C3 Journal on
Essays, evidence, and original arguments from the writers shaping this conversation.
The voices in this section
All essays
Energy
The national average for gas prices has surpassed $4.50 per gallon, up roughly 45% from a year ago. If Congress passes a bill that allows for year-round higher ethanol content in gasoline (“E15”) without protecting small refineries, Americans’ pain at the pump will only get worse.
Policy
In the coming months, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will finalize a slate of rulemakings that, taken together, represent the most consequential overhaul of America’s nuclear regulatory framework in nearly 70 years. The modernizations will address many significant regulatory cost drivers that have disadvantaged advanced nuclear energy as a reliable, emissions-free, dispatchable source of power. For nuclear energy to be a viable option, it needs to work for the American taxpayer and ratepayer. The NRC’s reforms give all forms of nuclear power a better shot at doing so.
Energy
In a rare Level 3 alert, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warns that hyperscale data centers are introducing volatile, hard-to-predict load swings—where gigawatts can drop off the grid in seconds—that utilities aren’t equipped to manage, creating a new reliability risk as electricity demand surges. This comes on the heels of recent Senate and House hearings on the state of the bulk power system and how to meet growing electricity demand while protecting ratepayers.
Energy
Critical minerals have become a marquee issue in Washington over the past several years, driven by growing concern that the United States and its allies depend too heavily on China for materials that are indispensable to both the civilian economy and the defense industry.
Energy
Transmission is one of the most inefficiently regulated forms of infrastructure in the United States. Regulatory flaws reward inefficient projects, underdevelop efficient projects, and underutilize existing infrastructure. This has caused escalating transmission costs to consumers, while the gap between transmission need and infrastructure capacity widens.
Infrastructure
The United States is the most energy-rich nation on earth. We have motivated capital, human ingenuity, a wide range of resources, and innovative technologies. With unprecedented energy demand needed in the next few years, the United States needs more power generation, more pipelines, and transmission lines.
Policy
Affordability has quickly overtaken climate change as the primary focus of energy policy. One reason may be that the climate policies adopted over the past decade are finally starting to bind, imposing added costs at a time of rising electricity demand and, in some parts of the country, higher power bills.
Infrastructure
The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) was enacted in 1966 to protect America’s cultural heritage at a time when rapid development was destroying historic sites. Its core process, Section 106, requires federal agencies to consider how projects they fund, permit, or carry out affect historic and cultural resources. Though well-intentioned, nearly six decades later, Section 106 has become a source of uncertainty, delay, and rising costs for energy, transmission, and conservation projects.
Policy
For five days, the equivalent of 350 Olympic-sized pools’ worth of sewage flooded into the Potomac River in a suburb of Washington, D.C. The cause? A clear failure in our permitting systems.
Conservation
With respect to addressing America’s wildfire crisis, the CAA can ironically penalize states for conducting prescribed burns, which are among the most effective tools for preventing catastrophic wildfires and the harmful air pollution they produce.
