Senate Works to Clear Path For
American Energy Innovation Act Vote Next Week

In an overwhelming vote of 90-4 to begin the week, the Senate officially began debate on the American Energy Innovation Act (AEIA). The amendment process has been playing out this week, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed cloture with the intent to vote on final passage next week. See more from Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR).

ClearPath joined the Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Initiative and a diverse coalition of nearly 40 business organizations, environmental groups, and think tanks in urging the Senate to support the "American Energy Innovation Act." #EnergyInnovation2020 Read their letter here

See what’s in the bill

New Poll: “Clean Energy Innovation” Very Popular With Voters

Wondering what constituents in your state think of clean energy innovation? ClearPath launched a new nationwide poll this week, with data for every state and every Congressional District.

A 3,000 person nationwide survey conducted by Kristen Soltis Anderson’s firm Echelon Insights shows respondents across the country, including in some of the most conservative parts, believe clean energy innovation is a better path than government regulation.

Clean Energy Poll Highlights:

89% Believe it is possible for the U.S. to develop cleaner energy sources that can also provide more affordable energy.
87% Believe clean energy is an issue that Republicans in Congress SHOULD care about, only 50% believe they do.
58% Say that instead of regulation, they believe more innovation and better technology that lets us reduce carbon emissions is the best way to fight climate change.

DOE Officials Talk Budget On Capitol Hill

A number of U.S. Department of Energy leaders were in the House Appropriations Committee this week highlighting the work their respective program offices do to advance clean energy innovation. The following members testified:

The Honorable Rita Baranwal
Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy

Mr. Alexander Gates
Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response

The Honorable Daniel Simmons
Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

The Honorable Bruce Walker
Assistant Secretary for Electricity

The Honorable Steven Winberg
Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy

Read and watch their testimonies here

Sec. Dan Brouillette was back on The Hill this week too, this time in the Senate Energy Committee.

International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol was also in the Senate Energy Committee this week where he said that carbon capture and storage is the most “critical” technology for reducing emissions, and that nuclear power is essential despite not getting the “recognition” it should. See more

See Where The Latest Carbon Capture Projects Are Located

In the FY19 federal spending bill, Congress passed legislation approving cost-shared research and development (R&D) for front-end engineering design (FEED) studies for carbon capture projects. The projects, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy’s Carbon Capture program is supporting FEED studies for CO2 systems on both coal and natural gas power plants.

The Department of Energy has produced a map of where these projects are located.

A Grand Challenge To Commercialize Energy Storage

ClearPath’s energy storage expert, Faith Smith, published a piece on OurEnergyPolicy.org emphasizing how grid-scale energy storage is critical for decarbonizing our economy and merits high-profile attention from our policymakers. Read Faith’s piece here

Streamlined Permitting for Advanced Reactors Gets Milestone Decision

This week the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) took a major step forward to make the environmental permitting process for advanced reactors more efficient. They decided to develop a generic environmental impact statement (“GEIS”) for the construction and operation of advanced nuclear reactors. If they start development of the GEIS immediately, which they intend to do, it will take 24 months. Read more.

Geothermal Added to ClearPath Suite of Technology Platforms

Last week ClearPath published a new section on our website on why we support geothermal and what pieces of legislation we are excited about. Read more in our new Geothermal policy section here.

Dan Goldbeck is a Senior Research Analyst for Regulatory Policy at the American Action Forum also published a geothermal piece this week, “A Look at How Geothermal Fits in the Renewable Energy Puzzle.”

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX):
It’s Time for Conservatives to Own the Climate-Change Issue

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) published an op-ed in National Review this week. Excerpts of his column are below.

“I recently joined House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy in unveiling a proposal that takes existing innovative technologies — ones that have proven to reduce emissions here in the United States — that the U.S. can then market and export to the world. After all, climate change is a global issue, and with global energy demand expected to increase by 25 percent over the next 20 years, there is a distinct need for the U.S. to export cleaner energy sources to the developing world, as well as to the biggest CO2 emitters, such as China and India. Crushing our own economy, as the Green New Deal would have us do, will not stop worldwide growth in emissions or decrease worldwide energy demand…"

“My portion of the plan — called the New Energy Frontier — focuses specifically on carbon capture, a field in which there is already promising innovation..."

“The New Energy Frontier devotes existing funds at the Department of Energy (DOE) to the research, development, and deployment of carbon-capture technology, so that these kinds of innovations may then be scaled up. I also propose creating a new “Carbon Utilization Energy Innovation Hub,” which will exist within DOE for the sole purpose of exploring how we can make carbon dioxide useful…"

“Other parts of the GOP plan include simple improvements to the 45Q tax credit for carbon-capture projects. These would incentivize and reward those in the industry who choose to implement carbon-capture technology.”

Major International CCUS Projects On The Horizon

A consortium of BP, Eni, Equinor, Shell and Total plan to develop an industrial carbon capture, utilization and storage project that includes “transportation and storage system to gather industrial CO2, compress it and store it safely in a reservoir under the North Sea. The transportation and storage infrastructure will encourage new investment in the region from industries that wish to store or use CO2. In addition, a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility with carbon capture technology will provide low carbon power as a complement to renewable energy sources and underpin the investment in the infrastructure.” Read more

Separately, BP Is planning to build a carbon capture and storage project in Australia which would be the second large CCS facility in the country and one of 20 large projects around the world. Read more

IN THE HEARING ROOM THIS WEEK

On Tuesday, March 3, the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing "Building a 100 Percent Clean Economy: Advanced Nuclear Technology’s Role in a Decarbonized Future." During the hearing, Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) said, "The most cost-effective way—indeed the only reasonable way— to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster our national economic and security interests is through innovation, especially nuclear innovation."

On Tuesday, March 3, the House Appropriations Energy & Water Subcommittee heard from U.S. Department of Energy officials at a hearing, "Department of Energy Applied Energy Programs’ Budget Requests for FY2021"

On Wednesday, March 4, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing, “Oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

THE PATH AHEAD

March 10: A new book by Robert Bryce, A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations, will be released to the public.

March 11: The Clean Energy Business Network will be hosting dozens of businesses who are developing clean energy technologies on Capitol Hill. More details coming soon.

March 18: The Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Forum on a Regulatory Framework for Fusion. Register here

March 24-25: The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Energy Technology are hosting an InnovationXLab; CarbonX Summit in Pittsburgh.

March 26: The American Energy Innovation Council will be hosting a briefing on Capitol Hill with U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to discuss recommendations for accelerating clean energy innovation. More details coming soon.