Energy Update: Week of August 5th

Friends,

Well, I MADE IT! My 100-mile ride for Pelotonia Cancer Charity at Ohio State’s James Cancer Center in Columbus was as inspiring as it has ever been for me. INCREDIBLE and hard to put into words. Special thanks to my son Adam who jumped on a bike and paced me from 70-mile mark to the end (the 70 to 88 segment is particularly hilly and tough on the route to the Kenyon College finish).

As I mentioned, after the race on Saturday, I went straight to Detroit to visit my brother Art and attend his twin boys HS graduation event. I can’t tell you how emotional and grateful he was for all of your prayers and support. I gave him the Pelotonia medal and told him what you have done for us in terms of fundraising, prayers and good wishes, and we were both brought to tears. He and we all have been lifted up by your kindness, support and generosity.

  

The donation portal remains open and I am pushing hard to raise as much as I can in his name, so please feel free to jump in if you haven’t already. I am close to raising $25K and I would love to fly past that. Any amount matters so please head to this link and support this noble cause.

And back to the action in DC: The Senate wrapped some budget business over the weekend and meanwhile, the Senate Energy Committee passed an important first step in permitting-reform bill Wednesday by a vote of 15-4. It was a strong bipartisan show of force that may send positive signals to other Senate Committees of jurisdiction (Senate Environment) and a group of bipartisan House counterparts (Westerman-Peters) looking to move permitting reform forward before the end of the year. Truly, its fate now depends on Senate leadership scheduling action and the results of the November election as to whether this sees any real action in the lame duck session  I discussed this with Sirius XM’s Julie Mason on her show last Thursday.

So, with Congress out of Dodge, this week is all about VP and now Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ announcement on her running mate, which is expected tomorrow. Harris met Sunday at her residence in DC with top candidates in an accelerated vetting process. Making the final cut for interviews at her Naval Observatory residence: Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Sources say Harris was speaking to other candidates who have not been publicly confirmed as possible picks, but buts seems clear by the outside group lobbying that these three are the likely candidates. Again, I discuss the details of each in my Julie Mason P.O.T.U.S. segment from late last week. Happy to discuss more after Harris picks.

As I mentioned last week, with Congress out for August, this will be our last update until Labor Day, with the exception of any special reports. I will be at the DNC in Chicago for a couple of days so shout out if you are going.

I will also be around most of August if you want to catch up. Call with any questions.

Best,

Frank Maisano

(202) 828-5864

C. (202) 997-5932                                                                                                                     

FRANKLY SPOKEN

“The significantly higher prices in this auction confirm our concerns that the supply/demand balance is tightening across the RTO. The market is sending a price signal that should incent investment in resources.”

PJM Interconnect President and CEO Manu Asthana on last week’s auction which saw a significant increase in power prices, raising concerns about capacity.

ON THE PODCAST

How Global Trade Can Reform Drive Climate Action – In the latest episode of The Energy Gang, WoodMac’s Ed Crooks, Amy Myers-Jaffe and Dan Esty discuss how international trade rules can be the key to global cooperation in the energy transition. Esty argues that the trade system may be the best way to get everyone in the world, and businesses in particular, to “lock arms and move together” to decarbonize the global economy. The goal is to make sure that “no one's competitively disadvantaged by stepping out in front of the pack when it comes to this movement to a clean energy future."

FUN OPINIONS

NYT’s Coy Looks at Clean Energy Permitting Dilemma – In his New York Times column, Peter Coy writes Sen. Joe Manchin’s bill would deliver a win for both renewable energy and fossil fuels, highlighting a split between clean energy advocates and many climate focused environmental groups. Renewable energy groups and environmental groups agree on a lot, but not on this bill. He writes ACORE endorsed the bill. And in an interview, its president, Ray Long, said, “In totality, this is a huge step forward from where we are.” He added: “Almost no interregional transmission lines have been built in the past decade. This sort of thing will absolutely benefit the grid and continue the reduction of carbon emissions.” Long is right about that, Coy writes. “Lots of green energy projects are on ice because there’s insufficient transmission capacity for them to sell their power.”

FROG BLOG

No Debate on Value of NatGas – In piece in RealClearEnergy, David Callahan, President of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Marcellus Shale Coalition, writes natural gas transcends political boundaries and arches political divides by providing economic growth, advancing U.S. energy security and making substantial environmental progress. By recognizing the many benefits of this critical energy source, we can forge a path forward that unites perspectives in pursuit of a stronger America. He adds nowhere in the country is this partnership, and the opportunities it creates, more apparent than in Pennsylvania.

