USMCA Turns Five: Securing America’s Energy and Economic Edge

When the first Trump Administration negotiated the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2018, it rebuilt the foundation of North American competitiveness. The USMCA created a market-driven framework that protects American workers, strengthens U.S. industries and gives our country a competitive edge over non-market economies such as China.

The USMCA is successful because it establishes regulatory transparency, the alignment of cross-border standards and the alleviation of trade barriers. This framework fostered a stable environment critical for cross-border investment, innovation and the development of American energy infrastructure. By locking in fair and predictable rules, the USMCA is designed to support America’s competitive strength, ensuring long-term energy and industrial leadership.

Five years later, that framework continues to deliver measurable results for America’s economy, including the energy sector, which remains one of the most strategic sectors for long-term prosperity and security. In 2024 alone, U.S. energy trade with Canada and Mexico totaled nearly $208 billion, fueling millions of jobs and ensuring a stable source of reliable, affordable energy across the continent.

As Washington prepares for the USMCA’s first joint review, policymakers have an opportunity to preserve what works, build on its strengths and resist efforts to inject uncertainty into the most successful trade agreement in modern history.

North America’s Energy Defense Line

Energy security is central to America’s competitive advantage. The USMCA secured that advantage by creating a stable and predictable environment for cross-border investment and innovation.

Consider nuclear energy. While the USMCA does not include a dedicated chapter on nuclear energy, the U.S. nuclear sector benefits directly from the core principles of reducing trade barriers, improving regulatory transparency and aligning cross-border standards. These features create the foundation for advanced, high-value energy projects that sustain and expand high-paying American jobs in engineering, construction and manufacturing. A leading example is the partnership between GE Vernova Hitachi and Ontario Power Generation to build North America’s first grid-scale small modular reactor, the BWRX-300. American expertise and industry participation are central to the effort. The Tennessee Valley Authority and Lynchburg, Virginia-based BWXT are key contributors, with BWXT manufacturing the reactor vessel in the U.S.

Uranium mined in Canada is enriched and fabricated into fuel at U.S. facilities, supporting skilled labor and advanced manufacturing across the American supply chain. The same applies to critical minerals, which are essential to America’s energy and manufacturing strength. Canada and the U.S. are each other’s largest trading partners and have a reliable critical minerals supply chain that supports U.S. industry and jobs. By deepening cooperation through trade and investment, the U.S. can secure access to the materials that power advanced technologies, reduce exposure to geopolitical risks and strengthen domestic processing and manufacturing capacity.

The USMCA also provides a stable foundation for cross-border energy infrastructure, from oil and gas pipelines to electric transmission lines. Nearly 70 percent of U.S. crude oil imports originate from Canada and Mexico, ensuring steady feedstock for U.S. refineries that support higher-value American products, such as gasoline and diesel, for domestic use and export. This energy relationship contributes to over $688 billion in annual economic activity and supports nearly three million jobs across the U.S. Predictable cross-border trade and permitting frameworks are critical to maintaining this advantage.

Keeping North America Competitive in a Changing World

The USMCA’s architects understood that modern competition depends on clear standards, strong investment rules and the regulatory predictability that allows American innovators to lead. Several core principles in key chapters should be reaffirmed and, in some cases, expanded, such as:

Regulatory transparency and predictability outlined by Chapters 11 and 28 help cut red tape and reduce non-tariff barriers. Greater alignment in the energy and manufacturing sectors would further boost U.S. competitiveness.
Support for cross-border services trade in Chapter 15 underpins U.S. strengths in engineering, design and construction. By providing a predictable framework for cross-border services trade, this framework sustains high-value American jobs and contributes to a $38.5 billion services trade surplus with Canada and Mexico in 2024.

The North American Competitiveness Committee, established by Chapter 26, aims to address shared economic challenges. Strengthening its focus on measurable and actionable outcomes for supply chain resilience, energy security and innovation would help North America respond effectively to state-directed competitors like China.

Maintain American Leadership

The upcoming review is an opportunity to fine-tune a proven model. Several bipartisan ideas now circulating in Congress could strengthen the USMCA’s focus on energy and security, including the following.

The Restoring American Mineral Security Act (S.2839) would create a critical minerals alliance among trusted partners, aligning with the USMCA’s goals of supply chain coordination and trade facilitation. Harmonizing tariffs on China and deepening cooperation with Canada and Mexico by incorporating elements of this bill in USMCA could strengthen U.S. industrial leadership.
The Protecting the USMCA from Harmful Chinese Investment Act (S.2861) would align foreign investment screening with Canada and Mexico, following the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) model. This could help protect North American industries and energy infrastructure from Chinese influence while strengthening the USMCA’s goals of coordinated risk management and economic security.
The Promoting Cross-Border Infrastructure Act (H.R. 3062) would streamline permitting for pipelines and transmission projects, reducing delays and improving regulatory certainty to strengthen North American energy security. An updated USMCA could include similar commitments from all three countries to timely, reciprocal development of cross-border energy infrastructure and reduced regulatory barriers.

The USMCA has proven that pro-growth trade and strong national security go hand in hand. By locking in fair, predictable rules with America’s regional neighbors, the U.S. has strengthened its energy and industrial leadership, supporting millions of high-quality jobs. As the joint review approaches, we encourage policymakers to remember what makes the USMCA work: it favors markets over mandates, innovation over regulation and America’s closest partners over China. ClearPath’s views are detailed further in our public comments for the U.S. Trade Representative’s USMCA review. Preserving and enhancing the USMCA will uphold American energy and manufacturing leadership, reminding the world that when North America is united, the U.S. wins.

Driving American Innovation in the Highway Bill

As Congress looks to work on Surface Transportation reauthorization, the opportunities for innovation continue to grow.

September 2026 marks the deadline to reauthorize the surface transportation titles that were included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). That means Congress must make key decisions about how to invest in the nation’s transportation infrastructure system, the connective tissue that promotes economic efficiency and national security.

This reauthorization comes at a time when it is important to consider a new element: the unprecedented construction needs of the AI infrastructure buildout.

