Project 2025 and the DOE: Clean Energy Virtually Eliminated in Presidential Playbook

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is perhaps the most extreme American agenda ever written that would give the president extraordinary powers and overhaul our current system of government. It’s a playbook that would favor the top 1% and reclassify thousands of civil servants as political appointees who can be fired at will, threatening the very agencies that keep us safe. The Department of Energy just so happens to be another one of them. Part one of this series explored the ramifications surrounding the Environmental Protection Agency, and, sadly, the DOE chapter is no better.

Here in the United States, there’s frequent talk each year surrounding our energy resources and how we utilize them, making for fierce debates as Republicans demand greater usage of fossil fuels and Democrats argue for more renewables. This perpetual tug of war can leave many feeling overwhelmed about our options, but nothing compares to the frustration expressed by Americans when gas prices and utility bills increase. Every election catapults them into the spotlight with even just minor increases potentially spelling doom for one party and victory for the other. This year is no different: conservatives blame the Biden Administration for inflation and higher prices at the pump and accuse Democratic candidate Kamala Harris of not deviating much from his policies.

However, these matters are far from straightforward. Neither the president nor vice president dictate these costs while multiple factors, both domestic and global, play a role in the fluctuation of them. There is one clear fact, though. Fossil fuels are finite resources and will eventually run out regardless of how much they’re favored by the Republican Party. This spells the need for the United States and the world to transition away from them to establish a green economy. In the meantime, countries like ours ought to effectively balance fossil fuels and renewables in a solid energy portfolio for such a transition to occur without a hitch. Project 2025, contrary to what is economically feasible, seeks to undo all the progress we’ve made towards renewable energy and rely almost entirely on fossil fuels.

The author of the DOE chapter, Bernard L. McNamee, served as President Trump’s Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Bernard McNamee — Appalachian School of Law). He accuses the Biden Administration of creating an artificial energy shortage in favor of clean energy. He states, “The new energy crisis is caused not by a lack of resources, but by extreme ‘green’ policies. Under the rubrics of ‘combating climate change’ and ‘ESG’ (environmental, social, and governance), the Biden Administration, Congress, and various states, as well as Wall Street investors, international corporations, and progressive special-interest groups, are changing America’s energy landscape.” (page 363)

Many Baby Boomers recall the oil embargo when OPEC stopped exporting petroleum to targeted nations like the U.S. It’s a testament to how too much reliance on fossil fuels could hurt us. Source: Oil Shock of 1978–79 | Federal Reserve History

This sets the stage for the ominous chapter. Here are some of the proposed reforms.

1. “The Department of Energy should be renamed and refocused as the Department of Energy Security and Advanced Science (DESAS).” (page 366)
2. “Many DOE energy funding programs are not targeted on fundamental science and technology; instead, they focus more on commercialization and act as subsidies to the private sector for government-favored resources. 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.” (pages 368 and 369)
3. “Eliminate political and climate-change interference in DOE approvals of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. In addition, Congress should reform the Natural Gas Act to expand required approvals from merely nations with free trade agreements to all of our allies, such as NATO countries.” (page 369)
4. “Reinstate an iteration of the Trump Administration’s Executive Order 13920, ‘Securing the United States Bulk-Power System.’ The Biden Administration also placed the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) and DOE’s Federal Power Act 202(c) authority under the CESER office, which should continue in the next Administration.” (page 373)
5. “Eliminate carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) programs…CCUS programs should be left to the private sector to develop. If the office continues any CCUS research, that research should be focused more on innovative utilization.” (page 376)
6. “Rename FECM (if it cannot be eliminated) under its original designation as the Office of Fossil Energy and with its original mission: increasing energy security and supply through fossil fuels.” (page 377)
7. “End the focus on climate change and green subsidies. Under the Biden Administration, EERE is a conduit for taxpayer dollars to fund progressive policies, including decarbonization of the economy and renewable resources.” (page 378)
8. “Eliminate EERE. The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate all of DOE’s applied energy programs, including those in EERE (with the possible exception of those that are related to basic science for new energy technology).” (page 379)
9. “Eliminate energy efficiency standards for appliances.” (page 379)
10. “Eliminate OCED. The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate all DOE energy demonstration programs, including those in OCED.” (page 382)

Some of the reforms are written in a pretty straightforward manner, but, if you’re not familiar with the different offices and the laws that pertain to them, then the messaging will be cloudy. Here’s some context to help explain them.

The first listed reform is clear enough, but some of the offices mentioned in the second quoted reform are not familiar to everyone. According to the DOE, “The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) accelerates the market adoption of clean energy technologies and fills a critical innovation gap on the path to 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050” (About Us | Department of Energy). The Office of State and Community Energy Programs “works with state, local, and Tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, schools, and community partners to provide technical assistance and invest in place-based clean energy projects that aim to catalyze local economic development and create jobs, reduce energy costs, and avoid pollution” (Office of State and Community Energy Programs | Department of Energy).

