The 2024 National Clean Energy Week Policymakers Symposium featured remarks from Republican clean energy champions. While each brought a unique perspective from their districts, the common themes were the critical need for permitting reform to accelerate clean energy deployment, growing concerns about competition with China, the imperative to maintain reliable and affordable energy while reducing emissions, and the crucial role of American innovation in driving solutions.

Here’s a look at each of their takes:

Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah)

As founder of the Conservative Climate Caucus, Rep. Curtis focused on refining the Republican conversation around climate and building solid bridges between environmental and conservative priorities.

On Republican engagement with climate issues:

“Today, let’s celebrate that the Conservative Climate Caucus has 85 House Republicans who today hope… if asked in a town hall meeting about climate, instead of having a debate about the science, instead of saying, ‘oh, that’s a bunch of hooey,’ they say, ‘let us tell you our ideas.’”

On connecting with conservatives about climate:

“I believe strongly that without a conservative voice, that we make mistakes, and that by conservatives stepping up and being involved and engaged in this, we’ll make better decisions… The narrative is false, that in order to be clean, you have to give up affordability, you have to give up reliability, you have to give up energy security for your country.”

On the future of nuclear energy:

“Utah’s talking about an AI facility that wants 1.5 gigawatts of constant power… We have another facility that wants to do AI in a part of Utah. They are talking 10 gigawatts of electricity… We need to start thinking about [an] AI facility next to [a] small nuclear reactor, not funded by the utility, but funded by the AI.”

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa)

Rep. Miller-Meeks, as the Chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus, highlighted Iowa’s leadership in renewable energy while emphasizing the importance of energy independence.

On Iowa’s renewable success:

“Just last year, the American Clean Power Association conducted a study that reported 57.6 percent of Iowa’s electricity is created by renewable sources—more than any other state in the country, all without mandates or carbon emission restrictions.”

On critical minerals and supply chains:

“Currently, we are too reliant on countries like China to supply critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, rare earth minerals and graphite that we need to support our energy projects… Making it easier to source these materials here in America, which we have in abundance, thereby employing American workers, is necessary to ensure our energy security.”

Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.)

Rep. Guthrie focused on balancing environmental goals with practical reliability concerns and the role of innovation.

On reliability challenges:

“During the polar vortex, we had power outages… When it’s three below zero, which doesn’t typically happen in Kentucky, that’s not when you need to have the rolling blackout… They (had) blackouts, and they managed it, but it just opened up that we have to have affordable energy and we have to have reliable energy.”

On innovation and solutions:

“What you guys work on and what you guys do, that’s what’s going to solve the problem… I have faith that people are going to solve it… We don’t need policymakers setting us back. What we need is entrepreneurs to be unleashed to move us forward.”

On energy demand growth:

“A Microsoft data center uses as much power as the city of Seattle… We’ve had a generation of flat demand for power. Now we have an exponential demand for power in this coming generation. At the same time, we’re limiting supply… Either you get shortages, some blackouts or you get exponential price.”

Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.)

As a former Navy pilot and current representative of a coastal district heavily dependent on military installations, Rep. Kiggans’ spoke on offshore wind development and its intersection with national security.

On the military implications of offshore wind:

“I’m a former Navy pilot and married to a Navy pilot. I’m also the mom of a Navy pilot. So for me, protecting that base and that military installation is really important… We have an   outdated power grid that’s there. We have a wonderful partnership with Dominion Energy, who is sponsoring our offshore wind turbine project there.”

On stakeholder engagement:

“Back home in Virginia, I will continue to engage with residents, local and regional stakeholders, commercial and recreational fishing industries, environmental groups and wind developers to find the best solution to this vital issue… They do a really good job at that education piece for the public…”

On competition with China:

“Did you know that in 2021, the U.S. had only 42 megawatts of offshore wind capacity while China had 27,680 megawatts? Those types of facts keep me up at night. We need to continue to expand our offshore wind capacity in order to compete with our adversaries.”

Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio)

Representing a district with significant manufacturing presence, Rep. Latta emphasized the critical importance of reliable, affordable energy for economic competitiveness in his remarks.

On American innovation and emissions reduction:

“First of all, the United States industries don’t get enough credit. You go back to 2005 to 2020, this country reduced emissions more than any place else in the world. And you think about what’s happening in communist China today, or India, and emissions are going up.”

On energy reliability concerns:

“You go back to 2014, we had a polar vortex that went across the Midwest. And, I mean, it got cold… with my steel companies and my float glass and all the companies out there that could not shut down, it was absolutely essential that the power stayed on.”

On future energy demands:

“These data centers that are coming online, it’s predicted that they’re going to take between four and a half to six percent more power, potentially up to eight percent more power next year. That’s not on existing power, that’s on power that’s going to be needed on top of what we already have.”

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oreg.)

As a Vice Chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus, Rep. Chavez-DeRemer emphasized practical solutions and bipartisan collaboration.

On policy consistency:

“We know we have to have all sectors in order to have clean energy… Is it faster? Is it affordable? But also, is it safe? Is it healthy? Can we answer those questions on our own? I can tell you this: Members of Congress can’t answer that question without you all here.”

On energy reliability:

“We know we need more energy, how we capture it, how we store it, transmission lines. Whatever we’re talking about, we know that we cannot pick winners and losers in government, but we continue to do so, and that’s in the flexibility of language, in the flexibility of the funding streams, you know, who can apply, who cannot.

On bipartisanship:

“I’m glad to see more Republicans own this space, as they should, in my opinion, and that we can work across the aisle to get good policy, and I think that you probably heard that from many members that you’re here. Some of the things that I like to talk about are bipartisanship, good policy, center forward, policy driven. If we stay in that space on this topic, I think we’re going to get things right…”