The American Cement Association projects that, in addition to roads and bridges, data center construction will require an additional one million tons of cement by 2028, accounting for 25% of office-related cement spending. However, America faces a potential 50 million ton shortfall for essential materials in concrete production, known as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). This shortfall, in materials such as coal fly ash, is close to half of current SCM consumption; one of the reasons that reliance on cement imports has grown from 15% to 22% in five years. America’s import reliance may rise even further due to the data center buildout, unless local production and innovation ramp up.

Fortunately, American manufacturers are innovating to help meet the current moment. In Minnesota, Amrize, the nation’s largest cement producer, collaborated with Meta to develop an AI-optimized concrete mixture, which sped up construction time. Brimstone, a cement start-up, has developed a novel method for producing ordinary Portland cement (OPC), the industry standard, utilizing abundant local materials. Brimstone’s technology also offers a clear path to scale up the domestic production of alumina, a key precursor for aluminum, and a source of supply chain vulnerability as the U.S. contains only one alumina refinery in a China-dominated supply chain.

The adoption of this kind of innovation, however, sometimes faces bottlenecks with the largest buyers of these materials, state Departments of Transportation (DOT). The upcoming Highway Bill is a chance to change that by modernizing rules, rewarding innovation in cement, concrete and asphalt and giving states and industry the flexibility to invest in domestic materials production that is more affordable, durable and secure.

Opportunity #1: Drive state DOT innovation by accelerating the shift to performance specifications

State DOTs predominantly regulate the use of cement, concrete and asphalt in infrastructure projects by requiring producers to follow preset rules based on the type or chemical makeup of the material. These rules are also known as prescriptive specifications. A ClearPath-led study found that all 50 states have at least one type of prescriptive specification, blocking market access for use of innovative materials in state infrastructure projects that can improve performance and reduce costs. For example, a 2020 Texas DOT field study highlighted that shifting to performance specifications for asphalt could save roughly $80 million annually.

These specifications also have important spillover effects because state DOTs are often the largest buyers in a given market, and their standards often set the precedent that private buyers follow.

States can address this bottleneck by shifting to performance specifications that regulate material use based on engineering properties, rather than preset recipes based on chemistry. This can unlock market access for materials based on new technologies and chemistries that can perform at the same level, if not better, and enable producers to apply their technical know-how to tailor their products to a specific geography and application.

Opportunity #2: Scale-up manufacturing by providing advanced demand certainty

Bringing innovative materials to market at scale is challenging. The construction industry is a boom-and-bust sector, where materials are purchased for immediate use and delivery, making it difficult for material producers to demonstrate guaranteed demand and secure financing.

One way to de-risk manufacturing investment is to provide state DOTs, major procurers of cement, concrete and asphalt, with the flexibility to support innovative production, as the demand generated by state DOTs orders can scale-up manufacturing. This strategy has successfully commercialized manufacturing in other strategic sectors, such as NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which launched the commercial spaceflight industry.

Legislative proposals that could remove innovation roadblocks

Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have been working on bipartisan legislation to boost cement, concrete and asphalt innovation: the Concrete and Asphalt Innovation Act (S.1067), co-sponsored by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-DE), and its companion legislation, IMPACT Act 2.0 (H.R. 2122), co-sponsored by Reps. Max Miller (R-OH) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC).

Both pieces of legislation aim to solve the identified challenges. The bills establish a voluntary Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grant program to provide states with technical assistance and financial reimbursement to shift to performance specifications. Shifting to performance specifications will require new tools and training, and the proposed program can help state DOTs manage the cost of the equipment purchases, training and field testing needed to use performance specifications safely.

The bills also expand the list of eligible projects states can pursue under the Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) program. Through these proposals, state DOTs will be able to use STBG funds to:

Procure innovative materials that provide an engineering or environmental benefit; and
Issue multi-year advance purchase commitments, at a specified quantity and price, for the innovative materials

With the STBG authority in place, state DOTs will be able to provide demand certainty, helping first-of-a-kind projects scale production. In addition, the bills establish contract guardrails, adapted from Department of War procurement best practices, to protect taxpayer dollars.

Boosting supply chain resilience, performance and cost-effectiveness

By eliminating bottlenecks in material specifications and establishing demand certainty, Congress could unleash American innovation to boost supply chain resilience, performance and cost-effectiveness and deliver the following benefits:

Plug supply chain gaps and decrease U.S. reliance on cement imports;
Reduce costs and improve the performance of transportation infrastructure; and
Build critical infrastructure, such as data centers, more quickly.

The Highway Bill reauthorization presents an opportunity for Congress to unleash American innovation in cement, concrete and asphalt production to deliver the next generation of high-performing, cost-effective and clean surface transportation infrastructure.

Driving Innovation: Building America’s Next Generation of Energy Leaders

In an age where clean energy innovation is more important than ever, America needs the next generation of energy leaders. ClearPath’s Conservative Leadership Program (CCLP) is dedicated to cultivating tomorrow’s clean energy leaders, equipping them to shape policy and innovation. ClearPath offers a variety of pathways for young professionals seeking hands-on experience in energy policy and advocacy. Through internships, internal fellowships and Congressional fellowships, participants gain real-world exposure to policymaking and clean energy innovation. Congressional fellows are placed in key conservative offices, committees and caucuses on Capitol Hill to support energy policy development, while internal fellows and interns contribute directly to ClearPath’s mission.

A key component of CCLP is to help emerging professionals gain first-hand experience, expand their energy education and broaden their network. “I’m proud to be part of CCLP, supporting the policy team at ClearPath, where I work directly on our permitting, critical minerals and geothermal policy priorities,” said Jackson Blackwell. “Having recently completed graduate school, where I focused on energy policy and international affairs, ClearPath is the perfect place for me to further hone my research and analytical skills. I am grateful for first-hand experiences to further inform my policy expertise.” These opportunities strengthen fellows’ abilities to analyze complex energy challenges and contribute to meaningful policy discussions. By combining professional hands-on experiences with practical engagement, ClearPath’s leadership program ensures that fellows are prepared to shape the future of clean energy policy.

