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ClearPath Action Rundown 
March 14th, 2025

Happy Friday!

Congratulations to DJ Nordquist, a ClearPath Advisory board member, on her new role as Counselor to the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

1. Movement on cement, concrete and asphalt innovation

Both the Concrete and Asphalt Innovation Act (CAIA) and the Innovative Mitigation Partnerships for Asphalt and Concrete Technologies (IMPACT) Act 2.0 advance domestic cement, concrete and asphalt manufacturing. The bills:

• Create a voluntary Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grant program to help state DOTs cut red tape and adopt performance specs for new materials. 
• Accelerate commercialization by allowing state DOTs to purchase innovative cement, concrete and asphalt in advance. 

This week, Sens. Coons (D-NE) and Tillis (R-NC) reintroduced CAIA in the Senate, while Reps. Miller (R-OH) and Foushee (D-NC) reintroduced IMPACT 2.0 in the House. Last month, Reps. Miller and Foushee introduced IMPACT. 

What’s Clear: "These bills highlight a clear consensus on the need to support American manufacturing by unlocking investments and accelerating innovation in the U.S. cement, concrete, and asphalt sectors," said Jeremy Harrell, CEO, ClearPath Action. 

2. Clean energy innovation accelerates at CERAWeek

This week, ClearPath joined energy leaders from around the globe in Houston, TX, to advance new ideas, insights and solutions to the biggest challenges facing the future of energy.

The Admin on energy: 

DOE Secretary Chris Wright focused on the need for more American-made energy, including the role it plays in keeping the U.S. a leader in AI. “It takes massive amounts of electricity to generate intelligence. The more energy invested, the more intelligence produced. Since the demand for intelligence is unlimited, so will be the demand for energy,” said Wright. 

DOI Secretary Doug Burgum focused on the need to develop resources domestically, including the U.S.' reliance on China for critical minerals explaining, “We put ourselves in a position of incredible risk, where we've allowed ourselves to have a major competitor control 80% of the processing for critical minerals.”

ClearPath CEO Jeremy Harrell joined Axios at CERAWeek 2025 for a conversation on scaling clean energy and highlighted the need for unleashing clean, affordable, reliable energy; improving permitting; and the role nuclear power will play.

On the sidelines of CERA, major companies from across the industrial sector signed a pledge supporting the goal of at least tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. 

The global tripling goal now includes:

• American companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Dow;
• Global corporations like Siemens and the Federal Electric Power Companies of Japan;
• 14 major global banks and financial institutions;
• 140 nuclear industry companies; and 
• 31 countries.

3. Signing the start of Utah’s nuclear future

The Utah Legislative session recently passed H.B.249, which addresses the future of energy projects across the state. 

The bill:

• Establishes the Nuclear Energy Consortium;
• Creates the Utah Energy Council;
• Establishes a process for Electrical Energy Development Zones; and
• Creates the Electrical Energy Development Investment Fund.

What’s clear: This bill builds upon Gov. Cox’s (R) Operation Gigawatt to establish working groups to develop nuclear energy projects across the state. The state budget included $10 million for nuclear power development and $1.8 million for geothermal power development.  

Nuclear in the states: A Texas legislator has proposed $2 billion to catalyze advanced nuclear deployment and create the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Program. 

4. New blog: Refocus federal innovation programs on U.S. energy dominance

There is a tremendous opportunity to refocus the DOE’s innovation mission and achieve U.S. energy dominance. 8 key strategies:

1. Reform DOE programs to maximize ROI
2. Invest in DOE next-generation geothermal
3. Strengthen the next generation of American pipelines
4. Protect industry-led DOE carbon removal initiatives
5. Establish an advanced mining R&D initiative 
6. Expand DOE clean manufacturing technology programs
7. Formally establish a DOE grid security office
8. Recommit to innovative nuclear energy programs

What’s clear: DOE’s RD&D activities, stewarded by our national laboratories, are the engine of  American energy innovation. Congress and DOE must maximize the return on investment of limited innovation dollars and focus on technologies that lower energy costs for consumers, strengthen infrastructure, and secure global competitiveness in science and technology. 

