Energy Policy Now

Salim Ali, professor of energy and the environment and expert on mineral diplomacy. He explores why Arctic minerals matter now and the limits of their global impact. He weighs governance options like a Global Minerals Trust and trade-offs between frontier sources and existing supply chains. He considers regional prototypes, geopolitical risks, and who would benefit from cooperative frameworks.

Two Penn legal experts discuss the strategy behind EPA’s rescission of the Endangerment Finding and the court challenges ahead. --- On February 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally rescinded the endangerment finding, the 2009 determination that established the legal basis for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. For 16 years, that finding has underpinned EPA climate policy, reflecting the agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and that, under the law, it was required to regulate them. The move represents a major shift in federal climate policy. But agencies cannot simply reverse themselves without making a legal case that can withstand court review. Cary Coglianese of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Shelley Welton of the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law examine the legal rationale behind the rescission and how it draws on recent Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed federal agency authority. Rather than disputing climate science, the EPA’s argument rests on a more limited reading of its powers under the Clean Air Act. Welton and Coglianese explain how that argument fits within the Court’s evolving approach to administrative power, and what it could mean for the future of federal climate regulation. Cary Coglianese is Director of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Shelley Welton is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law and Energy Policy with the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law. Related Content Policy Design Issues for Border Carbon Adjustments https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/policy-design-issues-for-border-carbon-adjustments/ Boomtowns in the Battery Belt: Risks and Opportunities of Clean Energy Investments in Small Towns of America https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/boomtowns-in-the-battery-belt-risks-and-opportunities-of-clean-energy-investments-in-small-towns-of-america/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oil sanctions have given rise to dark shipping, reshaping global energy flows and producing far-reaching economic consequences. --- In recent years, oil export sanctions have become a central tool of U.S. foreign policy, targeting major producers including Russia, Iran, and, until very recently Venezuela. These sanctions were designed to limit oil revenues, apply economic pressure, and create geopolitical leverage. But their real-world effects have proven more complex than many anticipated. A growing “shadow fleet” of oil tankers now operates alongside the conventional global shipping system. These vessels, often older and operating with opaque ownership and shifting registrations, transport sanctioned oil through networks designed to evade restrictions. Despite extensive sanctions, large volumes of this oil continue to reach global markets.  In this episode, Penn economist Jesús Fernández-Villaverde examines how oil sanctions have contributed to the rise of dark shipping, and have become a lever in global great power competition. Drawing on new research funded by the Kleinman Center, he explains how shadow oil flows reshape global markets, influence prices and industrial activity, and generate unintended outcomes. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde is a professor of economics and Director of the Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets at the University of Pennsylvania. Related Content Boomtowns in the Battery Belt: Risks and Opportunities of Clean Energy Investments in Smalls Towns of America https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/boomtowns-in-the-battery-belt-risks-and-opportunities-of-clean-energy-investments-in-small-towns-of-america/ Energy System Planning: New Models for Accelerating Decarbonization https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/energy-system-planning-new-models-for-accelerating-decarbonization/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Rutigliano, NRDC climate and energy advocate focusing on PJM issues, and Abe Silverman, energy law and market-structure expert from Johns Hopkins, unpack how PJM plans to handle surging data center power demand. They discuss capacity market shocks, proposals to make data centers pay their share, fast-track interconnection ideas, BYOG and curtailment tradeoffs, storage and emissions risks, and the politics of protecting consumers.

AI data centers are driving rapid demand growth, exposing the limits of traditional electricity forecasting and planning. --- Electricity demand in the United States is rising fast, fueled in large part by the rapid expansion of AI data centers. Grid operators have repeatedly revised their demand forecasts upward as they try to anticipate how much new power these facilities, along with other emerging loads such as advanced manufacturing and crypto mining, will require. In January, however, something unexpected happened. PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest grid operator, lowered its demand growth outlook, just weeks after a capacity auction driven by expectations of booming demand produced record high prices. Estimating how much electricity new data centers and other large loads will actually add to the grid is difficult, and the uncertainty cuts both ways. Overestimating demand can leave consumers paying for grid infrastructure that never gets fully used. Underestimating it can threaten reliability. All of this is playing out as the rapid buildout of data centers is increasingly framed as a question of economic competitiveness and national security. On the podcast, Shana Ramirez and Arne Olson of Energy and Environmental Economics argue that while improving forecast accuracy remains important, uncertainty itself needs to play a more central role in how the grid is planned and governed. In a recent E3 paper, they lay out why demand forecasts will remain imperfect, and why grid rules and planning processes should be designed to work across a range of possible outcomes rather than relying on a single view of the future. Ramirez and Olson discuss the reliability and cost challenges this uncertainty creates and describe governance approaches that could help the power system remain reliable and affordable as new loads come online. Shana Ramirez is director, asset valuation and markets at E3. Arne Olson is a senior partner at E3. Related Content: Boomtowns in the Battery Belt: Risks and Opportunities of Clean Energy Investments in Small Towns of America https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/boomtowns-in-the-battery-belt-risks-and-opportunities-of-clean-energy-investments-in-small-towns-of-america/ Energy System Planning: New Models for Accelerating Decarbonization https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/energy-system-planning-new-models-for-accelerating-decarbonization/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Brownstein, senior VP for energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund and methane measurement expert. He discusses why methane is central to climate and competitiveness. He covers U.S. regulatory rollbacks, international buyer pressure like EU and Asia rules, advances in satellite and scorecard measurement, and the race to find and fix super-emitters and chronic leaks.

