Energy
The U.S.-China Summit Is a Chance to Reopen Minerals Trade
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington today for a three-day state visit. Export controls will be a central focus of his meeting with President Trump. Two moratoriums,…
C3 Journal on
Domestic
Essays, evidence, and original arguments from the writers shaping this conversation.
The voices in this section
Writers on Domestic.
All essays
Domestic archive
Energy
Mining Permitting Reform Is a Start, but Not a Substitute for a Durable Fix
The Protecting Domestic Mining Act (H.R. 1501) just passed the House by a 218–201 vote, with seven Democrats crossing the aisle. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, makes mining and mineral processing eligible for expedited permitting under Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (known as FAST-41) and blocks a Biden-era proposal that would have limited that eligibility to "critical" minerals.
Infrastructure
How America’s Memory Chip Squeeze Is Another Affordability Challenge
Americans just lived through one chip shortage. They’re about to live through another, and this one could hit their wallets even harder. The culprit this time isn’t a pandemic disrupting factories; it’s an artificial intelligence (AI) boom devouring the world’s memory chip supply. If Washington isn’t careful, the policy response could make the problem worse, not better.
Energy
Is Power the Next Shale? America Needs to Adopt Strict Capital Discipline Before the Bill Comes Due
Announced megawatts are like leased acres, but energized, used, and profitable megawatts are like productive wells. The boom is genuine, and success will depend on precision, discipline, and pragmatism.
Transportation
Trump Extends Jones Act Waiver. Here’s Why Congress Should Make It Permanent
The United States is the world’s largest oil and gas producer, but energy abundance means little if that energy cannot reach the people who need it.
Energy
More Current, Less Cost: Why Advanced Conductors are an Overlooked Grid Capacity Tool
To unlock affordable grid capacity, policymakers should require utilities to consider the best-available line technologies by default, while utilities themselves modernize planning to reinforce their affordability commitment to customers.
Energy
China Could Control the Future of Energy If America Doesn’t Act Fast
Rather than causing disparate groups to come together to recognize the importance of all forms of energy, oil prices have resulted in some pushing harder for oil and gas and others pressing harder for solar, wind and batteries. This is a false dichotomy. Both are needed.
Conservation
We Know How to Reduce Wildfire Risk. Policy Is Standing in the Way
The need to reduce fire risk is apparent, and we know how to do so through active forest management. Yet policy continues to slow those efforts down and that urgently needs to change.
Energy
Federal Grid Reforms Pick the Right Route and the Wrong Builder
The Department of Energy’s recent National Transmission Needs Study identifies several of these cases, where regions’ electricity costs would decline substantially if they were connected by a high-capacity transmission line. Providing these benefits to consumers, however, requires confronting not just the incentives that discourage utilities from building interregional lines, but the state laws that let incumbent monopolies control who builds them.
Energy
Pennsylvania Wants Data Centers to Pay Their Own Way. There’s a Better Way to Do It.
Lawmakers in both parties are scrambling to address the issues revealed by data centers. President Donald Trump, his administration officials, and several governors (including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro) signed on to a statement of principles that encourage data centers to bring their own power or pay for the power they need.
Infrastructure
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Releases Section 106 Modernization
Congress is running short on time to pass a comprehensive permitting reform package before the lame duck this fall. On the table awaiting votes are bills reforming the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and Clean Air Act. The National Historic Preservation Act, which has recently gained traction as a permitting barrier to projects, has received comparatively little attention in Congress.