Finally, “The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment. ARPA-E awardees are unique because they are developing entirely new ways to generate, store, and use energy” (About | arpa-e.energy.gov). For quote number 3, the Natural Gas Act basically states that any person or entity who wishes to import or export liquefied natural gas to or from a foreign country needs to obtain authorization from the Department of Energy (Regulation | Department of Energy). Given that LNG exports lead to greenhouse gas emissions like other fossil fuels, it’s critical that they are regulated. Eliminating those regulations would allow polluters to have free reign with them.

For quote number 4, reinstating an iteration of Trump Executive Order 13920 would hinder our ability to utilize current clean energy technology and their required technological components. It sought to restrict equipment produced by adversarial countries such as China from being imported to the U.S. (Federal Register :: Securing the United States Bulk-Power System). Although our national security is a must, the problem is that a lot of our clean energy technologies and electrical components/parts come from countries like China. We currently don’t have the means to manufacture them all for ourselves, so, without a meaningful balance between national security and clean energy advancement, we will be stuck with only one of the choices.

Emissions from smokestacks not only contribute to climate change but they pose significant health risks to vulnerable communities. Source: Defying expectations, CO2 emissions from global fossil fuel combustion are set to grow in 2022 by only a fraction of last year’s big increase — News — IEA

Quote number 5, eliminating carbon capture utilization and storage programs by the federal government would prevent us from properly reabsorbing emissions produced by numerous technologies. Only trusting the private sector to accomplish this task could backfire as there would be less oversight available to ensure that such technologies properly function. Otherwise, we’ll have to contend with uncounted emissions should they escape. Quote number 6 deals with the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management where fossil fuel endeavors are both managed and monitored for their emissions. Project 2025 seeks to eliminate the carbon management component.

For obvious reasons, ending the focus on climate change and green subsidies (quote 7) and eliminating the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (quote 8) would prevent the U.S. from expanding our clean energy technology to reduce emissions and air pollution. Quote number 9 doesn’t really need an explanation as to why it’s significant. Quote number 10 deals with the Office of Clean Energy Demonstration which delivers clean energy demonstration projects in partnership with the private sector for eventual deployment. Without it, the private sector won’t be able to have such technology to combat rising emissions and air pollution in their communities.

Here are some more quotes, these being easier to understand at first glance.

1. “Eliminate the Clean Energy Corps by revoking funding and eliminating all positions and personnel hired under the program.” (page 386)
2. “Oppose ‘climate reparations.’ During the November 2022 United Nations climate conference in Egypt, the Biden Administration and other ‘developed’ countries agreed to provide ‘climate reparations’ to developing countries for the harm allegedly caused by the developed countries’ use of fossil fuel.” (page 389)
3. “Defend American interests in the Arctic Circle. The next Administration needs to define American strategic and economic interests in the Arctic Circle.” (page 390)
4. “Expand AE’s operations in Alaska. AE’s operations in Alaska should be expanded to encompass broader national energy security interests in the region including rare earths, oil, and natural gas.” (page 390)
5. “A grid that has access to dispatchable resources such as coal, nuclear, and natural gas for generating power is inherently more reliable and resilient.” (page 401)
6. “Set clear radiation exposure and protection standards by eliminating ALARA (‘as low as reasonably achievable’) as a regulatory principle and setting clear standards according to radiological risk and dose rather than arbitrary objectives.” (page 409)

The Clean Energy Corps (quote 1) “is comprised of the staff from more than a dozen offices across DOE — current staff and new hires — all working together to research, develop, demonstrate, and deploy solutions to the world’s greatest challenge. The Clean Energy Corps is a diverse group of talented individuals committed to public service and with a mission of supercharging the clean energy revolution” (Clean Energy Corps | Department of Energy). As for quote number 3, the Arctic is now the fastest warming region in the world due to climate change. From a recent paper, “In recent decades, the warming in the Arctic has been much faster than in the rest of the world, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. Numerous studies report that the Arctic is warming either twice, more than twice, or even three times as fast as the globe on average” (The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the globe since 1979 | Communications Earth & Environment).

Expanding operations in Alaska (quote 4) was once tried during the Trump Administration when the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was opened for drilling. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, “The Department of Interior officially opens 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain to the oil and gas industry. The unprecedented move threatened to imperil the Gwich’in people and other Indigenous communities, while exacerbating both the climate and biodiversity crises” (The Long, Long Battle for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). The last quote, number 6, would strip away radiation protections we have in both doctor and dentist offices as well as in federal cleanups. This isn’t a fiscal move. This is removing common sense protections we all need to live!

This concludes my series on Project 2025 from an environmental standpoint. The link to the DOE chapter in the book is https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_CHAPTER-12.pdf. If you wish to read my entire assessment report on the DOE chapter, please message me in the comments of this article! Together, we can protect our democracy, our environment, and our public health. Please spread the word!