Welcome to your weekly Rundown, for the week ending November 22.
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NOTE: There will be no Rundown next week. Happy Thanksgiving!
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 Rich at
House Appropriations Hearing on DOE’s Role in Addressing Climate Change
ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell was the Republican witness at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development this week to examine “The Department of Energy’s Role in Addressing Climate Change.”
Rich highlighted three key points in his testimony:
- how the global nature of the climate challenge requires an innovation-focused policy;
- how scaling up American’s innovations means more investing than spending.
- how we might modernize our innovation engine towards the climate challenge.
View Rich's opening statement
View the full written testimony
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House Science Field Hearing in Houston on Carbon Capture, Petra Nova Plant
Members of the House Science & Technology Committee, including Environment Chairwoman Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX), Energy Ranking Member Randy Weber (R-TX), Committee members Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), as well as Dan Crenshaw are holding a field hearing in Houston today to examine carbon capture research and development. The Petra Nova Plant, the first large scale carbon capture project at a US coal plant, will be a focus of the hearing. They are also expected to discuss the need for the House of Representatives to pass the Fossil Energy Research and Development Act (FE R&D Act) which cleared the House Science Committee earlier this year. The legislation will direct
investments for carbon capture research and development as well as new research efforts aimed at improving carbon dioxide (CO2) storage and use and developing new CO2 utilization technologies. The Launching Energy Advancement through Innovations in Natural Gas (LEADING) Act, authored by Rep. Crenshaw was included on the bill as an amendment. The LEADING Act directs the Department of Energy to conduct critical carbon capture research and development for natural gas power plant applications. As part of that new effort, it lays out an aggressive goal of demonstrating up to five applications by 2025.
RICH'S TAKE
“Fossil energy powers about 80% of the global economy today. Although renewable energy has made strides in closing the cost gap, significant fossil fuel consumption is projected to continue well through mid-century. Factor in the developing world, places like Southeast Asia, who are increasing their use of coal and you’ll really start to understand why we all need to recognize carbon capture technologies are critical to meeting global emission reduction targets.”
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Dan Brouillette Advances With Bipartisan Vote
In overwhelming bipartisan votes, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee cleared the nomination of Dan Brouillette as Secretary to the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday and the full Senate voted on cloture on Thursday setting up a final Senate confirmation vote in early December.
RICH'S TAKE
“Dan Brouillette is already a strong and steady leader and will be a fantastic Secretary. The Department of Energy has been laser-focused on solutions to affordably meet growing global demand for reliable and lower-carbon power, and helping ensure the next generation of miracle technologies will be created in an American national laboratory in collaboration with the U.S. private sector. Brouillete understands that low-cost, high-performing technologies are the backbone of efforts targeting rising carbon emissions in the developing world.”
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ClearPath, USNIC and Third Way Release Joint Report: Emergency Planning Zone for Advanced Nuclear Reactors
ClearPath, The U.S. Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC) and Third Way jointly released a report this week urging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to approve The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) proposal for right-sizing Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) regulations for new reactor designs. Many regulations from the NRC have been based on the currently licensed fleet of large light water reactors (LWRs) which have characteristics that differ from the new generation of reactor designs. This proposal, presented in TVA’s Early Site Permit (ESP) Application at the Clinch River site, is based on the improved safety characteristics and reduced overall risk of our next generation of nuclear reactors.
In addition to focusing on a goal oriented outcome for advanced nuclear innovation, the groups say in order to enable a viable future for U.S. advanced nuclear technologies, the NRC should modernize regulations that are based on the specific safety characteristics of a reactor design.
This week, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-SV), chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) advocating for them to establish requirements that provide a pathway to approve and deploy advanced nuclear technologies. Read their letter here
Read the ClearPath, USNIC, Thirdway report here
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Senate Energy Committee Passes Advanced Geothermal Bill — the AGILE Act
The Senate Energy & Natural he Advanced Geothermal Innovation Leadership Act of 2019 (the “AGILE” Act) includes provisions for research and development of both existing and enhanced geothermal systems, resource assessment updates, grant program authorization, and improved permitting.