Plug in: Read the full blog here by Hillary O’Brien.

5. Carbon Pipelines 101: Building Vital American Infrastructure

Pipelines are the backbone of America’s energy and industrial sectors. In addition to natural gas, oil, water and other materials, pipelines transport CO2 to boost U.S. energy production, create valuable products, and safely store it. 

Check out ClearPath’s latest technology 101, which highlights:

• The importance of CO2 pipelines for U.S. energy security;
• How CO2 pipelines are regulated;
• Why CO2 pipelines are safe; and 
• Policies to enable the build-out of CO2 pipelines.

What’s clear: By building CO2 pipeline infrastructure, the U.S. can build capacity to reduce emissions, create jobs, bolster local economies, and continue to use the energy sources that make our country strong. In America, we’re not afraid to build – it’s what we do. 

Plug in: Read the full Carbon Dioxide Pipelines 101 by Kelsey Grant here.

6. TerraPower + HD Hyundai supply chain partnership

TerraPower and HD Hyundai announced a collaboration to scale the global manufacturing supply chain for Natrium reactors, aiming to enable large-scale production and deployment of sodium-cooled fast reactors integrated with energy storage systems. This partnership will:

• Enhance Energy Security: Provide power with gigawatt-scale energy storage.
• Scale Manufacturing: Enable large-scale production of Natrium reactors.
• Enable Commercial Deployment: Set the stage for full-scale commercial deployment.
• Integrate Advanced Technology: Combine sodium-cooled fast reactors with molten salt energy storage for higher efficiency.

What’s clear: This partnership advances nuclear energy by scaling the production and deployment of Natrium reactors integrated with energy storage systems, paving the way for a cleaner, more reliable energy future.

Plug in: Efforts to develop a domestic nuclear supply chain could be bolstered by reforms to the advanced manufacturing tax credit. Read more in our recent blog on how tax incentives can unleash energy dominance.

7. Bipartisan call for faster nuclear review process

A bipartisan letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) led by Sens. Capito (R-WV), Whitehouse (D-RI), Lummis (R-WY), and Kelly (D-AZ) calls for improving the NRC’s environmental review process by implementing the Fiscal Responsibility Act and ADVANCE Act. The changes in this letter would lead to: 

• More efficient, effective and predictable environmental review; and
• Could reduce review costs by up to 45%.

What’s clear: Accelerating review processes is key to reducing delays without rolling back environmental protections or limiting public involvement. Projects will still comply with environmental laws throughout their lifetime, even with these changes.

Plug in: Chairman Capito spoke at the NRC regulatory conference emphasising these same points. Watch her remarks here. 

8. The Circuit

Niko McMurray spoke at the NRC's Annual Regulatory Information Conference on the blueprint for modernizing environmental reviews.

Nick Lombardo spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) about deepening U.S.-Japan clean energy cooperation.

9. What we're watching

Following International Women’s Day, the Washington Examiner released a video series featuring women leading the conservative climate movement. Be sure to follow for a look at clean energy policy under the Trump administration, featuring our Head of Policy, Lisa Epifani.

10. ICYMI

• ClearPath Advisory Board Member Jim Connaughton testified at the House E&C Environment Subcommittee on "Maximizing Opportunities for Redeveloping Brownfields Sites: Assessing the Potential for New American Innovation."
• Low-carbon steel innovator Boston Metal announced the commissioning of its key production technology in Woburn, MA. 
• Heidelberg Materials secured $191 million in government backing for a one million ton per year carbon capture, utilization and storage project at its Edmonton, Canada cement facility.

ClearPath believes America must lead the world in innovation over regulation…markets over mandates…providing affordable, reliable, clean energy. 

That's all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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