(A three part series)
The controversial 922-page “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project”, the Heritage Foundation blueprint for a far-right Trump government is a political prescription for a variety of reforms of energy and environmental programs in the Department of Energy, the Interior Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
While Donald Trump has tried to distance himself in the fallout from the turmoil and pushback the document has created, that’s not a believable stance. It is virtually certain that, should Trump recapture the White House, he would move swiftly to try to implement the blueprint. Many of its authors were his appointees in his administration and likely would lead his government beginning in 2025.
(Part 1: the U.S. Department of Energy)
Here’s a distilled roundup of what the Heritage Foundation report has in mind for a second Trump administration at the U.S. Department of Energy and the man who wrote it.
The big picture goal of the project for DOE: “bold policy action and reforms that involve the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).” Throughout, the plan downgrades renewable energy, policies and programs to address global warming, and support for oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear power.
The author of Chapter 12 is Bernard McNamee, 57, a former Trump appointee to the Federal Regulatory Commission from Dec. 2018 to Sept. 202o. Before that short and largely unremarkable stint, he was a Trump DOE appointee as as executive director of the Office of Policy and deputy general counsel for energy policy. A Virginian, he has been an advisor to Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. He is a partner at the Washington law firm of Mcguire Woods, where he lobbies for Virginia-based, multistate utility holding company Dominion Energy.
Among the priorities for a “reformed” DOE:
* “Support repeal of massive spending bills like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which established new programs and are providing hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to renewable energy developers, their investors, and special interests, and support the rescinding of all funds not already spent by these programs.”
* “The DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED); Office of State and Community Energy Programs; ARPA-E; Office of Grid Deployment (OGD); and DOE Loan Program should be eliminated or reformed. If they continue to exist, FECM, NE, OE, and EERE should focus on fundamental science and technology issues, particularly in relation to cyber and physical threats to energy security, rather than subsidizing and commercializing energy resources.”
* “Eliminate political and climate-change interference in DOE approvals of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.”
* “Focus FERC on its statutory obligation to ensure access to reliable energy at just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory rates…. It is an economic regulator and should not make itself a climate regulator.”
“RTOs no longer seem to work for the benefit of the American people.” — Bernard McNamee
* “Reexamine the premise of RTOs. RTOs no longer seem to work for the benefit of the American people. Marginal price auctions for energy are not ensuring the reliability of the grid and are not passing the full economic benefits of subsidized renewables on to customers.”
* “Reform RTOs to require reliability. FERC should direct RTOs to establish reliability pricing for eligible dispatchable generation resources or require intermittent resources to procure backup power for times when they are not available to operate. In addition, Congress should repeal subsidies for generation resources.”
* Affirm [FERC’s] commitment that states will decide whether to join an RTO instead of imposing RTOs on regions that do not want them. FERC should also consider allowing states to enter into non-RTO power pools with alternative structures for the sharing of resources and electric generation.”
* “Limit [FERC’s] NGA decision-making on natural gas pipeline certificates to the question of whether there is a need for the natural gas….Limit its NEPA analysis to the impacts of the actual pipeline itself, not indirect upstream and downstream effects.”
* Streamline the nuclear regulatory requirements and licensing process…. Although it is not a DOE agency, its jurisdiction over nuclear reactor, fuel, safety, and trade issues often relates to or impinges on DOE’s jurisdiction.”
* “Eliminate carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) programs…. most carbon capture technology remains economically unviable, although private-sector innovations are on the horizon. CCUS programs should be left to the private sector to develop.”
* “Work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as it reviews DOE’s permit application for Yucca Mountain….Yucca Mountain remains a viable option for waste management, and DOE should recommit to working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as it reviews DOE’s permit application for a repository. Finishing the review does not mean that Yucca Mountain will be completed and operational…. Further, building on the consent-based siting process already underway, DOE should find a second repository site.”
* Reject ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and indicate a willingness to conduct nuclear tests in response to adversary nuclear developments if necessary. This will require that NNSA be directed to move to immediate test readiness to give the Administration maximum flexibility in responding to adversary actions.”
–Kennedy Maize