to discuss the design and their role in the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) will offer opening remarks. Additional speakers may be added. Register here
Washington Times: Innovation is the Political Sweet Spot for Climate Solutions
This week, the Washington Times released a Special Section on Energy & Environment 2021: The policies, the projects, the players, the impact. ClearPath, among key lawmakers and other energy and environment stakeholders, published columns on topics ranging from energy innovation, agriculture and infrastructure policy. ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell published a column making the case that solutions to climate change must be technologically realistic, economically feasible, and politically sustainable. Rich points to the bipartisan Energy Act of 2020 as a perfect example.
U.S. Steel Corporation Announces Net Zero by 2050 Goal
On Wednesday, the U.S. Steel Corporation announced it has set a goal targeting net-zero emissions by 2050. The company, one of the world’s largest integrated steel companies, plans to leverage its growing fleet of electric arc furnaces (EAF) other innovative technologies such as direct reduced iron and carbon capture, sequestration, and utilization to achieve this ambitious goal. Read more
American Critical Mineral Independence Act of 2021 Introduced
Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Mike Waltz (R-FL) of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology introduced the American Critical Mineral Independence Act of 2021 to secure a domestic supply chain of critical minerals. Read and watch more about the legislation here.
A burgeoning private fusion industry now exists
What if we could harness the reaction at the core of the sun to generate power? For decades, scientists have been trying to do just that: create a fusion generator that could supply the world with unlimited clean electricity. In this Real Clear Energy column, Commercializing Fusion Energy Won’t Take a Moonshot, Andrew Holland, the Executive Director of the Fusion Industry Association, and Daniel Slesinski, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, write how entrepreneurs and a private fusion industry is taking form.
In the past decade, innovative designs and scientific breakthroughs have brought this goal close enough to impact our electricity system on a climate-relevant timeline. ClearPath’s Tech 101 on Fusion explores how fusion works, what has happened lately, and why fusion could help reduce emissions.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
How to Reform Metals Policy
Metals are the literal backbone of society used in buildings, bridges, cars and more. The U.S. processes and uses six main types of metals: iron and steel, aluminum, ferroalloy, lead, magnesium, and zinc. Global demand for metals is expected to increase significantly over the next several decades, driven by rapid urbanization in nonindustrialized countries and as various sectors all over the world begin to adopt clean technology. Despite promising technological advances, little low-emission metal manufacturing capacity is in commercial operation today.
The Hill: Give Republicans the climate credit they deserve
Former House E&C Chairman Greg Walden and ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell wrote an op-ed for The Hill over the weekend explaining how Republicans have made tremendous strides on climate.
“We have institutionalized big, bold goals anchored by clean energy breakthroughs, and even campaign on innovation as the best approach to solving the climate challenge…The culmination of the years of effort can be summed up in one piece of legislation — the Energy Act of 2020.”
April 28: The Center on Global Energy Policy and the Niskanen Center will host a discussion, Climate Policy under Budget Reconciliation, to explore how budget reconciliation could include climate policies such as a clean electricity standard or a carbon tax. Register here
April 29: ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell will moderate a panel with experts from X-energy, Energy Northwest, and Grant County Public Utility District to discuss X-energy’s advanced nuclear reactor, the Xe-100. Register here
April 30: The Carbon Utilization Research Council is hosting a virtual event, The Role of Carbon Capture and Removal Technologies to Achieve Net-Zero. Register here
The Hill: Give Republicans the climate credit they deserve