FUN FACTS

Transmissions Needs are a Huge Challenge: This chart shows how difficult it has been and will be going forward.

IN THE NEWS

Bracewell Opens Paris Office Focused on Energy – Just in time for the 2024 Olympics, Bracewell has opened an office in Paris La Défense with the arrival of an 11-lawyer energy and infrastructure team from Norton Rose Fulbright. The new office will focus on project development, M&A and finance transactions in the energy and infrastructure sectors, with an emphasis on renewable and conventional power, energy transition, oil and gas, and infrastructure in France and Francophone Africa.

Energy Storage White Paper Discusses Varied Types of Storage Needed – With everyone talking about energy storage these days, a new report from storage innovator Energy Vault and the Policy Resolution Group at Bracewell LLP that finds energy storage is actually a basket of technologies that create balance and variety. As with best ideas, there is a wrong way and a right way to frame the issue. Often, energy storage is thought of as ever bigger arrays of lithium-ion batteries. While these systems are very important to solving the storage puzzle, there are other pieces that do not require the use of critical minerals, rare earths, and attenuated supply chains. Some of the most exciting of these are mechanical forms of storage, including gravitational storage systems. Sometimes referred to as pump storage without the water, gravitational storage is a technology that can be constructed locally using local and even recycled materials. A more inclusive approach to energy storage can help achieve greater onshoring of the clean energy transition with consequent benefits to energy and national security, energy independence, and enhanced reliability, the paper concludes. Happy to forward the paper.

ISA Vote Elects New Chair – The International Seabed Authority elected Leticia Carvalho, an oceanographer from Brazil and a UN environmental regulator, by a 79-to-34 vote by the nations that run the ISA, replacing Michael Lodge, a lawyer who has overseen the agency for nearly eight years. Our friend Eric Lipton of the NYTimes has coverage.

PJM Face Steep Increase – The PJM Interconnection power market auction last week resulted in prices more than 800% higher than last year as supply dwindled and demand increased. PJM, which covers parts of 13 states from Illinois to New Jersey, revealed the results of its 2025 to 2026 capacity auction. Prices for power plants landed at $269.92 per megawatt-day, compared to $28.92 per megawatt-day for year-ago auction.

Jet Blue to Buy SAF – JetBlue Airways agreed to procure sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from a unit of U.S. refiner Valero and distributed by energy firm World Kinect for use in flights from New York's JFK airport. Under terms of the deal, World Fuel Services will provide the fuel supply to the airport from the fourth quarter of 2024. Airlines have been under pressure from environmental groups to lower their carbon footprint, with the Biden administration setting targets to boost SAF output and help the domestic aviation industry shift away from traditional fuels. As a part of the initial 12-month deal, JetBlue is expected to take delivery of about 3.3 million gallons of blended fuel, with an option to purchase up to an additional 13.3 million gallons of blended fuel.

House Small Biz Launches Trumka Investigation – The House Small Business Committee is launching an investigation into Richard Trumka's policy and ethics actions. Trumka's tirades have a disproportionate impact on small businesses.  And for almost all of his CPSC moves, the Small Business Administration has pushed back on them because they are not good for small businesses. Look at the gas stove comments for example. Banning gas stoves would have a huge impact on restaurants and other small businesses like them. 

Comments on Permitting – Here is a summary of comments from industry, environmental and other advocate groups on last week’s permit reform vote:

