{"id":38668,"date":"2023-09-01T16:31:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/?post_type=news&p=38668"},"modified":"2024-11-12T21:49:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T21:49:49","slug":"38668-2","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/?news=38668-2","title":{"rendered":"ClearPath Testifies on Pragmatic Climate Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Welcome to your Friday Rundown, for the week ending Feb. 8. I’m your driver, ClearPath Communications Director Darren Goode. Anything we missed? Let me know at goode@clearpathaction.org<\/span><\/strong><\/a>. Thanks for reading. Special thanks and credit to the Council on Competitiveness for the great Senate panel photo! <\/span>
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCLEARPATH TESTIFIES ON PRAGMATIC CLIMATE PLAN<\/h1>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClearPath Founder Jay Faison and Executive Director Rich Powell, testifying respectively before two key congressional panels this week, stressed bipartisan and sensible solutions to climate change through the expansion of U.S. clean energy technologies and innovation.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cClimate change is an urgent challenge that merits action at every level of government and the private sector [and] deserves a pragmatic and technology-inclusive agenda to make the global clean energy transition cheaper and faster,\u201d Rich told the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday<\/span><\/strong><\/a>. \u201cLet\u2019s not rush toward any impractically hasty, exclusively renewable strategy in the U.S. that will be both costly and unlikely to reduce global emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHe added that if supporters of the Green New Deal \u201ctruly believe climate change is an existential threat, they should focus on policies that reduce global emissions as quickly and cheaply as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cWe should not put all of our eggs into one basket of technologies,\u201d Jay added in his testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Thursday<\/span><\/strong><\/a>. \u201cWe have to deliver the next set of affordable and clean technologies that we can export everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFormer Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz echoed the same sentiment at the Senate hearing, which is also detailed in a new report<\/span><\/strong><\/a> he and IHS Markit Vice Chairman Dan Yergin co-authored.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRich talked to Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.)<\/span><\/strong><\/a> about how the future of nuclear power will be reactors that are “much smaller, less capital intensive and more flexible.” That includes small modular reactors being developed by NuScale Power and microreactors from Oklo and others.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRich said last Congress didn\u2019t get the credit it deserves<\/span><\/strong><\/a> for boosting clean energy technologies, while noting that \u201cmoonshot\u201d clean energy innovation goals, stronger financing and other incentives and removing regulatory barriers are among what\u2019s needed to increase the pace and ambition of our climate efforts.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cIf we\u2019re taking a global lens of the problem, the key is making clean technology cheaper, not traditional energy more expensive,\u201d Rich told House Energy and Commerce ranking Republican Greg Walden<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEarly on in the hearing, Walden summed up the position of many of his fellow panel Republicans heading into the climate and clean energy debate this Congress. “Climate change is real. The need to protect the environment is real. The need to foster a strong U.S. economy and grow American jobs is also real,” he said. “The Republicans on this committee are ready and willing to have serious, solutions-oriented discussions about how to address and balance these considerations.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn an exchange with Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.)<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, Rich touted the bipartisan Senate advanced nuclear blueprint, the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, as a model for helping accelerate deployment a broader array of next-generation clean energy technologies.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRich and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) talked about how hydropower<\/span><\/strong><\/a> is one of the most valuable forms of renewable power thanks to its high capacity, flexibility in scaling up and down and as a major energy storage solution and must be a central part of a climate agenda.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRich and McMorris Rodgers also discussed how grid-scale energy storage<\/span><\/strong><\/a> is \u201cfar more than just batteries,\u201d and includes pumped hydro, heat and other technologies that should be given a chance to be targeted by \u201cvery aggressive goals\u201d and performance milestones. \u201cI share ClearPath\u2019s goals to expand energy storage,\u201d McMorris Rodgers said.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn an exchange with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Jay noted that China doesn’t make distinctions between basic and applied energy research. “They’re focused on outcomes,” he said. “We need to look for outcomes and then plug the holes we have in technology development so that we can compete with the Chinese.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA prime example of this Chinese commercialization and development advantage is the case of the lithium ion battery company A123 Systems, which was bought by the Wanxiang Group after declaring bankruptcy despite spending $129 million of a $249 million Department of Energy grant. “We do a great job in the basic research” but companies eventually go to market without incentives or financial support, Jay said. “They’re kind of out on their own, they declare bankruptcy and the Chinese buy them for cheap and scale them up,” he added. “That’s been a pretty consistent happening and I think that’s something we need to fix.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJay also noted \u201cdeeply sobering\u201d risks detailed in the 2018 National Climate Assessment<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and a separate Department of Defense report<\/span><\/strong><\/a> outlining recurrent flooding and other impacts already occurring at military bases and installations.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJay and Rich stressed the global nature of the problem. \u201cThe expected emissions growth from developing Asian countries alone would offset a complete decarbonization of the U.S. economy by mid-century,\u201d Rich noted. \u201cWe have a choice – bet that the Chinese and Indians will close recently-built plants at the expense of economic growth OR develop, demonstrate and export U.S.-based emission control technology,\u201d Jay added.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cTechnology is the genie you can\u2019t put back in the bottle,\u201d Rich told Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.). \u201cPolitical will for climate solutions will come and go \u2026 but technology will last.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSENATORS INTRO BIPARTISAN CARBON CAPTURE PLANS<\/h1>\n