An economic sociologist discusses the growing heat dangers facing last-mile delivery drivers, and why federal protections remain stalled. --- E-commerce has transformed the way goods move through the American economy, driving unprecedented growth in parcel deliveries and intensifying competition among major carriers and the U.S. Postal Service. Yet this push for speed and volume now unfolds amid longer, more intense heat waves, exposing the nation’s roughly 1.5 million delivery drivers to climate-driven temperature extremes that pose growing risks on their routes. In this episode, economic sociologist and Kleinman Center faculty fellow Steve Viscelli discusses how rising heat intersects with the structure of the delivery industry. He describes the job conditions that can leave drivers vulnerable, from demanding routes to the use of monitoring technologies that encourage workers to stay on pace even when temperatures climb. Viscelli looks at the policy landscape that shapes these conditions, explains why federal heat protections for workers have been slow to materialize, and how this reality affects drivers’ day-to-day experience. He also points to steps some states are taking to set their own standards to address hotter and more demanding delivery seasons. Steve Viscelli is an economic and political sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania and a faculty fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. Related Content: Energy System Planning: New Models for Accelerating Decarbonization https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/energy-system-planning-new-models-for-accelerating-decarbonization/ Who Buys Down the Risk When Federal Funding Recedes? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/blog/who-buys-down-the-risk-when-federal-funding-recedes/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Helveston of George Washington University discusses why a U.S. pullback from China on EVs is risky, and why engagement could strengthen America’s auto industry. --- China has rapidly become the center of global EV innovation, producing cars that are cheaper, faster to develop, and increasingly competitive in international markets. The United States, by contrast, is pulling back, eliminating incentives and pursuing policies that distance the country from China just as the global EV transition accelerates. George Washington University’s John Helveston, whose work focuses on global EV markets and China’s manufacturing system, argues that this course risks sidelining the U.S. from the technologies and supply chains shaping the automotive future. On the podcast, he explains why a more pragmatic approach that protects national security and workers while engaging with China’s central role in the EV ecosystem may be essential for America’s long-term position in the global auto industry. John Helveston is an associate professor in the department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at George Washington University. Related Content Electric Vehicle Penetration and Urban Spatial Restructuring: A Case Study of Beijing with Geospatial Machine Learning https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/electric-vehicle-penetration-and-urban-spatial-restructuring-a-case-study-of-beijing-with-geospatial-machine-learning/ Battling for Batteries: Li-Ion Policy and Supply Chain Dynamics in the U.S. and China https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/battling-for-batteries-li-ion-policy-and-supply-chain-dynamics-in-the-u-s-and-china/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Trump administration’s nuclear ambitions raise new questions about safety, speed, and regulatory independence. --- The Trump administration has made nuclear power a centerpiece of its energy agenda, launching the most aggressive federal push for new reactors in decades. Through sweeping executive orders, new federal directives and financing support, and an $80 billion deal with Westinghouse, it aims to quadruple America’s nuclear capacity by mid-century and position the technology as a pillar of national security. But the rapid expansion is testing the independence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency charged with ensuring that nuclear power is developed safely and free from political pressure. As the administration prioritizes speed, competitiveness, and national security, the NRC is being pushed to do more with fewer staff and to prioritize faster reactor approvals, raising concern that safety and the public trust it underpins could be compromised in the rush to build. Former NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane discusses what’s at stake for nuclear safety, regulation, and the future of U.S. nuclear power. Related Content Battling for Batteries: Li-ion Policy and Supply Chain Dynamics in the U.S. and China https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/battling-for-batteries-li-ion-policy-and-supply-chain-dynamics-in-the-u-s-and-china/  Bringing Fusion Energy to the Grid: Challenges and Pathways https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/bringing-fusion-energy-to-the-grid-challenges-and-pathways/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What the U.S. offshore wind power crisis says about energy megaprojects, risk, and political resilience. --- After a surge of optimism, the U.S. offshore wind industry faces its most serious challenges yet. Just a year ago, the sector seemed poised for rapid growth, with East Coast states making offshore wind a centerpiece of their clean-energy and reliability strategies. Today, that progress has been sharply interrupted. The reversal has been swift. Since returning to office, the Trump administration has halted new federal leases and permits and ordered work stopped on projects already under construction, moves that put billions of dollars in investment at risk. By September, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum declared that, under current policy, there is no future for offshore wind in the United States.  Yet the industry’s troubles, despite strong progress, began well before this political turn. Inflation, high interest rates, and supply-chain disruptions sharply increased project costs, forcing developers to cancel or renegotiate contracts. Earlier, states had made strategic missteps in their race to capture offshore wind jobs and supply-chain investment, leaving the industry more exposed to shifting economic and policy winds. Elizabeth Wilson of Dartmouth College, founding director of the Irving Institute for Energy and Society, discusses how these experiences have shaped an emerging body of “institutional learning” across the states—lessons in risk sharing, coordination, and governance that may help buttress the industry for the long term. As the future of U.S. offshore wind hangs in the balance, Wilson offers perspective on how those lessons could form the foundation for progress in a political and economic environment that remains volatile and uncertain. Elizabeth Wilson is a professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College and founding director of the Irving Institute for Energy and Society. Related Content Communicating Climate Policy: Raising Public Awareness through Trusted Sources https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/communicating-climate-policy-raising-public-awareness-through-trusted-sources/ Bringing Fusion Energy to the Grid: Challenges and Pathways. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/bringing-fusion-energy-to-the-grid-challenges-and-pathways/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.