C3 Journal on
Essays, evidence, and original arguments from the writers shaping this conversation.
The voices in this section
All essays
Policy
As the second year of President Trump’s second term gets underway, the Department of Interior (DOI) has the responsibility to achieve two of the administration’s priorities: Expanding energy dominance and Making America Beautiful Again. Here are five practical things DOI should pursue to achieve energy dominance, address the affordability crisis, and improve conservation efforts.
Conservation
Ringing in the new year in Washington is often accompanied by the hope that your “fill-in-the-blank” long-stalled policy priority finally makes headway. When it comes to forest management, Congress can’t afford another year of delay.
Energy
Last fall, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the audience at Senator John Curtis’ conservative climate summit that “nuclear is going to become sexy again.” For policy wonks and proponents of modernizing outdated nuclear regulation, there may be nothing sexier than reforming ALARA.
Policy
At the C3 American Leadership in Energy Innovation Summit, Chris Wright laid out the administration’s energy agenda with clarity. His message wasn’t about new mandates or distant, hard-to-achieve targets. It was about throughput—how fast the U.S. can actually build.
Transportation
From global pandemics to port congestion, extreme weather and rising transportation costs—our nation’s supply chains have been put to a severe test. New analysis from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) shows that some freight networks are inherently more stable during these disruptions.
Energy
Advocates of large-scale transmission expansion have recited a simple slogan for years: There is no transition without transmission. By this, they mean that the shift to renewable energy will require vast new power lines. Whatever one thinks of climate policy, that argument no longer carries much weight. The relevant question now is whether building more transmission will make electricity more affordable.
Energy
While domestic energy demand surges, our adversaries — led by China, the world’s dominant energy financier — are outpacing us in investments in innovative R&D and critical infrastructure. To win this competition, the federal government must enable the U.S. energy sector to compete in technology areas where the financial risk is too high for the private sector to bear alone. One of the U.S. government’s more powerful tools is loan guarantees.
Environment
At a recent climate conference in Brazil, the Governor of California Gavin Newsom insisted that “The United States of America is as dumb as we want to be on this topic [of climate change], but the state of California is not,” Newsom said. “We are going to assert ourselves, we’re going to lean in, and we are going to compete in this space.” Let’s review the facts and see who is really doubling down on dumb.
Environment
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is now 55 years old—and shows its age. That’s not a critique of its legacy. The law, in conjunction with innovation and private investment in environmental improvement, has contributed to significant improvements in air quality, public health, and environmental protection. But its regulatory framework still operates like it’s 1970, often resulting in costly, inefficient regulations that stifle economic growth for little environmental gain.
Policy
The Trump administration’s stop-work orders on renewable energy projects add an under-discussed layer of friction in the United States’ bid for energy dominance. While the effects of halting near-finished offshore wind projects are immediately apparent, the downstream political consequences could hobble the administration’s hopes for progress on both bipartisan permitting reform and their “build baby build” energy posture.
