Josh Smith

Josh T. Smith is the senior fellow for Abundance and Environment & Natural Resources at Pacific Legal Foundation. His work focuses on advancing an abundance-oriented approach to environmental and energy policy—one that protects property rights, expands opportunity, and removes unnecessary regulatory barriers to innovation and growth. He is the author of the Substack Powering Spaceship Earth, where he writes about energy abundance, innovation, and policy reform.

Josh’s research explores how legal and regulatory reform can enable faster permitting, energy development, housing growth, and infrastructure expansion while strengthening environmental stewardship. He is particularly interested in making environmental and energy policy discussions positive-sum—aligning economic dynamism, human flourishing, and ecological protection, rather than treating them as trade-offs.

Previously, he directed the immigration research portfolio at The Center for Growth and Opportunity, where he focused on the economic contributions of newcomers and policies to expand opportunity at Utah State University. He also has served as the energy policy lead at the Abundance Institute, where he worked on state and federal reforms to accelerate energy innovation, transmission development, and market competition.

Josh studied economics and political science at Utah State University.