The Wright Stuff
What thrills me; what worries me
I watched all of Chris Wright’s confirmation hearing this week, plus some of Doug Burgum’s (Department of Interior nominee) and Lee Zeldin’s (Environmental Protection Agency nominee).
Needless to say, I’m excited. All three of these nominees take energy seriously—they recognize its importance as an economic driver. All three of them exhibit a real commitment to “energy dominance.”
What that looks like in practice will have to do with how things shake out within the Republican party and its various factions. In a piece I wrote for Compact subscribers on Wednesday morning, I described the divide like this: on the one hand, the legacy think tanks like Heritage and Cato have been consistent on their opposition to federal subsidies for energy projects. One the other, “the GOP’s insurgent industrial policy-oriented wing as well as its China hawks tend to be in favor, but they lack a sharp energy vision.”
In addition, I explained that “the GOP has struggled for years to field enough bodies to take full ideological command of the government. Therefore, the staffing advantage may redound to incumbent players within the Republican network who can populate positions within” the federal government.
So as excited as I am about Wright helming the DOE, I’m also worried.
During his hearing, he talked about how important DOE funding is for new industries, like SMRs and geothermal. I don’t disagree, but I think that if the DOE Loans Program Office does not prioritize gigawatt-scale reactors we already know how to build, then we won’t see any new nuclear for maybe 20 years. Yes, the stakes are that high. I simply do not have any confidence any SMR company can deliver their first-of-a-kind reactors on time. Locking in the economies of repetition needed to drive down the cost of build reactors we’ve already built (I’m looking at you, Westinghouse!) is essential to meeting our national energy needs. Especially if we want to stay ahead of China.
But I’m still hopeful we can change course on all that—it’s early days. Moreover, James Danly, my favorite former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has been named Deputy Secretary of Energy. Given how much Chris Wright emphasized that the American grid is facing a serious crisis, Danly’s experience and expertise on what’s going on with the grid will be invaluable.
And I don’t expect to get everything on my wishlist. The federal government is enormous with a lot of big players in it. As I told Politico, “You never get into politics to be happy or get what you want. You do it because you want to be complicatedly sad to see if you can see some improvement. I think we can see some improvement.”
Related Articles
All I Want for Christmas is a Reliable Grid. The American Grid is in Bad Shape
A Republic of Industrial Cathedrals. For an atomic America of the people, by the people, and for the people
The Cryptid That Almost Killed a Dam. A fake fish, left politics, and environmental law
If you would like to book me as a speaker, click the button below:
Crom’s Blessing
Well said. This is no time for triumphalism. Regarding nuclear specifically, we need to be keeping score in terawatt hours and frankly the game is presently rigged hard against the atom.