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ClearPath Action Rundown 
October 10, 2025

Happy Friday!

• Congratulations to Laura Swett and David LaCerte on their confirmations to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• Ben Black on his confirmation as Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation.
• Jacob Helberg on his confirmation as Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.

1. Stronger pipelines, stronger America: PHMSA Reauthorization

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced the PIPELINES Safety Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for five years.

This bill would:

• Modernize safety regulations for carbon dioxide pipelines;
• Establish a voluntary information-sharing system for safety data;
• Require a study on blending hydrogen into existing natural gas systems; and
• Support pipeline integrity management.

What’s clear: The PIPELINES Safety Act of 2025 will strengthen and support the efficient build-out of the United States’ pipeline network, ensuring this infrastructure can meet growing energy demand.

Plug in: Learn more about how the U.S. can build more of this critical infrastructure in this ClearPath whiteboard video.

2. Cleaning up uranium mines to bolster domestic production

As the U.S. works to onshore more nuclear fuel, companies like Wyoming-based DISA Technologies are innovating so that the U.S. can lead. This week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a first-of-its-kind license to clean up abandoned uranium mine sites and recycle the uranium for domestic energy use. Why it’s important: 

• More than 15,000 sites in the U.S. have remained contaminated, many on or near Navajo and other tribal lands. 
• This license unlocks hundreds of millions of pounds of stranded uranium-bearing material, while also cleaning up legacy waste piles.

What’s clear: The U.S. imports over 99% of the uranium needed to power its nuclear fleet, leaving the country deeply reliant on foreign suppliers, like Russia and Kazakhstan. Mining new uranium, or using the existing uranium on abandoned uranium mine sites, can shore up domestic production as the U.S. nuclear industry looks to expand to meet growing electricity demand. There is bipartisan support, including from Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), to clean up these sites.

3. Pacific Fusion: The future of power in New Mexico

Pacific Fusion, a commercial fusion energy start-up, will build its first Research and Manufacturing campus in Mesa Del Sol, New Mexico. This project aims to:

• Invest $1 billion in fusion facilities and drive roughly $400 million in economic activity within the first four years of operation;
• Leverage and work alongside New Mexico's existing research facilities such as Sandia National Laboratories to accelerate innovation; 
• Build a demonstration facility expected to achieve net facility gain by 2030; and
• Begin construction in 2026.

What’s clear: Fusion is increasingly moving out of the lab as Pacific Fusion becomes the latest private company to announce intentions to demonstrate the viability of this new technology by the end of the decade. 

Plug in: Learn more about this technology in the Fusion 101 by Jake Kincer and Bryson Roberson.

4. AXIOS LIVE: Powering Policy: Building a More Secure Energy Economy

ClearPath CEO Jeremy Harrell joined Axios energy and climate editor, Chuck McCutcheon, at an Axios Live event, presented by Shell, and discussed what it takes to build a stable, reliable and cost-competitive U.S. energy system that powers America’s future, including:

• Modernized permitting;
• U.S. global energy dominance; and
• Scaling nuclear energy in the U.S.

What’s clear: “Permitting is the single largest barrier to meeting our long-term energy and environmental needs, to winning the AI race and to rapidly accelerating American manufacturing. The opportunity to get this done is right now,” said Harrell. 

Plug in: Watch the fireside chat here.

5. Driving Innovation: Building America’s Next Generation of Energy Leaders 

ClearPath is empowering the next generation of energy leaders through the ClearPath Conservative Leadership Program (CCLP). Through internships, internal fellowships and Congressional fellowships, participants gain real-world exposure to policymaking and clean energy innovation.

The ClearPath fellows recently spent three days in Chicago learning about energy innovations while building a cohort amongst their peers. During the event, the group toured Argonne National Laboratory’s nuclear research facilities, explored the Aurora supercomputer and visited the Advanced Photon Source, a massive synchrotron light source that enables cutting-edge experiments in materials science, biology and energy technologies.

Learn more about the program and the recent retreat in this blog by ClearPath fellow, Chase White.

What’s clear: “The main goals of the fellowship for ClearPath are to support Capitol Hill offices with young, bright individuals who are interested in energy innovation and policy,” said program director Dana Faught. 

Plug in: Reach out if your office is looking to add a Congressional fellow to your team.

6. The Circuit

7. ICYMI

• TerraPower and KBR are collaborating to deploy the Natrium advanced nuclear reactor and energy storage system in the UK.
• DOE announced Oklo, Terrestrial Energy, TRISO-X and Valar Atomics as part of its Fuel Line Pilot Program to address America’s domestic nuclear fuel supply chain.

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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