Hi John,

Welcome to On the Grid, Third Way’s bi-weekly newsletter, where we recap how we’re working to deploy every clean energy technology as quickly and affordably as possible. And we’re cutting through the election year noise to parse out what this year means for clean energy and how we can push decarbonization forward today and into the future.

We’re excited to have you join us!

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a set of four rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants and new natural gas-fired plants. If any coal-fired or new baseload gas-fired facilities want to remain open long-term, they’ll need to cut emissions by 90% by 2032, either through significant cuts to generation or by deploying carbon capture sequestration technology. You can read a detailed explanation of the rule here.

For our take, the best summary comes from Josh Freed, Senior Vice President for Climate and Energy, “Some view the rule as too aggressive or, conversely, too lenient. We vehemently disagree. The reality is that the new power plant rule exemplifies the Biden administration’s ruthless pragmatism on climate change. Coal and natural gas plants have a reasonable runway to implement emissions abatement changes – and they have the technical know-how and the federal support to do so.” Find more from Josh here.

What We’re Doing: This rule presents a big opportunity to cut emissions using carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technology in all its applications, including in power plants. Dr. Rudra Kapila, Deputy Director for Carbon Management and Hydrogen on our team, is spearheading efforts to ensure facilities meet these standards responsibly and efficiently. As Vice-Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s CCUS Permitting Task Force for Non-Federal Lands, Dr. Kapila is shaping proper and responsible compliance.

The past four years have seen major policy wins for clean energy – and major backlash from clean energy opponents. For President Biden and Democrats to win in November, it’s critical that key constituencies understand and support these clean energy achievements. Here’s the catch: Third Way’s polling shows that key groups (including young voters and Latinos) aren’t seeing the benefits or putting climate first in this election.

Critical Data: Our public opinion polling found the economy remains the top concern for the plurality of voters, whereas climate change only ranks as a top concern for 6% of voters. We found that younger voters, more than any other age bracket, are likely to be most concerned about inflation and the cost of living. Yet headlines continue to paint young voters as rallying around climate change–a narrative that is not supported by our data, Harvard’s recent youth survey, or most other public opinion polling.

Where are pollsters going wrong: Many fall into the dangerous trap of assuming broad support for clean energy translates directly into electoral leverage. It’s essential, however, to analyze voter support for clean energy policies in the context of other issues, weighing it against other top priorities like inflation.

As Emily Becker, Deputy Director for Communications, told Heatmap News this week, “The idea that you’re going to make decisions at the ballot box based on a faraway problem and not based on the problems right in front of you is a little bit delusional.”

What We’re Doing: Our team is continuing to correct narratives that imply broad endorsement of clean energy solutions translate into key issues this election, briefing key stakeholders and allies on how to shift messaging toward promoting clean energy as a means of decreasing costs and creating economic opportunity. Keep an eye out for a second round of polling data from us in the coming weeks.  

To meet our emissions targets and stay competitive in fast-moving markets, it’s essential to move quickly to develop and deploy a litany of clean energy technologies, including advanced nuclear. That means eliminating major bottlenecks and redundant regulatory hurdles standing in the way, especially when it comes to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) processes.

Currently, mandatory hearing requirements for each reactor application—even when uncontested—consume hundreds of staff hours on procedural formalities. This requirement diverts the Commission's attention from other important priorities, causing 4-7 months of delays.

Why this matters: While regulatory hurdles and lengthy approval processes are slowing down US deployment, other countries like Russia and China are only speeding up. Aggressively expanding their nuclear energy capacities and exporting their technology, Russia and China are quickly positioning themselves as leaders in the global nuclear market. This directly risks US national security and global energy security.

What We’re Doing: We worked with Third Way Senior Visiting Fellow and former NRC Commissioner Stephen Burns to make the case that mandatory hearings are redundant and hamper nuclear energy deployment. But we’re not stopping at nuclear energy. We are taking a holistic approach to identify and address bottlenecks in other clean energy supply chains. We’re working to survey project developers and key industry stakeholders to identify non-cost barriers to clean energy deployment and best practices to streamline unnecessary processes.

Over the past few weeks, the American electrical grid has made major headlines. Whether it’s the Department of Energy’s new Innovative Grid Deployment Lift-Off Report, finalized rules to establish a Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits Program (CITAP), or new legislation to help expand transmission infrastructure. At first glance, these may all seem like disparate policies, but in reality, they are all addressing a collective challenge. Let’s break it down.

The Challenge: To power an economy-wide shift to electrification, we need to drastically ramp up the generation of clean electricity and move it across the country where it’s most needed. This is a monumental challenge that we can split into two core issues: supply and demand.

• Rising Demand: Widespread EV adoption, a rapidly expanding manufacturing sector, and AI advancements are surging electricity demand, stressing current grid capacity.
• Insufficient Supply: The growing interconnection backlog and an aging transmission network need help to meet shifting and increasing electricity demands.

• Molly Ball, in the Wall Street Journal, argues that President Biden's efforts to avoid alienating the left are misguided and are distancing him from the centrist voters needed to secure a victory this November.
• The Economist paints an optimistic picture of the electric vehicle industry, pointing to the recent downturn as cyclical and eyeing a pick-up in demand on the horizon.
• Robinson Meyer, on Shift Key, talks with Jigar Shah, head of the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office, about clean energy financing and how commercial loans are transforming the clean energy landscape.