• America’s Clean Power (ACP): “Our nation’s future success and strength rests on building modern systems to produce, store, and distribute energy. We have the technology, workforce, and financial capital to build great things, but we lack a governing process that is designed to succeed. This legislation changes that. The Energy Permitting Reform Act will help our nation meet the growing demand for electricity, deploy transmission lines to deliver clean, reliable power, and strengthen American energy security.”
• American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE): “America’s burdensome permitting process has for years held back clean energy and transmission projects that are vital to our nation’s electricity future. Virtually no interregional transmission lines have been built in the last decade despite their critical importance to grid reliability. We applaud Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) for releasing the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, which will help reduce the permitting timelines for clean energy projects and accelerate interstate transmission in the U.S. The legislation also notably directs FERC to establish an interregional transmission planning process which ACORE has long championed.” (Ray Long, President and CEO)
• Advanced Energy United: “It has long been too difficult to build some of the critical energy infrastructure America needs, and this bipartisan proposal provides a good foundation on which to build a comprehensive package of legislative reforms. Both parties agree that unreasonable timetables and fragmented planning processes are making it too difficult to invest and build, providing Congress a unique opportunity to pass legislation that unlocks America’s innovative industries and improves grid reliability and energy costs for households and businesses.” (Harry Godfrey, Managing Director)
• Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG): “As extreme weather and rising energy demand stretches our nation’s energy grid to its limits, today’s permitting reform package rises to the occasion with policy changes that will help bolster grid reliability and our nation’s economic competitiveness by paving a path for the timely deployment of transmission infrastructure. This would represent an important change in how the federal government permits transmission infrastructure in a timely and transparent manner. In combination with Order No. 1920 and the commission’s responsibility for ensuring reliability for customers, FERC is well positioned to center our nation’s efforts to build out the energy grid. Support from Chair Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso show that transmission policy can and should be a bipartisan priority, and we urge Congress to continue that momentum by moving this bill into law.” (Christina Hayes, Executive Director)
• American Exploration and Mining Association (AEMA): “…this legislation addresses the flawed Rosemont decision by providing much-need certainty that mineral projects can reasonably use federal land for mine support activities. We greatly appreciate the hard work of Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso to get to this point, and for their bipartisan leadership to elevate these important issues. The permitting reforms in this deal are a good start, and we look forward to working with both sides of the aisle to see they become law.” (Mark Compton, Executive Director)
• American Petroleum Institute (API): “At a time of persistent inflation, it’s long past time to fix our nation’s broken permitting system and unlock the domestic resources needed to meet rising demand for affordable, reliable energy. This legislation not only takes tangible steps toward a more transparent, consistent and timely permitting process, but also ends the administration’s misguided LNG export permit pause, strengthening American energy leadership while helping to reduce emissions worldwide.” (Amanda Eversole, Executive Vice President)
• Breakthrough Institute: “For the United States to confront the daunting challenge of revitalizing its energy infrastructure, Congress must take sustained action to ensure new energy technologies can be built quickly, responsibly, and affordably. The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 takes an important step in the right direction.”
• “Several environmental groups jumped to paint this bill as a hand-out for the oil and gas industry. Not only does this absolutist mindset show disregard for pragmatic policy-making, it ignores the fact that the bill produces a clear net-benefit for climate efforts. The accelerating trajectory of new clean energy technologies means that clean energy deployment will benefit from these provisions to a greater degree than fossil energy sources. Activists demanding regulatory and permitting rules that benefit only their preferred technologies is a recipe for political gridlock and institutional dysfunction.” (Seaver Wang, Co-Director, Climate and Energy team)
• Business Council for Sustainable Energy: “Current federal regulations and review processes for permitting and siting electric and natural gas infrastructure follow a lengthy schedule that leaves projects stranded in development for far too long. We must instead act with urgency. Speeding up federal permitting and siting processes will boost our nation’s energy security by deploying modern, clean, and secure American energy resources – and bring new jobs and economic benefits to local communities. BCSE commends Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) for introducing bipartisan legislation on this critical issue.” (Lisa Jacobson, President)
• Center for Biological Diversity: this “Frankenstein legislation is taken straight from Project 2025, and it’s the biggest giveaway in decades to the fossil fuel industry.” The bill “deprives communities of the power to defend themselves and gives that power to Big Oil by making it harder for communities to challenge polluting projects in court,” and “prioritizes the profits of coal barons over public health. And it mandates oil and gas extraction in our oceans. Monday was the hottest day in recorded history. It’s shocking that as the climate emergency continues to break records around us, the Senate continues to fast-track the fossil fuel expansion that is killing us. This dangerous bill doesn’t deserve a floor vote.” CBD added that “to preserve a livable planet,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) “must squash this legislation now.” (Brett Hartl, Director of Public Affairs)
• Center for LNG (CLNG): “The Center for LNG (CLNG) supports the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. The legislation includes important provisions to provide regulatory certainty for large-scale U.S. LNG export facilities, ensures fact-based decision-making on future studies by the Department of Energy (DOE) around the economic and climate benefits of continued U.S. LNG exports, and incentivizes investments in U.S. infrastructure that are vital to our national interests and global climate goals….This bill would permanently end the Department of Energy’s devastating pause on U.S. LNG export authorizations. The U.S. LNG industry needs the regulatory certainty this bill provides, as project developers, suppliers, and buyers are and will continue grappling with the negative impacts caused by the U.S. LNG export authorization pause. CLNG urges support for the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.” (Charlie Riedl, Executive Director)
