ClearPath Action Rundown
January 17th, 2025
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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 –
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1. Five policy
priorities for the 119th Congress |
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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 from
ClearPath Head of Policy Lisa
Epifani.
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2. Utah’s Gov. Cox
streamlines permitting |
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Gov. Cox (R-UT) signed his first
executive
order 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. “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.
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3. Executive order to
accelerate data center development |
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An executive order was signed this
week to accelerate
the development 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.
Plug in: Private
industry needs more reliable power, and is betting
on nuclear power
to make it happen.
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4. American LNG export
resurgence |
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Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG
export facility in Louisiana shipped
its first LNG cargo 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 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 by
2028. American
LNG exports to
Europe are up to 53% cleaner than European coal-fired power plants and
30% cleaner than natural gas imports from Russia.
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5. Long-awaited carbon
pipeline safety regulations have arrived |
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The Pipelines and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced 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 on carbon
pipelines, why they are safe, and why we need more.
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6. ARPA-E invests in
fertilizer efficiency |
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DOE’s Advanced Research Project
Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced $38
million 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.
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Google backs American innovation in a major deal with U.S.-based
Charm
Industrial,
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.
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DOE’s FECM announced
$101 million for five
projects 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…
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And $100 million for
pilot-scale
conversion of
carbon emissions captured from industrial operations and power plants
into economically valuable products.
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DOE announced a
Request
for Information (RFI) 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…
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And more than $48 million in R&D
funding for
industrial innovation, supporting breakthroughs in iron ore
extraction, ironmaking, low-carbon asphalt, and cement
technologies...
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Plus ARPA-E $30 million to increase
baseload
power resources
through access to superhot geothermal energy resources.
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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. |
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That's all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great
weekend!
View this Rundown online
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