infrastructure

10Nov

Stumbling Over Transmission

The cost of wind and solar power may be falling but building the transmission infrastructure to send power across the country – perhaps the key piece of the renewable puzzle – has only gotten more difficult and more expensive. A reality now playing out in both the U.S. and Europe. Germany’s attempt to pivot to […]
15Jul

An Important Step Forward for Commonsense Permitting Reform

Americans are ready to rebuild our infrastructure, to modernize, to move forward. But some of the nation’s tallest hurdles to reinvesting, to rebuilding better than before have been self-imposed. The National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, is the perfect example. Fortunately, 40 years after its inception, it has now gotten a long overdue update. When […]
03Jun

Ending the Abuse of Section 401 Permitting

Global demand for coal remains strong. In fact, coal remains the world’s leading fuel for electricity generation and hundreds of new plants – particularly in Asia – are either planned or already under construction. But despite the world’s largest coal reserves, relatively little American coal is making it into a booming Asian market. The problem […]
27May

Steeling the Nation for Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves through the global economy. Energy markets have been in disarray. And when many people think “coal” they think electricity. But to do so would miss a promising market that could be poised for growth as the world looks towards recovery: the market for metallurgical coal used to produce nearly […]
16Apr

A Foundation for Recovery

This week, President Trump gathered a group of the nation’s CEOs on a call to chart a course for our economic recovery. Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, participated, bringing mining’s voice to the highest levels of government. Upon being named to President Trump’s “Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups,” Mr. […]
30Jan

A Failure to Connect the Dots

The U.S. has a growing energy infrastructure problem. More precisely, major transmission lines needed to move wind and solar power from regions of production to centers of demand aren’t being built at nearly the pace needed. Natural gas pipeline additions are also failing to keep up with gas demand. One infrastructure project after another is […]
09Jan

An Update 40 Years in the Making

Almost untouched since its inception in the late 1970s, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is finally getting a desperately needed update. Over the years, NEPA has become an albatross around the necks of infrastructure and energy projects of all stripes. Instead of encouraging smart environmental analysis and transparency in decision making, it has been […]
15May

American Infrastructure Requires American Mining

Sound the trumpets, it’s infrastructure week again. While it remains anyone’s guess whether or not a bipartisan compromise can be brokered for a deal, the urgency for action on the nation’s crumbling infrastructure is greater than ever. The clock continues to tick. In 2017, the American Society for Civil Engineering released its most recent infrastructure […]