• US Chamber of Commerce The U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024... Rapid increases in demand for energy and minerals are driven by the growing deployment of artificial intelligence, widespread electrification under the energy transition, the reshoring of manufacturing, and renewed energy demand from Europe. Meeting this increasing demand for energy molecules, electrons, and minerals will require fewer permitting hurdles to allow businesses to respond in a timely way to the massive buildout that is necessary. Your legislation offers practical solutions to help expedite the permitting process without compromising environmental safeguards. Ultimately, your legislation would align better process with economic realities, and ensure sustainable development. We look forward to working with the Committee as the bill continues through the legislative process, particularly with respect to the transmission planning provisions.” (Marty Durbin, President, Global Energy Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
• Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES): “Clean energy development in the United States has been crippled by burdensome federal permitting processes, onerous regulations and serial litigation from extreme interest groups CRES applauds Senators John Barrasso (R- Wyo.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) for continuing to pound the drum on the importance of permitting reform and for introducing the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. This bipartisan package promises to address many of the bottlenecks U.S. energy developers are facing as they work to build, deploy and expand clean, affordable, reliable American-made energy across the country.” (Heather Reams, President)
• ClearPath Action: “[The bill] will modernize the energy permitting system to meet increasing energy demand and maintain American energy leadership. ClearPath Action supports this legislation. This bipartisan legislation addresses a handful of permitting problems affecting technologies including natural gas, critical minerals, renewables, and enabling infrastructure like pipelines and transmission. This bill includes important bipartisan bicameral geothermal permitting provisions, including a new categorical exclusion for resource confirmation activities, similar to a provision for certain oil and gas exploration activities on federal lands enacted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. If you pair common- sense reforms like these with the important legislation Congress just passed with the ADVANCE Act to improve permitting for nuclear energy, the U.S. is on its way to energy dominance.” (Jeremy Harrell, CEO)
• Environmental Defense Fund (EDF): “proposal would make meaningful improvements to unlock clean energy projects and build out a stronger power grid. Well-planned transmission, as the bill properly recognizes, would prevent blackouts amid more extreme weather and cut costs for consumers. The bill will accelerate needed transmission development in several important ways: first, it will require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to move forward quickly with strong requirements for interregional transmission planning, which has the greatest potential to link together distant areas to support clean energy and increase reliability; second, it ensures that transmission projects of national importance can receive federal review and support.”
  • “While we welcome efforts to bolster a clean and reliable grid, we also have serious concerns about provisions in this bill that would increase fossil fuel pollution, harm communities’ health and limit public input. The bill increases oil and gas leasing, while at the same time limiting the government’s ability to minimize the impacts of fossil fuel development on nearby communities and the climate. It would also halt efforts by the Department of Energy to analyze the climate and economic impacts of proposals to export natural gas, requiring decisions without critical information about methane pollution in the LNG supply chain and the effects of such exports on efforts to transition to cleaner energy in markets across the globe. Further, this legislation would limit opportunities to seek redress or raise concerns for frontline communities. Permitting proposals drafted without meaningful consultation of frontline communities will not deliver the enduring and equitable change we need to transition to a clean energy future.”
• Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA):“After listening to the concerns and frustrations of users of multiple-use lands across the industry, Senators Manchin and Barrasso worked together to help reduce much of the unnecessary red tape that hampers independent producers operating on federal onshore and offshore lands. They have put forward a permitting reform package that will improve coordination, reduce permitting wait times, remove the LNG export ban, and restore certainty to the Gulf of Mexico leasing process….” (Dan Naatz, COO and EVP)
• Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association: “The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 provides much needed permitting reform and certainty for the Gulf of Mexico energy industry. Oil and natural gas production in the Gulf should be a national priority. In Louisiana, we are proud to be the gateway to this American energy production. The current 5-year leasing plan for the Gulf of Mexico has an anemic number of lease sales. Thankfully this bipartisan legislation introduced by Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso seeks to increase the number of Gulf of Mexico lease sales, bringing the hope of long-term offshore production and jobs for Louisiana communities. The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association (LMOGA) applauds this effort and urges Congress to make this legislation a priority.” (Tommy Faucheux, President)
• National Association of Manufacturers (NAM): “Legislation includes important provisions that will modernize regulations and end [the Energy Department]’s ban on LNG export permits…Manufacturers look forward to working with [committee Democrats] and [committee Republicans] to fix America’s broken permitting process.” (Chris Netram, Managing Vice President of Policy)
• National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA): “Enacting permitting reform is critical to ensuring timely approval for projects. Recent reforms enacted by Congress have been a good step forward. However, critical reforms for transmission and distribution, grid reliability, onshore energy and minerals, and judicial review are still sorely needed. NECA is pleased to endorse the Permitting Reform Act of 2024 as a means of solving these requirements. On behalf of our 4,000 electrical contractors across America, we thank Senators Manchin and Barrasso for their leadership and determination to get this legislation introduced. We urge the Senate to pass this bill as soon as possible.” (Marco Giamberardino, Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs)