The ClearPath fellows spent three days in Chicago learning about cutting-edge energy innovations while building a cohort amongst their peers. From touring Argonne National Laboratory, one of the world’s most advanced research facilities, to attending professional development sessions designed around career development and personal growth, the trip offered a unique education and professional development experience while strengthening the fellowship community. “Our trip to Chicago was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the other CCLP fellows,” said Clara Wheelock, a CCLP Congressional Fellow with the Senate Western Caucus. “Engaging in professional development seminars, touring Argonne National Lab and exploring the city alongside my cohort gave me the chance to hear about the work they are doing and learn about their interests. It was a refreshing experience that reinforced my dedication to my current work in the Senate and my excitement about the future of clean energy innovation.”

CCLP fellows with Argonne National Lab Director Paul Kearns (top) and the Aurora supercomputer (bottom).

The group’s tour of Argonne National Laboratory gave the fellows an opportunity to see innovation first-hand. They saw Argonne’s nuclear research facilities, exploring the Aurora supercomputer and visiting the Advanced Photon Source, a massive synchrotron light source that enables cutting-edge experiments in materials science, biology and energy technologies. Argonne researchers shared how the Advanced Photon Source is being used to accelerate breakthroughs in energy innovation, including battery storage, materials for nuclear reactors and advanced manufacturing. Fellows met with Director Paul Kearns, Jaclyn O’Day, Interim Director of Government Relations and leading scientists who discussed how national lab developments are inventing new technologies in computing, nuclear science and climate solutions. For many fellows, the visit offered a unique window into how world-class science intersects with innovation policy.

The group participated in multiple skill-building and professional development sessions. These sessions focused on fine-tuning practical skills in professional confidence, creativity and leadership. The workshops were creative and interactive, giving fellows the chance to practice presenting, work collaboratively on problem-solving exercises and bond with peers and mentors.

Looking Ahead

As clean energy becomes a major priority across America, CCLP is preparing the next generation of energy pioneers to address this issue. Through day-to-day work and talent-cultivating experiences like the Chicago retreat, ClearPath provides young professionals with exposure to world-class science, professional development and a growing cohort network. “What impressed me most throughout the retreat was how deeply engaged and thoughtful our fellows were. Whether it was exploring cutting-edge energy technology, reflecting on leadership through Lego Serious Play or simply supporting each other as peers, they demonstrated the curiosity and commitment that define the next generation of conservative clean energy leaders,” said Dana Faught, CCLP Director. From world-class laboratory visits and professional experiences to cohort-building activities, CCLP is more than a program – it’s a launchpad for America’s next generation of clean energy leaders.

For more information about CCLP click here.

Made in America: Leveraging the United States’ Energy Strengths

By 2040, U.S. electricity demand may rise by 35–50%, equivalent to adding roughly three Texas’ worth of demand to the grid. Meanwhile, China added 475 GW of new generation in 2024 alone. By comparison, the U.S. added 48 GW, barely one-tenth of China’s additions. To win the AI race and secure U.S. energy dominance, America must deploy more energy – faster and at a greater scale. Fortunately, American companies are seizing the opportunity.

For the fourth consecutive year, ClearPath partnered with the American Petroleum Institute (API) to showcase the advanced, next-generation energy technologies that are driving U.S. energy leadership. This year’s Carbon Innovation Forum underscored how America can leverage its innovation advantage to strengthen energy security, bolster manufacturing and maintain leadership in affordable, low-emissions energy.

The Carbon Innovation Forum convened senior government officials, energy executives, investors, project developers and thought leaders to discuss how the U.S. energy industry is innovating advanced energy technologies and resources – from enhanced geothermal and advanced nuclear to critical minerals and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Together, these innovations can deliver affordable, reliable, low-emissions energy, strengthen supply chains, create high-quality American jobs, and expand U.S. exports and global market influence.

American Energy Dominance

Jeremy Harrell, CEO, ClearPath moderates a fireside chat with Jarrod Agen, Executive Director, NEDC

Jarrod Agen, Executive Director of the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC), kicked off the event and shared a central message to execute the Trump administration’s clear mandate: get shovels in the ground for projects that boost U.S. energy dominance and strengthen the grid.

Federal support for innovation and project development has already delivered landmark breakthroughs — like hydraulic fracturing — that transformed U.S. natural gas into a global export strength. Today, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is at the heart of the Administration’s energy dominance agenda. European allies have made their position clear — they want America’s lower-emissions LNG rather than Russian gas. In order to capture growing market demand, we need to unlock LNG exports and build supporting infrastructure, such as pipelines and export terminals. With LNG exports projected to grow nearly 10% annually through 2030, projects like Commonwealth LNG and Venture Global’s CP2 facility are central to the United States’ ability to supply allies and seize new market opportunities abroad.

Let America Build

If we want America to lead the world and develop more clean energy, developers must first have a clear path to obtaining permits.

Emily Domenech, Executive Director of FPISC, and Lisa Epifani, Head of Policy, ClearPath

Emily Domenech, Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (“Permitting Council”), shared how the Permitting Council is doing exactly that. They are executing the Administration’s energy dominance strategy by overseeing and leveraging the FAST-41 process, which will accelerate approvals for critical projects such as the Alaska LNG pipeline and several critical mineral projects. For some mining projects, timelines that once stretched three to five years are being cut to about one year. The Permitting Council has also underscored a central point: when projects are built in America, they are built better with higher environmental standards.

A Roadmap for Geothermal

What our innovation ecosystem has done for American natural gas, it must now do for next-generation energy technology and manufacturing. To maintain competitiveness and meet rising demand with American-made energy, we must modernize permitting, invest in critical infrastructure from pipelines to transmission, provide market certainty with predictable incentives and strengthen public-private partnerships that accelerate deployment.

