Republican Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson said that newly emerging “bipartisan support on nuclear energy” and permitting reform are key to advancing American “energy independence” in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Simpson told the DCNF that the American permitting process is “a joke” and that reforming or simplifying regulations is necessary to allow the energy sector to thrive. American energy demand is climbing and although nuclear power is a reliable and non-carbon emitting source, U.S. support across party lines has been slow-moving, according to Simpson, industry insiders and some energy policy experts.
“The two most important things happening for the future of the country are becoming energy independent again, and permitting reform,” Simpson told the DCNF, arguing that as more environmental groups realize nuclear power serves as both a “baseload” and “carbon-free” source, America will “see a renaissance in nuclear energy that is sustainable this time.”
Simpson is the Chairman of the House Interior and Environment Subcommittee on Appropriations.
The Trump administration bolstered nuclear power through multiple executive orders President Donald Trump signed on May 23. Additionally, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright said on Monday at the American Nuclear Society’s winter conference in Washington, D.C. that most of the Loan Program Office’s (LPO) funding would go to nuclear energy, according to multiple reports.
Though former President Joe Biden doled out hefty nuclear energy loans and signed off on the 2024 ADVANCE Act, the Biden administration favored green energy sources like solar and wind through billions in subsidies, loans and grants.
Simpson noted that though he is “not opposed to wind and solar,” they are intermittent and other “baseload” sources like nuclear, hydropower, gas and goal are needed to ensure a reliable grid and American energy independence. The DOE published a July report that projected blackouts could increase by a factor of 100 by 2030 if the U.S. continues to phase out power plants without replacing them.
“If you’re going to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, you’re going to have to have nuclear energy. It’s the only thing that will produce the power that’s necessary for the baseload that is carbon-free,” Simpson told the DCNF, adding that “Idaho is going to be kind of at the center of it… a lot of advanced reactor design is going to be done in Idaho.”
Simpson said that while his state hosts the Idaho National Lab, “the nation’s leading center for nuclear energy research and development,” the state has no commercial nuclear power plants, according to the Lab’s website and the Energy Information Administration.
Additionally, permitting reform has been a major ambition of the Trump administration and conservative lawmakers amid growing energy demand driven by energy-intensive artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and expanding onshore manufacturing.
The Idaho congressman argued that though the energy sector permitting process was formed “with the best of intentions … what we’ve created is a system that is ripe for lawsuits at every step of the way.” Despite America’s resource wealth, Simpson argued that “the problem is getting to them and getting permits.”
Simpson referenced an Idaho example that highlights the fractured permitting process, noting that it has cost “two or three times as much to relicense” some dams in the state than it was to initially build them.
Developers must relicense projects after relevant permits expire, according to the DOE and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
The DOE notes on its website that “hydropower developers must go through an extensive permitting and regulatory process to license or relicense new or ongoing projects. And while this process protects local water quality, wildlife species and habitats, cultural resources, and recreation, it can also increase the cost, risk, and timeline of licensing hydroelectric plants.”
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