• National Mining Association (NMA): “The status quo on mine permitting is no longer an option; the time to reform our permitting process is now. Our manufacturing sector’s ability to produce the consumer and energy goods America needs is currently tied to China’s willingness to continue to provide the materials that feed those supply chains. America is home to both abundant natural resources and the environmental, labor and safety laws to ensure they are produced responsibly. With our mineral and energy demands only growing, we need to unlock our domestic potential, and I applaud Senators Manchin and Barrasso for taking this important first step.” (Rich Nolan, President and CEO)
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): “This bill is a giveaway for the oil and gas industry that will ramp up drilling and environmental destruction at a time when we need to be putting a hard stop to fossil fuels. We cannot afford to roll back so many of our bedrock environmental and community legal protections and offer a blank check to the oil and gas industry. We need new solutions for permitting if we are going to meet our clean energy potential and address the climate challenge. But this is not it. While this bill would offer some steps forward on transmission reform, which we hope to help usher forward, this bill would altogether be a leap backward on climate, health, and justice if passed into law. The Senate should reject it and look toward alternative solutions already being considered.” (Alexandra Adams, Managing Director of Government Affairs)
• SAFE: SAFE experts issued the following statements:
• Robbie Diamond, Founder and CEO, SAFE: “We can’t unlock our energy, mineral, and industrial potential without addressing permitting, which is acknowledged across the energy industry as a primary barrier to developing essential transmission infrastructure and bringing energy and mineral resources to bear. This bipartisan permitting and transmission reform package represents welcome and necessary progress towards meeting our surging power needs. We applaud the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for their thorough and diligent work on developing this proposal, and urge its expeditious advancement to the President’s desk.”
• Danielle Russo, Executive Director, SAFE’s Center for Grid Security: “American strength and competitiveness depend on modernized energy infrastructure—the Energy Permitting Reform Act brings the United States closer to an energy standard that national defense communities can lean on to achieve their goals. Specifically, we commend the committee for recognizing that interregional planning is our clearest path to unlocking the full potential of our domestic energy resources. Combined with accelerating the judicial review processes—which can last up to 18 years—these provisions provide a meaningful opportunity to build a grid that will keep America safe, secure, and prosperous.”
• Abigail Hunter, Executive Director of SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy: “Critical minerals are the backbone of our modern economy, but the current permitting landscape creates investment uncertainty undermining the United States’ ability to meaningfully source minerals at home. This reform package supports our domestic mineral security by changing the investment calculus for upstream projects, and by ensuring that we have the sufficient transmission and energy infrastructure to fuel the mines, refineries, and processing facilities as we reindustrialize. Successful permitting guarantees the objectivity of process, ability to implement the process, and clarity of the process—we applaud this effort and look forward to working with both parties on finalization and passage.”
• Sierra Club: “Those who promote this kind of so-called ‘permitting reform’ claim that it’s necessary to accelerate the deployment of clean energy, but in truth this is nothing more than yet another attempt by fossil fuel industry boosters to give handouts for polluters at the expense of our communities and the climate. We urge Congress to put forward real solutions to build a clean energy economy, and not pair those reforms with more attempts to pad the pockets of fossil fuel executives under the guise of reducing emissions.” (Mahyar Sorour, Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy Director)
• Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA): “We’re pleased to see bipartisan recognition that we must quickly and efficiently build out transmission capacity to keep pace with America’s growing electricity demand. For years, SEIA has been calling for a fundamental shift in the way we build transmission capacity and has long advocated for reforms that fairly allocate costs. While we’re still reviewing the details, this is a conversation worth having. We also commend the renewed efforts to simplify and streamline the development of clean energy infrastructure on public lands, helping us lower costs for ratepayers and improve grid reliability. This bill is a positive step forward for our clean energy future, and we look forward to seeing this bipartisan bill get introduced on the Senate floor.” (Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO)
• USLNG Association (LNG Allies): “The Manchin-Barrasso permitting reform bill ‘ticks all of our big boxes’ with regard to fixing the Department of Energy’s LNG decision-making process. Most importantly, it sets a 90-day shot-clock on DOE decisions, which would both clear the backlog of pending U.S. LNG export applications and prevent future administrations from imposing another licensing moratorium.” (Fred Hutchison, President and CEO)
• U.S. Oil and Gas Association: “The federal permitting process is horribly calcified - to the point of where obtaining a permit is an exercise in futility for any small business who wants to do work with the federal government. Now decades in the making, if this problem is not addressed it will make nearly 25% of the Nation’s entire oil and gas resources undevelopable. This legislation is a great first step forward to repairing that process. Thank you to Senators Barrasso and Manchin for the hundreds of hours of research and negotiation to get us here. The US Oil & Gas Association is proud to support the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.”
• Western Energy Alliance (WEA): “Western Energy Alliance thanks Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso for permitting reform that enables access to more of the nation’s energy resources, particularly on federal lands, and helps to reduce energy inflation. Oil and natural gas require multiple federal approvals for everything from exploration and leasing to drilling, transportation, and export, and this bill reduces many points of bureaucratic delay and red tape. We are excited about this bipartisan effort to remove impediments to production and improve the delivery of energy to all Americans.”
• Western States and Tribal Nations (WSTN) Energy Initiative: “…This bill will help enshrine that spirit into law with concrete reforms that will serve America’s interests, those of our member states, provinces, and nations, and boost our ability to help our allies… It’s especially important that sovereign tribal nations are given even greater control over their own energy resources, and that Western states will have greater certainty surrounding federal permitting and how federal land in their territory can be developed to their citizens’ benefit.” (Andrew Browning, President)

