Nuclear Waste Disposal: Better Planning Needed to Avoid Potential Disruptions at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is the nation’s only repository for certain waste from nuclear weapons research and production.

The facility is expected to run out of disposal space by 2025. The Department of Energy plans to expand it, but work may not be completed before existing space is full.

Accidents in 2014 reduced the plant’s operations, and Energy is constructing a new ventilation system so that full operations can resume. This work has been delayed and the office managing it has many vacancies.

This report recommends that Energy improve its planning for adding space and analyze …

State of Climate Action: Assessing Progress toward 2030 and 2050

To keep the window open to limit global warming to 1.5 C, countries need to accelerate transformation towards a net-zero emissions future across all sectors at a far faster pace than recent trends, according to this report from World Resources Institute and ClimateWorks Foundation, with input from Climate Action Tracker.

The rapid transformation needed to halve emissions by 2030 will require significant financial investments, technology transfer and capacity-building for developing countries. While climate finance has increased significantly in recent years across the public, private and philanthropic sectors, it is still not at the scale needed to revolutionize our energy and …

American Energy Independence and the Transportation Sector

As part of our mission to facilitate substantive, responsible dialogue on a variety of energy policy issues relevant to policymakers and the American public, OurEnergyPolicy (OEP) held a webinar on U.S. energy independence in June 2020, the sixth installment in our Energy Leaders Webinar Series. The United States’ goal to reach self-sufficiency in our petroleum consumption and reduce our dependence on foreign supply is a decades-old ambition and one that is still relevant today.

This paper is a summary of the issues explored in the roundtable discussion. We have done our best to highlight points of consensus and to represent …

Analysis of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Hydropower Imports for New York City through 2050

Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC), a nuclear generating facility that has provided roughly 15 TW·h per year of low-emissions power to the New York City area, will close by 2021. There has been debate over the potential responses to the closure of IPEC which include the development of new generation and transmission infrastructure. This derives in part from difficulties in comparing direct and indirect costs and benefits and environmental and social impacts, which vary substantially across energy alternatives. In particular, the potential role of increased imports of hydropower from Canada to the New York City area has been controversial because …

Reclamation of Coal Mining Operations: Select Issues and Legislation

In the United States, coal mining operations supported economic growth and electrical power
generation needs throughout the 20th century. Prior to the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) in 1977, no federal law had authorized reclamation requirements for coal mining operators to restore lands and waters affected by mining practices. Title V of SMCRA authorized a federal regulatory program for coal mine operations after 1977. SMCRA also established the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), within the Department of the Interior, as the federal agency responsible for implementing the requirements of SMCRA.

Given the …

Battery Storage: North Carolina’s Footprint in the Global Value Chain

The report consists of a lithium ion battery storage value chain analysis conducted by Lukas Brun, PhD, and Gary Gereffi, PhD, Duke University researchers. The study analyzed companies that currently work in the battery storage value chain in North Carolina, and companies that could potentially participate. These are businesses that work, at least in part, in the development, manufacturing, and operations of battery storage, or could in the future. …

Net-Zero New England: Ensuring Electric Reliability in a Low-Carbon Future

“Net-Zero New England: Ensuring Electric Reliability in a Low-Carbon Future” examines what’s required to maintain electricity system reliability in the context of reducing economy-wide emissions to net-zero by midcentury.…

The Role of Public Benefits in Supporting Workers and Communities Affected by Energy Transition

For thousands of retired US coal miners suffering from black lung disease, disability benefits from the federal government provide critical support for treatment and health care. As the economy moves away from fossil fuels, other types of public benefits programs could also deliver relief to affected coal workers and fossil fuel communities when work-based benefits are lost. These programs, which range from unemployment assistance to Social Security, also provide a foundation for workers and communities to thrive in a clean economy.

In a new report, Resources for the Future (RFF) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) examine existing public benefits programs …

Electrifying Freight: Pathways to Accelerating the Transition

The United States economy is heavily dependent on the functionality of our freight and goods transportation services. Road freight transportation in the United States is projected to grow steadily in the coming decades, and electrified vehicles are emerging as a cleaner, cost-effective alternative to diesel trucks that can be powered by American electricity.

Now is the time for freight and goods delivery stakeholders to take measured actions and reduce our nation’s dependence on oil by electrifying our freight sector. A new report from the EC, Electrifying Freight: Pathways to Accelerating the Transition, addresses the advantages electric trucks have over their …

Effect of Corporate Sustainability Policies and Investment Risks for Future Arctic Oil and Gas Development in Alaska

The feasibility of new Arctic oil and gas development activity is strongly tied to global supply and demand. The evolution of oil development in Alaska represents responses to external pressures such as economic viability, and changes in domestic and foreign oil production. Climate change is another external pressure that affects the cost of developing Arctic oil and gas. Direct impacts can occur from improved access routes for ships in ice-free waters, or increased costs from infrastructure damage due to permafrost thaw or coastal inundation. An emerging globally driven factor that may limit future oil and gas activity in the Arctic …