Rich Powell
—
Executive Director
Biography
Rich Powell is the Executive Director at ClearPath and ClearPath Action, the DC-based organizations developing and advancing conservative policies that accelerate clean energy innovation.
He educates policymakers on investing wisely in energy innovation, removing roadblocks to building and exporting American clean energy technology, and maintaining and promoting our flexible clean energy resources. Rich also leads ClearPath’s external advocacy and research partnerships with nonprofits, academia, and the private sector.
Rich frequently testifies before congress on climate change and energy innovation. His work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, FoxNews.com, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Morning Consult, RealClear Energy, and a number of regional publications. His views are regularly featured in national publications including the National Review, NPR, Politico, USA Today, Axios, E&E, New York Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, LA Times, Houston Chronicle, MIT Tech Review, Bloomberg, Green Tech Media, Utility Dive, the Guardian, and many others.
Rich serves as a member of the 2019 Advisory Committee to the Export Import Bank of the United States. He is also on the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center’s Advisory Group.
Previously, Rich was with McKinsey & Company in the Energy and Sustainability practices. He focused on corporate clean energy strategy, government low carbon growth strategy, and clean tech market entry.
Education
B.A. from Harvard College in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and a J.D. from New York University.
Area of Expertise
Policy and Strategy
Featured Content from Rich
We propose a “Clean Energy Marshall Plan” to make our energy sector cleaner AND more reliable here in the U.S. and around the globe, while making the American economy even stronger. At ClearPath, we have been working on a four-step strategy to achieve this: innovate, permit, build and export.
A moonshot goal of bringing advanced nuclear technology to market just became reality with the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program or ARDP. Congratulations to the two companies who were selected for the Advanced Reactor Development Program (ARDP): TerraPower and X-Energy!
Since the dawn of the nuclear age in the 1950s, nuclear reactors have been supplying Americans with clean, reliable, and affordable energy. Innovators of today are making great strides to bring the nuclear power of tomorrow to market soon.
ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell testified before the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on, “How to Achieve Clean, Reliable, Affordable and Exportable Energy in the U.S.” on October 1, 2020.
A recently conducted study on the benefits of the 45Q carbon sequestration tax credit shows how long-term certainty could yield more clean power and manufacturing, more than 100,000 new jobs and gigatons of emission reductions.
At this year’s Clean Energy Ministerial, ClearPath partook in the CEM’s Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy (NICE) Future initiative, which presented a new report, “Flexibility in Clean Energy Systems: The Enabling Roles of Nuclear Energy.”
