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TESTIMONY: The Importance of Domestic Energy Production to Conservation and Energy Security Efforts

Introduction

The following is an excerpt from Nick Loris’ testimony before the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands of the House Natural Resources Committee on April 28th, 2022:

My name is Nick Loris, and I am the Vice President of Public Policy at the Conservative Coalition for Climate Solutions (C3 Solutions). Thank you for this opportunity to appear before the subcommittee to discuss the link between natural resources development and conservation programs like the Historic Preservation Fund. With the introduction of the Ukraine Independence Park Act (H.R. 7075), I would also like to take this opportunity to discuss the importance of energy security and how increased energy supplies and energy diversification helps American families and our European allies.  

My written testimony consists of the following four sections: 

  • The importance of the Historic Preservation Fund. 
  • The economic and conservation benefits of domestic natural resource development and the unintended consequences of prohibiting development. 
  • Concerns of turning the Historic Preservation Fund into a mandatory program and considerations for alternative funding mechanisms. 
  • Policy reforms to enhance energy security, generate revenue for conservation, diversify Europe’s energy needs, and meet climate objectives.

 

Watch the full hearing here.

Economics

Federal Critical Minerals Investments Need a Cost-Benefit Test

Last week, the Trump Administration announced more than $2 billion in new federal money for battery and critical minerals companies. The largest piece was a $1.4 billion loan to the silicon-anode battery maker Sila Nanotechnologies, alongside smaller deals for a scandium mine, a rare-earth-free magnet maker, a direct government ownership stake in a bauxite company, and grants for mining schools. It is the latest in a long series of federal investments; by the administration’s own count, it has signed or approved minerals deals worth nearly $40 billion since taking office.

Policy

We Know How to Reduce Wildfire Risk. Policy Is Standing in the Way

Over the past few weeks, smoky skies have spread across the United States and Canada. From the Canadian fires that pushed the Northeast and Great Lakes air quality to dangerous levels last month to the fires burning in the Northwest today, there seems to be no end in sight. The need to reduce fire risk is apparent, and we know how to do so through active forest management. Yet policy continues to slow those efforts down and that urgently needs to change.

Economics

Federal Grid Reforms Pick the Right Route and the Wrong Builder

America’s power grid is really a patchwork of regional grids, each with their own operators, with few high-capacity lines connecting them. This fragmentation comes at a real cost for customers, who are often unable to access cheaper power available just across a state or regional border. The Department of Energy’s recent National Transmission Needs Study identifies several of these cases, where regions’ electricity costs would decline substantially if they were connected by a high-capacity transmission line. Providing these benefits to consumers, however, requires confronting not just the incentives that discourage utilities from building interregional lines, but the state laws that let incumbent monopolies control who builds them.

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Press

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Drew Bonds writes about America’s broken permitting process for the Washington Star. “A project

Press

Red State Freedom Is Better for the Environment Than European Green Socialism

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