Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending Aug. 3. Feedback is always welcome at info@clearpathaction.org. 
 

CONGRESS ADVANCES MILITARY MICRO REACTOR REVIEW 

The Senate approved bipartisan language in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act led by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to require the secretary of energy to report on the feasibility of siting, constructing and operating “micro reactors” at critical Defense Department or Energy Department national security facilities.

ClearPath Action advisor and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner Jeff Merrifield praised the proposal at a May 22 House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.

The broader NDAA conference report now heads to President Trump for his signature.

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Former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who also was Navy secretary under President Nixon, argues in a new op-ed that a strong U.S. nuclear industry is needed to ensure a strong defense that itself requires high-tech trade and other international relationships.

“And when this country exports a reactor, it cements a relationship lasting a century, covering planning, construction, operation and, eventually, decommissioning,” Warner wrote. “And it should be the United States that establishes those relationships, not our longstanding rivals, China and Russia.”
 

CLEARPATH ENDORSES TOM REED, ERIK PAULSEN 

ClearPath Action Fund endorsed Reps. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) and will soon start running digital ads as part of six-figure efforts backing the reelections of two key members of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Reed is a longtime leader of clean energy tax credits. He played an instrumental role in the enactment of the 2015 tax package extending clean energy credits for five years. He fought to include a broader suite of technologies into that extension via his Technologies for Energy Jobs and Security Act of 2017, which ultimately was included in the House-passed Republican tax reform bill and enacted into law as part of the February budget deal.

He has also fought efforts to gut the Department of Energy’s highly-successful ARPA-E energy innovation program, while consistently supporting legislation that expands investments in clean energy research and development.

Paulsen is also a longtime supporter of clean energy incentives. He was a leading backer of a successful 2016 effort to make the R&D tax credit permanent, benefiting energy innovators across the economy.  He supported Reed’s clean energy tax credit efforts this Congress, and he co-sponsored and helped advance the recently-enacted 45(j) production credit that will facilitate the next wave of U.S. advanced nuclear power plants.

Both Reed and Paulsen also supported a $1 billion increase in clean energy research in the House FY19 energy spending bill.
 

NEWS NUGGETS 

• The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday forwarded to the full Senate the nomination of Mary Neumayr to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Neumayr, a former congressional staffer and current CEQ chief of staff, brings a lifetime of deep policy experience to filling a vital role for our national clean energy and environmental policies.

• President Trump announced this week that he intends to nominate meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier, a university administrator and former vice-chair of the governing board of the U.S. National Science Foundation, to be director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He’s received good reviews from all sides.

• The Bureau of Land Management approved a proposed 1,300-megawatt hydropower plant in the California desert just outside Joshua Tree National Park. The $2.5-billion pumped storage project could be used to store excess electricity generated by solar and wind farms.

• Advanced Energy Economy and Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions teamed up to offer five recommendations to Congress to increase clean and reliable power and accelerate energy innovation: Streamline federal permitting for advanced energy projects; encourage grid planners to consider alternatives to transmission investment; allow energy storage to compete with additional generation; allow large customers to choose their electricity sources; and allow utilities and consumers to benefit from cloud computing software. 

• Ocean Energy Systems, an intergovernmental collaboration between the U.S. and 20 other nations, released the Spotlight on Ocean Energy report detailing 20 ocean energy projects and five policy-based initiatives spread among member countries. Twelve U.S. facilities are highlighted. That includes Oregon-based Columbia Power Technologies’ Wave Energy Generator, which is being developed to more efficiently and cost-effectively convert the energy from ocean waves into electricity and is being tested at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. MORE FROM ENERGY.GOV 

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