Geothermal power illustrates this opportunity. Though it accounts for less than one percent of today’s grid, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory projects geothermal could provide up to 90 GW of electricity by 2050. With support from DOE’s Utah FORGE site, developers are refining drilling techniques, lowering upfront costs, and drawing private capital. Geothermal technology demonstrates the importance of the oil and gas workforce by leveraging the industry’s century of expertise — applying advanced drilling technologies, engineering know-how, and on-the-ground project experience to unlock this technology and get steel in the ground. The One Big Beautiful Bill also retained incentives for geothermal technologies, supporting the expansion of a reliable, clean, base-load power source.

Clean American Manufacturing

Ammonia represents another opportunity. As both a critical feedstock for fertilizer and an energy carrier, ammonia is central to global food and energy security. Today, China is the largest producer of ammonia, but with abundant natural gas resources, advanced CCUS capabilities, and a highly skilled workforce, America is well-positioned to lead in low-carbon ammonia production. Expanding this sector would not only strengthen supply chains but also create new U.S. manufacturing jobs and export opportunities.

As these technologies mature, supportive infrastructure will be essential. Midstream assets — pipelines for CO₂ and natural gas, transmission for electricity — will determine whether projects move from concept to commercial reality. Modernizing permitting will give developers the confidence to put steel in the ground and scale technologies.

Illustrative 2050 CO2 Pipeline Network

De-risking Private Investment

Financing will be just as critical as engineering and permitting breakthroughs. Durable, predictable policy gives investors the confidence to back long-term projects, and public-private partnerships, such as those supported by DOE’s Loan Programs Office, help de-risk deployment and move first-of-a-kind technologies into the market. Together, these tools ensure the U.S. stays ahead of global competitors and leads in bringing the next wave of low-carbon technologies to market.

America’s energy producers, technology innovators and investors are ready to move the capital needed to maintain the United States’ competitive edge in global energy markets. America’s energy leadership depends on matching our strengths with durable policy, streamlined permitting, and long-term certainty that attracts capital and ensures the world’s energy innovations are driven from here at home.

Thanks to our speakers: Jarrod Agen, Executive Director, National Energy Dominance Council; Emily Domenech, Executive Director, Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council; Mike Adams, SVP & Managing Director, 8 Rivers; Vikrum Aiyer, Head of Global Public Policy, Heirloom; Lee Beck, SVP, Global Policy and Commercial Strategy, HIF Global; Kevin Book, Managing Director, ClearView Energy Partners; Ed Crooks, Vice Chair of Americas, Wood Mackenzie; Linda Dempsey, Vice President of Public Affairs, CF Industries; Gavin Dillingham, Executive Advisor, Federal Affairs, SLB; Ryan Edwards, Director of Climate Policy, Oxy; Lisa Epifani, Head of Policy, ClearPath; Cody Finke, CEO, Brimstone; Seán Gallagher, Head of Climate and Sustainability, Woodside; Jeremy Harrell, Chief Executive Officer, ClearPath; Matt Kolesar, Chief Environmental Scientist, ExxonMobil; Michael Johnson, Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, J.P. Morgan; Tim Latimer, Chief Executive Officer, Fervo Energy; Bala Nagarajan, Managing Director, S2G Investments; Hillary O’Brien, Managing Director of Policy, ClearPath; Scott O’Malia, Chief Executive Officer, ISDA; Aaron Padilla, Vice President of Corporate Policy, API; Derek Phelps, Head of Policy and Governmental Affairs, Twelve; Andrey Shuvalov, Vice President Energy Transition and Integration, Shell; Sasha Stashwick, Director of Federal Affairs, Antora; Alix Steel, Principal, DrivePath; Niels Versfeld, VP of Corporate Development, Carbon Clean; Tim Vail, CEO, ION Clean Energy; and Rebecca Winkel, Director, Climate & Sustainability Policy, API.

Energy Financing Power: America vs. China

Put Energy Security at the Center of U.S. Foreign Policy

American innovation drives energy security, a key factor in geopolitical influence. The U.S. can leverage its energy abundance by putting energy at the center of its foreign policy strategy, mutually benefiting America’s partners while reducing global emissions and advancing U.S. national interests. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear, energy will be “at the forefront of foreign policy for the next 100 years.” To meet this moment, the U.S. must lean into its strengths and create a coordinated, agile and effective energy diplomacy and delivery system.

One way to do so would be through the bipartisan creation of Energy Security Compacts (ESCs) that align American technical assistance and financing tools to strengthen the Trump Administration’s work in elevating energy security as a core pillar of U.S. foreign policy.

Scattered Goals, Strategic Costs

The American foreign policy apparatus has become enormously cluttered. Institutions from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. (EXIM) work hard for the American people, but disjointedly toward scattered goals.

On the other hand, American adversaries are speeding ahead. The Chinese Belt and Road initiative, led by state-backed or outright-owned corporations, deploys large amounts of capital in a coordinated effort. In Brazil, for instance, the largest Latin American economy, China has invested more than $60 billion into the nation’s energy sector since 2015. The Chinese Communist Party now controls over 12 percent of Brazil’s energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, the U.S. government’s foreign investment institutions have supported less than $472 million, with one of the main projects being a streetlighting system. Worthwhile, but not transformative or strategic.

While trying to out-subsidize China is unrealistic and economically unsound, the U.S. needs to leverage its strengths. Countries want to work with the American private sector, which is the largest and most innovative in the world, but U.S. companies are at a disadvantage. For example, Egypt wanted to select American nuclear technology for its El Dabaa power plant, but ultimately had to go with Russian technology. America is the preferred vendor for many countries, including Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, but private businesses can’t compete alone against heavily state-subsidized corporations. U.S. policies should level the playing field to support U.S. business and streamline bureaucracy so we can more effectively use the tools we do have.

Chinese energy finance from official sources is 10x more than the U.S. since 2015

From Bureaucracy to Strategy

The creation of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the modernization of EXIM under the first Trump Administration were strong steps towards a more proactive international policy. While those tools need to be sharpened further through their upcoming reauthorizations, the next step toward ensuring American energy dominance and global prosperity is to build an Energy Security Compacts mechanism to maximize the toolkit’s effectiveness.

