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<[link removed]> <[link removed]>ClearPath Action Rundown
January 17th, 2025
Happy Friday!
ClearPath believes America must lead the world in innovation over regulation…markets over mandates… providing affordable, reliable, clean energy. Learn more in our new video below –
<[link removed]>1. Five policy priorities for the 119th Congress
The 119th Congress and incoming Administration have a major opportunity: Make America the world innovation leader in clean energy and clean manufacturing.
Five policy opportunities:
- Modernize permitting;
- Drive deployment of new reliable energy and innovation;
- Grow the nuclear order book;
- Bring American manufacturing back; and
- Expand U.S. exports, trade, and direct investment abroad.
What’s clear: These exciting policy opportunities build on the foundation established under the first Trump Administration to unleash American energy projects and build a stronger America.
Plug in: Read more about the priorities in this new blog <[link removed]> fromClearPath Head of Policy Lisa Epifani.
2. Utah’s Gov. Cox streamlines permitting
Gov. Cox (R-UT) signed his first executive order <[link removed]> aimed at streamlining the permitting process, reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens and empowering Utahns to build critical infrastructure and energy. The order directs:
- The Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the Division of Oil to identify ways to expand and enhance permitting. This will allow for faster approvals for projects while maintaining high environmental and public health standards.
“We’re on a mission to increase affordable housing by 35,000 units and double our energy production over the next decade. To do this, state agencies must move faster without compromising safety or environmental standards,” said Gov. Cox. <[link removed]> “It’s about a future of freedom, opportunity and abundance – built here.”
Plug in: ClearPath believes improving permitting and letting America build can be done without rolling back environmental protections or eliminating the public’s opportunity to be involved in the review process. Learn more in this whiteboard video <[link removed]>.
3. Executive order to accelerate data center development
An executive order was signed this week to accelerate the development <[link removed][issue:69464]&utm_term=Utility%20Dive> of data centers to enable artificial intelligence and ensure the new facilities are powered by emissions-free electricity. The order:
- Directs DOD and DOE to lease sites for gigawatt-scale AI data centers and power generation facilities;
- Facilitates this infrastructure’s interconnection to the electric grid;
- Fulfills permitting obligations expeditiously; and
- Advances transmission development around federal sites.
What’s clear: The order supports the development of both nuclear and geothermal energy to power AI data centers. Growth of AI could lead data centers to consume nine percent of electricity in the U.S. by 2030 <[link removed]>.
Plug in: Private industry needs more reliable power, and is betting on nuclear power <[link removed]> to make it happen.
4. American LNG export resurgence
Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG export facility in Louisianashipped its first LNG cargo <[link removed]> to Germany. Plaquemines LNG is one of two U.S. LNG export terminals that started production in 2024 and is the eighth export terminal in the U.S.
Venture Global also announced plans to raise up to$2.3 billion <[link removed]>in what is set to be the largest U.S. energy IPO in over a decade.
What's clear: The incoming Trump administration is poised to support a resurgence in U.S. LNG exports, with North American LNG exports projected to more than double <[link removed]>by 2028. American LNG exports <[link removed]> to Europe are up to 53% cleaner than European coal-fired power plants and 30% cleaner than natural gas imports from Russia.
5. Long-awaited carbon pipeline safety regulations have arrived
The Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced <[link removed]> new proposed safety regulations for carbon dioxide pipelines. If finalized, these rules would establish new requirements for:
- The design, construction, operation and maintenance of carbon dioxide pipelines;
- Emergency response planning and public communication; and
- Improved pipeline integrity, dispersion modeling, and leak detection and monitoring.
What’s clear: Carbon dioxide pipelines are needed to deploy carbon management technologies broadly. DOE estimates 30,000-96,000 miles of carbon pipelines will be needed by 2050 – which is approximately 5-18% larger than our existing network of carbon pipelines across the U.S. Clear safety regulations and ongoing RD&D efforts are key to ensuring the efficient, safe build-out of this infrastructure to scale.
Plug in: Watch our whiteboard video <[link removed]> on carbon pipelines, why they are safe, and why we need more.
6. ARPA-E invests in fertilizer efficiency
DOE’s Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced $38 million <[link removed]> to develop new technologies that will:
- Lower American farmers’ operating costs;
- Improve fertilizer efficiency; and
- Reduce nitrous oxide emissions.
What’s clear: Federal investments in cutting-edge agricultural innovations are important to ensure U.S. agriculture is more productive and cleaner than international competitors, like China. Inefficient fertilizer use accounts for up to 25% of farmers’ expenses and emits nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that makes up nearly half of U.S. agricultural emissions and traps heat around 300 times greater than carbon dioxide.
Plug-in: Learn why fertilizer innovation is necessary to ensure American farmers have the best tools to maximize yields while reducing emissions in our Fertilizer Innovations 101 <[link removed]>.
7. ICYMI
- Google backs American innovation in a major deal with U.S.-based Charm Industrial <[link removed]>, committing to remove 100,000 tons of CO₂ by 2030 using biochar—a scalable, soil-enriching technology that increases productivity while removing carbon dioxide from the air.
- DOE’s FECM announced $101 million for five projects <[link removed]> to support the development of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, removal and conversion test centers for cement manufacturing facilities and power plants. These five centers are located across the United States, in Illinois, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Alabama…
- And $100 million for pilot-scale conversion <[link removed]> of carbon emissions captured from industrial operations and power plants into economically valuable products.
- DOE announced a Request for Information (RFI) <[link removed]> to guide future planning of the Office of Electricity’s (OE) Applied Grid Transformation Solutions (AGTS) program, which plays a crucial role in commercializing innovative grid technology…
- And more than $48 million in R&D funding <[link removed]> for industrial innovation, supporting breakthroughs in iron ore extraction, ironmaking, low-carbon asphalt, and cement technologies...
- Plus ARPA-E $30 million to increase baseload power resources <[link removed]> through access to superhot geothermal energy resources.
8. We moved!
We moved from our beloved office in NE on the Hill, but didn’t go far! Reach out to us and come visit for a coffee at our new location right off of Senate Park at 300 New Jersey Avenue NW.
That's all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
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