ON THE SCHEDULE THIS WEEK

Forum Looks at Laser Fusion – Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., the Atlantic Council holds a virtual discussion on carbon neutral fusion energy. As part of its EnergySource Innovation stream series, AC’s Global Energy Center will host Edward Moses, founder and chief executive officer of Longview Fusion Energy Systems, to discuss the company’s mission to promote laser fusion energy.

USEA Forum Looks at Extreme Weather Impacts on Utilities – On Wednesday at 11:00 a.m., the US Energy Assn holds a media presser on extreme weather and the existential threat to utilities. This forum will explain the situation and to offer remedies — both in hardening the system against these perils and in rapid storm remediation. Speakers include Cal ISO’s Elliot Mainzer, Midwest ISO’s Todd Hillman, David Naylor of the Rayburn Electric Cooperative, EEI’s Scott Aaronson, EPRI’s Andrea Staid and ERCOT’s Pablo Vegas.

IN THE FUTURE

Cement Sustainability Forum Set – The second annual Portland Cement Association Sustainability Summit will be a virtual event held August 13^th to 15^th at 11:00 a.m. each day. The even features industry leaders discussing the latest efforts and strategies in the cement-concrete-construction value chain's efforts to achieve net zero.

Western Gas Forum Set for San Diego – The 20^th annual Energy Innovations: LDC Gas Forum Rockies and West takes place in San Diego, CA on August 14^th to 16^th to gain insight, analyze and structure arrangements to buy, sell and transport natural gas. Informative industry insight covering the Rockies and West from a host of speakers who will break down topics around Innovations in Energy such as Certified Gas, low-carbon alternatives, infrastructure updates.

Forum to Focus on Clean Energy Manufacturing – Heatmap Labs and Shoals Technologies Group hold a webinar on Wednesday August 15^th as we explore the evolving landscape of domestic clean energy manufacturing. With 26 years of experience, Shoals brings a wealth of knowledge to the table, offering a unique perspective into the challenges and opportunities facing domestic manufacturing, including hiring and training a local workforce and leveraging new incentives. The event will examine the broader trends shaping the future of homegrown clean energy production now and into a more uncertain 2025. We'll also discuss the impact of policy initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act and technological advancements on the sector's growth.

Forum Looks at Charging Infrastructure – The Electrification Coalition on Thursday August 15 at 2:00 p.m. for Outside the Box Charging Solutions, the next installment of our 2024 Charging Infrastructure Webinar Series. Speakers will discuss charging solutions deployed in cities with unique design challenges, as well as resilient charging, smart technology and scalable models. The event will also feature expert insights from our partner cities across the nation and to find the best charging solution for your community.

Dems Head to Chicago – The DNC holds its Convention in Chicago on Monday August 18^th to Thursday August 21^st at the United Center.