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Senators Thursday introduced two bipartisan plans to bolster carbon capture technologies.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSenate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) led the reintroduction of the USE IT Act<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, which aims to make carbon dioxide pipelines and other infrastructure projects eligible for streamlined permitting.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOther cosponsors are Republicans Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.) and Mike Enzi (Wyo.), EPW Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-Del.), Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and fellow Democrats Tina Smith (Minn.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.).
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRICH POWELL’S TAKE<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cThe bipartisan USE IT Act is a common-sense approach to supporting carbon capture technologies, including necessary pipelines and other infrastructure, enhanced public-private partnerships, innovative R&D and permitting improvements. It is a strong and necessary step in enabling market-driven carbon capture and realizing its benefits for American consumers.\u201d
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Smith Thursday also led the introduction of the Carbon Capture Modernization Act<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, which would modify the 48A tax credit to encourage more carbon capture at coal facilities.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe bill is also cosponsored by Cramer, Manchin, Barrasso and Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRICH’S TAKE<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t“The bipartisan Carbon Capture Modernization Act is an important tweak to the tax code that will propel critical investments into carbon capture infrastructure and projects. It is another example of where both parties can come together this Congress on sensible solutions that safeguard domestic energy while reducing emissions.”<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDOMESTIC ADVANCED NUCLEAR FUEL PRODUCTION PLANNED<\/h1>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBUSINESSES ARE STEPPING UP TO THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE<\/h1>\n

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Jay and Rich at their respective hearings also highlighted how heavy industries are beginning to step up to the climate challenge.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThat includes Xcel Energy’s recently announced plan<\/span><\/strong><\/a> to reduce its carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030 and be carbon-free by 2050, the most ambitious plan yet from a major U.S. investor-owned utility.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThey are blazing a path for other utilities, but importantly, they are acknowledging that the end-goal will require new ideas and innovation that likely impact and involve all energy sources. They will need a blend of resources to ensure flexibility, dispatchability and affordability for their customers.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThey also noted that Southern Company, Shell, BP (and now Chevron<\/span><\/strong><\/a>) are among major utilities and oil and gas companies are responding to the challenge, including linking bonuses and other pay for senior executives to the success of their respective carbon-reduction goals.
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THE PATH AHEAD<\/h1>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWEDNESDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/a> ClearPath and the Department of Energy co-sponsor an Atomic Wings Lunch & Learn on “The Value Proposition for Advanced Nuclear: Clean Energy, Economics and Safety.” Speakers include those from the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, GE Hitachi, Terrestrial Energy, Kairos Power and Third Way. RSVP<\/span><\/strong><\/a>
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMISS A WEEK? <\/h1>\n

RUNDOWN ARCHIVES<\/span><\/strong><\/a>
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Follow us on Twitter: @JayFaison1<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, @powellrich<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, @ClearPathAction<\/span><\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tView this Rundown online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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CLEAN ENERGY. THE CONSERVATIVE WAY.<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Copyright \u00a9 2019 ClearPath Action, All rights reserved.<\/em>
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