America already has a model to build on. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) utilizes a compact framework that can serve as a platform to coordinate the interagency, advance American national security interests and support American energy innovations in foreign markets. These compacts would be bilateral, U.S.-led engagements designed to:

Create five- to 10-year agreements with clear, measurable outcomes targeting energy security and infrastructure;
Develop bilateral partnerships that focus on joint security priorities and center on American foreign policy goals;
Make strategic U.S. investments in partner nations’ energy infrastructure; and
Use a coordinated approach that pulls together authorities and capabilities across the U.S. government, including, amongst others, DFC, EXIM, MCC, Department of Energy (DOE) and USTDA.

Imagine how this might work in a country like Brazil, a nation with vast reserves of rare earths that the U.S. needs for advanced manufacturing, energy and defense, but whose power grid is unreliable and vulnerable to droughts. An ESC would begin with a joint analysis of the country’s energy and infrastructure bottlenecks and result in a five to 10-year framework that channels existing U.S. tools toward projects that both strengthen Brazil’s grid and directly advance U.S. strategic and economic interests.

This ESC would align American technical assistance and financing tools, some of which already operate on a cost-recovery basis and often return money to the U.S. Treasury. This could be designed to support a portfolio of complementary projects to build out mining capacity in commodities the U.S. needs and the energy infrastructure to support those projects and provide reliable power to Brazil’s interior. The USTDA could fund feasibility studies and early engineering work across the projects, while MCC provides grant capital for new transmission lines and capacity upgrades. The DFC could take equity stakes in new mining facilities, as it did with TechMet, supplied by EXIM-financed power plants built with American components, like in the Bahamas or Honduras. With the right alignment, these tools could offer more than fragmented assistance; they could deliver a unified, strategic alternative to America’s adversaries that reflects the full strength of U.S. innovation, partnership and purpose.

By combining diplomatic leadership from the U.S. State Department, commercial support from the Commerce Department and technical expertise from DOE, and the financing muscle from DFC and EXIM, an ESC with Brazil would help the U.S. compete more effectively with China. Therefore, strengthening critical supply chains in a fiscally responsible way. In short, this is a smart investment in American national interests, not just aid for Brazil.

Congress has an opportunity to work with the Administration to make this kind of scenario a reality, successfully replicated with America’s strategic partners and allies. Instead of reacting to Chinese and Russian efforts to corner global energy markets, U.S. efforts can proactively empower the private sector to unlock economic opportunity and advance our national interests for mutual benefit with our partners abroad. ESCs can be a bipartisan next step to build on America’s aim to lead the world in deploying affordable, reliable and clean energy systems, while recognizing the central role of energy security to geopolitical influence and reducing global emissions.

Preventing Wildfires with Innovative Forest Management and Grid Technologies

In the United States, seasonal wildfires, which peak in late summer and early fall, are causing more damage and costing more money to manage than ever before. Since 1990, the annual area burned by wildfires has increased nearly 60 percent. This dramatic rise in fire size is most evident in the last decade, with three of the five largest wildfire seasons in the past 60 years occurring since 2015. Addressing this threat to our communities and critical infrastructure requires a technology-driven approach that prioritizes prevention and active management.

The good news is that the technologies we need to reduce global energy emissions and keep America competitive are also essential to addressing wildfires, including innovations in advanced forestry practices and grid modernization. These are reflected in a number of bipartisan policies, like the Fix Our Forests Act, that have been introduced in the 119th Congress to support innovation and technology that reduce wildfire risk while also creating jobs and building stronger rural economies. Additionally, the current administration is meeting the opportunities to tackle these challenges head-on. In June 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14308, “Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response,” to coordinate the government’s response to destructive wildfires and promote novel technologies and best practices. The EO prioritizes strengthening wildfire mitigation in a number of ways, including:

Directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of the Interior (DOI) to promote and facilitate innovative uses of woody biomass and forest products to reduce fuel loads in areas at risk of wildfires; and
Directing the DOI, USDA, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider initiating rulemaking proceedings to establish best practices to reduce the risk of wildfire ignition from the bulk power system without increasing costs for electric power users.

Policies to support interagency investments in research to build new forest product markets, actively manage forests, and expand DOE National Laboratory capacities to accelerate technology deployment are essential to addressing wildfire risk and supporting American foresters. By prioritizing American innovation, U.S. forests will become more resilient, create jobs for rural communities and reduce emissions.

Wildfires in the U.S. Are Burning More Land

Source: NASA, using data from the National Interagency Fire Center

Innovation Strengthens the U.S. Forest Product Industry and Incentivizes Wildfire Mitigation Practices

Active forest management is fundamental to maintaining healthy forests because it prevents overcrowding, which can make forests susceptible to wildfire, disease, drought and detrimental pests. This is important because healthy American forests provide essential economic and environmental benefits like timber, bioenergy, wildlife habitat and watershed protection. Active forest management includes:

Prescribed burns: Intentional, precise and controlled fires to reduce fuel loads in forests.
Mechanical thinning: Manages the number of trees in a forest to avoid overcrowding and reduces the amount of highly flammable tree species.

American foresters recognize the value of actively managed forests for keeping forests healthy and resilient to wildfire risks. Thus, continued support from the federal government, through agencies like USDA and DOI, can further incentivize active forest management by building new and robust forest product markets. For instance, the U.S. Forest Service houses the Forest Products Laboratory, a vital research facility that advances wood utilization research in collaboration with American industry, research institutions, and government agencies. These new uses of woody biomass include:

Semi-conductor microchips that use cellulose derived from wood as the support layer, developed with the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and
Glued laminated timber (glulam), which is a durable building material used for structural support, that often boasts two to three times the strength of steel and concrete.

The U.S. Forest Service also recently invested $80 million in the Wood Innovation Grants program to support research and development of technologies that utilize low-value timber from mechanical thinning, expand wood product manufacturing and promote active forest management to ensure wood as a sustainable building material.

