The Problem

Energy is a crucial input for everything else and demand is projected to continue rising. While energy abundance is critical to affordability and growth, we want as much of that energy as possible to be green in order to mitigate climate change. However, while the American public wants to address climate change, it is ambivalent and even hostile to solutions that lead to increased costs.

Therefore, if Democrats want to promote green energy abundance in order to lower Americans’ cost-of-living while simultaneously taking further climate action, we will need to look to regulatory policy to deliver that.

Recommendations

Building

• Congress should amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to promote green energy construction and remove roadblocks that delay timelines and allow for the use of injunctions to obstruct projects.
• Congress should repeal The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as “The Jones Act”).
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should allow firms to continuously use developed, practiced designs repeatedly so as to further facilitate nuclear energy.
• The President should invoke the Defense Production Act to permit the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) recommendations on hydrocarbon refrigerants.

Transmission

• Congress should update the Federal Power Act and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) greater ability to designate electrical transmission corridors and to have explicit authority over high-capacity transmission lines that follow interstate highways.
• Congress should also amend the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 to encourage the use of interstate highway rights-of-way for high-capacity electrical transmission lines.

Inputs

• Congress should streamline the application and approval procedures for the Industrial Demonstrations Program. This would lower administrative burdens on businesses in these industries and help accelerate the development of green steel and green cement.
• The President should negotiate an Environmental Goods Agreement that will reduce tariffs on green goods like wind turbines and solar panels.
• Congress should restore the Bureau of Mines and should pass the Global Strategy for Securing Critical Minerals Act of 2024

Transportation

• State and local governments should use standardized designs to build smaller stations for rail, use more cut-and-cover construction methods, and tolerate the above-ground disruption.
• Congress should amend the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and U.S. Code Title 49, Subtitle VII, Section 41703 to allow international airlines the right to operate transportation services in the United States.
• Local governments should create more, fully separated bike lanes.
• States should prioritize the location of the worker rather than the “convenience of the employer” for tax treatment of remote work and should reduce occupational licensing requirements that create additional burdens for remote workers.

For a more detailed analysis of the problems facing housing and our proposed solutions, read the full Democratic Cost-of-Living Report.