Read the legislation here
See ClearPath Action’s full letter of support here
RICH'S TAKE
“Geothermal energy is a highly promising and reliable zero-emission technology. Besides critical investments in R&D which the AGILE Act plays a critical role, the biggest hindrances to geothermal development are permitting and other regulatory barriers that are more stringent than for oil and gas. We believe that smart policies like AGILE coupled with more centralized permitting and a more pragmatic environmental review process could lead to a 500% increase in geothermal capacity using existing technology and up to 100 gigawatts (GW) (an increase of 3700%) with new enhanced geothermal technology.”
Go deeper on geothermal with this ClearPath 101, “Regulatory Reform Could Unlock Gigawatts of Zero-Emission Geothermal"
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Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act Passes House E&C, Introduced in Senate
This week the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act with bipartisan support. U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) introduced the companion legislation in the Senate.
The legislation provides practical reforms to the nation’s nuclear waste management policy to ensure the federal government’s legal obligations to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste are fulfilled. Barrasso’s bill was introduced in the Senate shortly after the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed bipartisan legislation by voice vote. Barrasso’s legislation is cosponsored by Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND).
Read more here from Senate EPW and House E&C.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) Previews Energy Sector Innovation Credit With Climate Select
The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis held a Member Day Hearing on “Solving the Climate Crisis.” At the hearing, Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) discussed the Energy Sector Innovation Credit legislation.
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Senators Urge International Development Finance Corporation On Civil Nuclear
Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Joe Mancin (D-WV), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent a letter to the CEO of the International Development Finance Corporation urging them to “take all steps necessary to reverse OPIC’s ban on civil nuclear energy.”
Read the letter here
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Forbes: Washington To Wall Street Hears Harmony On CCS To Address Climate Change
A Forbes.com column by Dipka Bhambhani, communications director for the U.S. Energy Association, highlights the growing support for carbon capture and sequestration. Excerpts below.
“A sense of urgency to keep global emissions of greenhouse gases from peaking beyond 2020 is bringing environmentalists to accept the oft-contentious carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology…
“...ClearPath executives say they’ve seen an increase in non-governmental organizations joining business and industry groups, and bipartisan members in Congress supporting CCS...
“Rich Powell, executive director of ClearPath Action, a Washington insider and a regular witness for congressional hearings, said, "We need an aggressive innovation policy for clean energy that will also facilitate breakthroughs relevant for the developing world. That absolutely means carbon capture and sequestration technology for coal and natural gas power plants.”
“There are strong bipartisan carbon capture policies that help commercialize cutting-edge clean energy technologies needed to reduce global emissions as quickly and cheaply as possible and we continue to see strong momentum in Congress,” Powell said.”
Read the column here
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The Office Manager will support the entire ClearPath team, helping with event planning, property management, and general office administration. We are looking for someone with 3-5 years of project management experience. Click here to read more about this job
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THE PATH AHEAD
Today: House Science & Technology is holding a Field Hearing: The Future Of Advanced Carbon Capture Research And Development. Details here
Next Week: Happy Thanksgiving!
January 10, 2020: U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal announced that Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), the managing and operating contractor for the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is seeking an Expression of Interest (EOI) for partnerships on the deployment of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). Click here for details on the Versatile Test Reactor Program Seeking Expressions of Interest
2019 - 2020 School Year: The Energy Impact Center in partnership with the University of Michigan has created the first ever Nuclear Energy Grand Challenge: Reimagining Nuclear Waste which will engage collegiate innovators and entrepreneurs to tackle one of the most unique challenges facing the nuclear energy industry – the perception of nuclear waste. The winning team will be awarded a cash prize. Learn more about the Nuclear Energy Grand Challenge here.
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