Grid Modernization Technologies Can Reduce Wildfire Risk & Enhance Reliability

Innovative grid technologies offer significant benefits in wildfire mitigation beyond their essential role in meeting electricity demand growth and enhancing grid efficiency. For decades, DOE has played a crucial role in commercializing these technologies through national laboratory testbeds, competitive awards for private-sector innovators, support for public-private demonstration projects and technical assistance for industry. As a result, utilities nationwide are increasingly adopting innovative grid technologies as part of a comprehensive toolkit to reduce power-system ignition risks and minimize service disruptions from wildfires by:

Enhancing situational awareness with data-driven decision-support. Grid operators can use emerging topology optimization software as a tool to help make decisions when identifying ways to reroute power to mitigate ignition risks and avoid areas with active wildfires. For example, NewGrid’s innovative topology optimization software was a past recipient of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) SCALEUP program.
Providing greater control over power flows to mitigate ignition risk and accelerate power restoration. Advanced Power Flow Controllers (APFCs) are power electronic-based devices deployed onto transmission infrastructure to divert power flows. Grid operators can use APFCs to adjust how power flows through the transmission system remotely. This can improve system safety and minimize service disruptions by avoiding line overloads, downed power lines, rerouting power around high-risk fire areas and accelerating power restoration times. For example, Smart Wires APFC technology will be deployed by Avista Utilities and Idaho Power to enhance wildfire resilience through enabling greater control over power distribution through a DOE-funded program.
Enabling grid hardening with new materials science applications. Advanced conductors use carbon fiber or composite cores, which reduce sag on power lines, decreasing contact with other lines or vegetation. Reconducting power lines in fire-prone areas reduces ignition and increases the capacity of that right-of-way up to double what conventional conductors provide, which provides additional benefits should other power lines fail. For example, Idaho National Laboratory has a custom-designed fire test chamber for assessing how conductors perform under wildfire conditions. This test bed helps derisk and validate technologies so utilities can be confident in their performance.

Source: CTC Global, an advanced conductor that endured a fire in Nevada and was able to be reused

Innovative forest management and grid modernization technologies are a vital part of the comprehensive wildfire toolkit, offering benefits for mitigating wildfire risk and making our critical infrastructure more secure and the American bioproducts industry more competitive.

Federal agencies like USDA, DOE, and FERC have an important role to play in driving innovation in these essential technologies, not just for this season – but for decades to come. Supporting these agencies by expanding test-bed capabilities and access at National Laboratories, providing competitive awards for early-stage innovators and accelerating technology de-risking through public-private partnerships and technical assistance are essential to keeping American foresters and utilities at the forefront of addressing wildfire risk.

Clean Baseload Power: A Politically Durable Energy Agenda

ClearPath was founded in 2014 to fill the whitespace in the energy debate. Plenty of technology and industry-specific organizations existed. But who was working on an American innovation agenda and policy strategy focused on building clean, baseload energy? And, more specifically, who were the conservative voices?

That’s where ClearPath founder Jay Faison stepped in: “I want conservatives to be leaders on clean energy—from nuclear to hydropower to clean fossil fuels—both to improve the environment and strengthen real conservative leadership.”

Today, politics remain polarized, and there is still healthy debate over which technology is the best, most affordable way to meet growing demand.

Instead of falling into the false choice trap of fossil fuels versus renewables, or the economy versus the environment, we espouse choosing markets over mandates and innovation over regulation.

And now, as the post-One Big Beautiful Bill dust settles, an actual clear path for a politically durable American energy system has emerged.

Amidst the political noise, a quiet, bipartisan consensus has formed around a critical piece of America’s energy future: clean, firm, 24/7 energy technologies.

Both parties recognize that if we want to maintain a reliable grid, meet growing electricity demand to win the AI race, and reduce emissions, we need firm, always-on clean power.

This is where technologies like advanced nuclear, carbon capture, hydropower, fusion and enhanced geothermal systems come in. These solutions can provide round-the-clock electricity. And crucially, they have gained champions on both sides of the aisle. Recent federal policies prove the point. The Energy Act of 2020, which had strong bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law by President Trump, authorized research, development and deployment policies for clean, firm power.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, passed with bipartisan support and signed by President Biden, dedicated billions to fund demonstrations of those technologies authorized in the Energy Act of 2020.

The Inflation Reduction Act, driven by Democrats in 2022, and One Big Beautiful Bill, by Republicans this year, both have one thing in common — support for new nuclear, long-duration energy storage, carbon capture, geothermal and hydropower, or, as we’ve already said…clean, 24/7 reliable energy.

At the same time, Republican-led states like Wyoming, Utah, Louisiana and West Virginia are actively partnering with private developers to host small modular nuclear reactors and carbon capture projects, while Democratic strongholds like California, New York and Michigan are extending the life of their nuclear plants to keep clean, reliable power on the grid.

The motivation is not ideological; it’s practical. A manufacturing renaissance, more electrification of buildings and industry, and a data-driven economy all require massive amounts of reliable electricity. Without 24/7 power, renewables alone cannot meet that demand without risking blackouts or skyrocketing costs. And while we want to see more fossil fuel power plants with carbon capture get built, supply chains and infrastructure challenges make meeting the entire demand challenging.

Policymakers in both parties are seeing the same reality: the U.S. must invest in American-made technologies that can run all day, all year.

The alignment is not just good for political discourse; it’s good for American energy dominance. China and Russia are aggressively deploying advanced nuclear and other clean energy infrastructure around the world. To beat them, we must diversify our innovations and accelerate the deployment of technologies at home while opening up new global buyers of American-made energy.

At the same time, the drumbeat for modernizing energy permitting is getting louder and for good reason. If we want America to lead the world and develop more of the clean, baseload power that has bipartisan support, developers must have a better path to obtaining permits.

Energy policy may never be completely free from partisanship, but we should not lose sight of the common ground that now clearly exists. When it comes to keeping the lights on, powering the economy and new AI, and lowering global emissions, clean 24/7 energy is one issue where America can still move forward together.

