1. The Energy Community maps are here.
What’s next for deployment?
Thousands of towns and communities across the country have been providing the power and fuel needed to run America for decades.
- While many of these “Energy Communities” are still booming, others have experienced plant closures or waning extraction efforts.
- Congress has passed new financial incentives to encourage investments in these areas, but now we need to fix permitting to allow the developers to build.
What's clear: New clean energy projects located in these communities, covering 57% of the U.S. and Puerto Rico, will now be eligible for a 10% bonus on top of other clean energy tax incentives, which means that some projects could now receive tax incentives as high as 50% of the total project cost. With proper implementation, these incentives are poised to boost investment in domestic manufacturing and clean energy production throughout these newly qualified regions.
Plug in: Check out our new blog from Policy Advisor Matt Mailloux and Senior Research Associate Casey Kelly.
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2. Jeremy testifies on critical minerals in AZ
ClearPath’s Chief Strategy Officer Jeremy Harrell testified before the House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee’s field hearing last week in Phoenix, AZ on “Securing Supply Chains: Access to Critical Minerals in the American Southwest.”
Jeremy’s testimony focused on establishing a national investment strategy for critical mineral supply chains.
Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) asked Jeremy about state primacy, as Arizona is in the pre-application process of taking Class VI primacy from the EPA.
What’s clear: “Bringing these decisions down to the state level is essential. We know it's more efficient and it can have the same standards that you would have that the environmental laws require,” said Jeremy.
Plug in: Watch a clip from the hearing here.
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3. Domestic nuclear fuel bill moving on NDAA
An amendment to the Senate NDAA that would make America’s nuclear fuel supply chain more competitive was approved 96-3. The Nuclear Fuel Security Act would help eliminate U.S. reliance on foreign adversaries for nuclear fuel imports through domestic nuclear fuel production. The legislation led by Sens. Barrasso (R-WY) ... Manchin (D-WV) … and Risch (R-ID) ...
- Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a Nuclear Fuel Security Program;
- Expands the American Assured Fuel Supply Program;
- Creates the High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) for the Advanced Nuclear Reactor Demonstration Projects Program; and
- Enhances programs to build U.S. workforce capacity.
What’s clear: Russia provides 38% of global uranium conversion capacity and 46% of global uranium enrichment capacity. This negatively impacts existing reactors that utilize low-enriched uranium (LEU), and while many new nuclear companies in America are gearing up to build new reactors, there is currently no commercial supply of HALEU available domestically.
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4. Clean energy investments pass Senate
Federal appropriators have moved key investments in clean energy forward in the Senate. A few key clean energy provisions that cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee last week include:
- $250,000 for developing a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) regulatory regime for ocean CDR
- $20 million to purchase carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere
- $58 million for methane mitigation technology
- $100 million for enhanced geothermal system demonstrations
- $125 million for developing domestic HALEU
- $214 million for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program
- $956 million for industrial decarbonization including the SUPER Act for clean steel development
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5. New policy associate!
Emma Quigg joined the team this week as a Policy Associate for industrial decarbonization. Emma previously was a research assistant at Itaipu Binacional Hydroelectric Dam.
Welcome, Emma!
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6. ICYMI
- Last week, ClearPath and Clean Air Task Force hosted a Clean Industrial Summit to talk about solutions for decarbonizing the industrial sector. Check out our blog post for a recap of the event.
- The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee voted on bills highlighting the carbon-saving potential and enhancing oversight of the Department of Energy's clean energy programs. H.R. 4824, the Carbon Sequestration Collaboration Act, H.R. 4877, the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act, as well as H.R. 1069, and the Clean Energy Demonstration Transparency Act of 2023 were included in the markup and passed out of the committee.
- Eavor Technologies started construction for the world’s first commercial
Eavor-Loop in Geretsried, Germany. Eavor’s geothermal technology will be used to produce reliable energy for district heating and electricity.
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