20 Years Since the Energy Policy Act of 2005

It is hard to believe that this month marks 20 years since Congress passed the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005. EPAct 2005 focused on increasing energy supplies, building energy infrastructure and driving investment in American innovation. While it was far from perfect, EPAct was bold and set the stage for U.S. energy dominance. Congress can build on the lessons from EPAct 2005 and continue to deliver energy policy that moves our nation forward.

When EPAct 2005 was crafted, the country was facing complex energy issues. We were grappling with the impacts of the 2003 Northeast Blackout, which affected more than 50 million people and caused an estimated $10 billion in economic losses. There were growing concerns about too much dependence on foreign oil and gas. The nuclear industry was in need of a serious revival to meet its potential. Innovative technologies were struggling to get the financing needed to achieve speed and scale. Congress took these challenges and turned them into opportunities.

Some key provisions of EPAct 2005 included:

Mandatory reliability standards and measures to modernize the transmission infrastructure to improve the grid;
Creation of the Loan Guarantee Program (the precursor to today’s DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO)) to help support investments in innovative technologies, particularly nuclear power;
Expedited siting and permitting of Liquified Natural Gas terminals for more access to markets;
Streamlined hydraulic fracturing regulations to increase domestic oil and gas; and
Tax and R&D support for various resources, such as geothermal, clean coal technologies, advanced nuclear energy, fusion and hydrogen to diversify supplies.

Today, the saga of challenging energy issues continues. Our grid must be ready to meet increased demand driven from data center growth, industrial reshoring and widespread electrification while also dealing with aging infrastructure, the complexity of integrating variable resources and an evolving regulatory landscape. Permitting hurdles remain a major barrier to building critical energy infrastructure. Innovative technologies still need strong public-private partnerships to bridge the commercialization gap and scale to competitive solutions. These challenges set the stage for the next opportunity for energy leadership.

Forecast of Data Center Demand Growth by 2030

Adapted from DOE’s Resource Adequacy Report (2025), underlying data from EPRI, McKinsey & Company, LBNL, S&P

Congress has shown in EPAct 2005 as well as the Energy Act of 2020 that it can deliver broad, bipartisan energy policy. It is time for an updated big, bold, bipartisan energy bill.

The following are examples of policies that can address today’s energy challenges:

Streamline Permitting: Outdated permitting processes are jeopardizing critical infrastructure development. Bills like the SPEED Act, introduced by House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), can help modernize NEPA to reduce duplication, increase transparency and reform judicial and litigation practices. The administration and legislation proposals like the FREE Act introduced by Sen. Lummis (R-WY) and Rep. Maloy (R-UT) have also highlighted the potential for using a regulatory tool called permit-by-rule to expedite permitting, which is a process that allows certain activities to proceed without undergoing a full individualized permit review, as long as they meet predefined criteria.

Improve the Grid: American energy security, AI leadership and manufacturing competitiveness require a robust transmission system. Transmission siting and permitting improvements could streamline grid expansion while balancing and fully respecting states’ roles in the process. Innovative grid technologies and transformer manufacturing deployed at scale would also help optimize the grid. Safeguarding the grid, such as through the work of DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER), is also critical.

Strengthen Pipelines: A modern pipeline system is essential to deliver reliable, affordable energy to homes and industry, including AI data centers. Policy ideas like the Next Generation Pipelines Research and Development Act, which passed the House on a bipartisan basis in the 118th Congress and was reintroduced in April 2025 by Reps. Randy Weber (R-TX) and Deborah Ross (D-NC) would support the build-out of all types of pipelines, such as natural gas, LNG, petroleum, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and more. There are also opportunities to update some safety regulations for pipeline infrastructure.

Expand Critical Minerals: Critical minerals are essential to America’s energy security, industrial base and national defense. President Trump’s March 2025 Executive Order prioritized U.S. mineral production and directed DOD and DOI to accelerate support for mining and processing. There have also been several legislative efforts in the 118th and 119th Congress that seek to accelerate permitting for mining projects, boost R&D and strengthen strategic mineral partnerships and finance domestic mineral supply chains. Some examples include: the Critical Mineral Consistency Act, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, the Unearth Innovation Act and the STRATEGIC Minerals Act.

Expand Nuclear: Building more clean, firm nuclear power is essential for national and economic security. Bills like the Accelerating Reliable Capacity (ARC) Act introduced in the 118th Congress by Senator Risch (R-ID), or a similar policy, can spur nuclear deployment by addressing cost uncertainty and reducing investment risk. Also, continued funding for the DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), first authorized in the Energy Act of 2020, has supported ongoing nuclear energy projects and their fuel supply chain.

Promote Geothermal: Next-generation geothermal technologies have the potential to expand beyond the Western U.S. to provide emissions-free, reliable baseload power all across the country and leverage up to 200,000 existing American jobs in the oil & gas sector. The Trump DOE has prioritized funding for project demonstrations. Innovators have already shown great success, like reducing drilling times by more than 70 percent. Bills like the GEO Act, introduced in the 118th Congress by Sens. Lee (R-UT) and Heinrich (D-NM), can streamline federal permitting requirements and apply best practices to unlock additional deployments of these next-generation projects. The energy unlock that EPAct 2005’s categorical exclusion provided for certain oil and gas activities on federal lands could be replicated for geothermal.

Reshore Manufacturing: Meeting infrastructure needs requires producing and deploying core building materials at scale and speed. Bills like the Concrete and Asphalt Innovation Act (CAIA), introduced in March 2025 on a bipartisan basis by Sens. Coons (D-DE) and Tillis (R-NC), are designed to bring innovative cement and asphalt technologies to market faster, increase domestic production and meet the demand for 1 million tons of cement by 2028, triggered by AI data center development.

Accelerate Carbon Technologies: Industrial innovation includes carbon management innovation. Bipartisan bills like the Carbon Removal and Emissions Storage Technologies Act (CREST), introduced in the 117th and 118th Congresses, would authorize DOE’s carbon removal innovation efforts and help keep American companies ahead of global competitors. By driving private investment and reducing costs to meet growing demand, CREST can help build a trillion-dollar American industry capable of delivering gigaton-scale removals by 2050.

Strengthen Global Leadership: In order to advance U.S. national interests, level the playing field for American businesses and solidify global leadership in key energy sectors, strategic enhancements are needed at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. (EXIM). The DFC authorization expires in October 2025 and the EXIM authorization expires in December 2026. These are financing tools designed to secure U.S. energy leadership and push back against China’s aggressive, state-funded energy expansion.

Unleashing U.S. Energy: Lessons from Iceland

Energy security is a key factor in securing any nation’s economy, and countries like Iceland are taking it to the next level. In under a century, Iceland went from one of the European Union’s poorest economies to one of the wealthiest by utilizing what was already under its feet: an abundance of easily accessible energy, in the form of geothermal and hydropower resources.

L-R: ON Power Representative, Ólafur Elínarson, Luke Bolar, Amanda Sollazzo, Hillary O’Brien, Hali Gruber, Dillyn Carpenter, Andrew Kelley, Ryan Mowrey, Adam Stewart, Kári Valgeirsson, Lucy Sadler, Kiddi Haflidason, Ayla Neumeyer, Alexandra Slocum, Ken Klukowski, Jeremy Harrell, Sara Lind Guðbergsdóttir, Andy Zach, Matt Mailloux, Andrew Fishbein

Iceland has some of the shallowest geologic heat reservoirs in the world and a landmass that is more than 10 percent glaciers. ClearPath’s educational series, the Clean Energy Innovation Academy, explored Iceland’s unique clean energy infrastructure with Congressional staff, learning about real energy projects and cutting-edge innovations. We traveled with 10 U.S. Senate staff to study Iceland’s grid, powered by 70% hydropower and 30% geothermal energy. Many of Iceland’s geothermal plants are co-located with industrial parks and facilities, a successful model many U.S. energy developers are interested in to power emerging manufacturing facilities or data centers. The educational visit included:

Business Iceland: This national agency exemplifies how strategic branding and robust support for domestic industries can drive exports and attract foreign investment. This model provides a blueprint for how U.S. entities like the U.S. Commercial Service and SelectUSA can further empower American businesses on the global stage.
ON Power: As Iceland’s largest geothermal energy producer, ON Power’s Hellisheiði and Nesjavellir plants demonstrate large-scale, reliable geothermal power. Their commitment to a circular economy through partnerships with Carbfix and Climeworks showcases how resource efficiency can be maximized. This mirrors efforts by U.S. leaders like Boise’s Warm Springs Water District (Idaho) and Ormat Technologies (Nevada), who are already proving geothermal’s domestic potential.
Climeworks: This leader in Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, co-located at Hellisheiði, is a prime example of private sector ingenuity tackling environmental challenges. Climeworks’ role as a key partner in the U.S. DOE’s Regional DAC Hubs program (e.g., Project Cypress Southwest in Louisiana), alongside American firms like CarbonCapture Inc. (Wyoming) and Heirloom Carbon (California), underscores the vital role of these advanced solutions in our national strategy.

Climeworks’ Mammoth facility, the world’s largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility designed to capture up to 36,000 tons of CO₂ a year.

Carbfix: This innovative company’s method of permanently sequestering captured CO2 by mineralizing it into volcanic rock—literally “turning CO2 into stone”—offers a secure and scalable solution. Their operations provide a direct parallel to Occidental’s STRATOS DAC Hub in the U.S., demonstrating a practical pathway for permanent carbon management.
Vaxa: This Iceland-based company leverages geothermal energy to sustainably produce high-value microalgae products while capturing carbon. This multi-faceted approach to resource efficiency and new market creation offers valuable lessons for American agricultural and industrial innovation, with U.S. examples like Heliae Development (Arizona) and Global Algae Innovations already exploring similar frontiers.
Reykjanes Power Plant: This facility showcases industrial symbiosis at its best, repurposing waste heat from electricity generation to warm a local fish farm. This ingenious approach to maximizing resource utilization is a model for American industry from coast to coast.
U.S. Embassy in Iceland leadership: Leadership from the Embassy shared insights on the strategic U.S.-Iceland relationship, vital for North Atlantic security and Arctic leadership, as well as the growing commercial engagement, particularly state-level geothermal partnerships in Utah and Colorado.

In the 1930s, Iceland made a change from importing oil and coal to meet its electricity and home-heating needs to embracing its own geologic resources by building out geothermal and hydropower capacity. This strategic shift delivered lower energy costs for consumers, highlighting the immense value of harnessing domestically abundant natural resources. They credit low-cost energy for their economic growth. In the same way, the U.S. can continue to advance and achieve global energy leadership, by investing in drilling technology and next-generation power generation.

The U.S. energy landscape currently features a diverse mix, with significant contributions from natural gas and coal, alongside a growing share from geothermal. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), currently, the U.S. has 4 Gigawatts of geothermal electricity plants in operation, making it the world leader in installed geothermal power capacity. While this is roughly a quarter of the worldwide geothermal capacity, it’s less than 1 percent of our grid. As energy producers and customers look to grow capacity, the geothermal industry is successfully adapting technologies pioneered by the oil & gas industry to unlock previously inaccessible geothermal power resources in the U.S.

This existing capacity, combined with our vast untapped potential, provides opportunities for the U.S. to meet rising energy demand. With U.S. electricity demand projected to surge by 35-50% by 2040—the equivalent of adding three Texas-sized grids—the U.S. must pursue an energy strategy that leverages every reliable, baseload power source available. While Iceland operates a nearly 100% renewable grid, the success of that grid is due to the 100% baseload, 24/7 power characteristics of geothermal and hydropower sources. That works for a small nation of approximately 350 thousand citizens. The U.S. – with a population of 350 million – cannot replicate this formula exactly, but we can continue to learn how to utilize all natural resources, like geothermal and hydropower, but also fossil energy and critical mineral resources to meet our growing energy needs and secure America’s future.

The insights gained from Iceland’s proactive approach to harnessing its resources, streamlining processes, and fostering innovation are a look at what’s to come for the U.S. as we seek to meet surging energy demands, diversify our grid, and cement our leadership in critical technologies.