Host Bill Loveless sits down with Senator Murkowski, one of the leading voices in the debate to expanded U.S. drilling, to discuss new developments in the sector as well as other energy and environment policy under the Trump administration.
Bill and Senator Murkowski discuss: Congressional approval to offer oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the role of regulation in energy development; the Trump Administration’s stance on to climate change; prospects for new energy policy legislation; and how to promote cooperation on energy issues in an increasingly fractured government.
Host Bill Loveless sits down with Lisa Friedman of The New York Times and Steve Mufson of The Washington Post to discuss the impact of President Trump's first year in office on energy and environment policy in the United States, and what may lie in store this year.
Among many topics Bill, Lisa and Steve discuss, several include: how effective the administration has been in implementing its energy and environment agenda; prospects for U.S. carbon regulation and the Paris climate agreement; how change has occurred at the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Energy and Interior; what new policies may mean for the oil, natural gas, coal, renewable energy and other energy sectors; actions by the newly constituted Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and what it takes to effectively cover complex issues like energy and the environment.
President Trump has taken new steps to fulfill his campaign promise to either end the Iran nuclear agreement or get a better deal. After much speculation over whether he would extend the deal at all, the President issued an ultimatum to Congress and European allies indicating that if they don't overhaul the deal in the next 120 days, the United States will have no choice but to pull out of it.
To discuss what these developments, alongside growing protests in Iran over the state of the nation's economic affairs, mean for energy markets and international affairs, host Jason Bordoff sits down with two colleagues at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Gary Sick and Richard Nephew.
Gary is a senior research scholar at Columbia’s Middle East Institute and an adjunct professor at SIPA. He served on the National Security Council under Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan and he was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis. Richard, a senior research scholar at CGEP and adjunct professor at SIPA, served as Principal Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy at the Department of State. He was the lead sanctions expert for the U.S. team negotiating with Iran and also Director for Iran on the National Security Staff where he was responsible for managing a period of intense expansion of U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Jason, Gary, and Richard discuss issues including: What happens next in EU countries and U.S. Congress in response to President Trump's ultimatum; Growing protests in Iran and the future of the Iranian regime; Whether or not there are links between economic sanctions against Iran and growing protests in the country; Implications for energy markets should the Iran Deal fall through.
The U.S. shale revolution is one of the most disruptive developments in oil and gas markets since the formation of OPEC in the 1960s. However, the process to recover oil and gas reserves from shale formations, hydraulic fracturing--better known as fracking--is a source of contentious debate in the United States. Proponents of fracking point to the transformation of the American energy industry and rebalancing of oil and gas trade flows, greater U.S. energy independence, and new revenues to the economy. On the other side, anti-frackers call into question fracking's impact on the environment and public health.
To get a better understanding of these different views and to explore some of the latest research on these issues, host Jason Bordoff speaks with Daniel Raimi on Columbia Energy Exchange. Daniel is a senior research associate at Resources for the Future and a lecturer at the Ford School for Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He is also the author of CGEP's latest Columbia University Press book, The Fracking Debate: The Risks, Benefits and Uncertainties of the Shale Revolution.
Among many topics Jason and Daniel discuss, several include: Environmental impacts of fracking on ground water and air pollution; Differences in state regulation of fracking; The link between fracking and seismic activity; The economic impacts of fracking; and the outlook for fracking around the world.
The Fracking Debate is available via Columbia University Press, Amazon, and other book retailers.
The year 2018 promises to be an important one for electric power markets in the United States, including for energy policies that govern the way electricity is generated, delivered and used. Among the important developments will be the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s response to a controversial cost-recovery proposal by the Trump administration for coal and nuclear plants and the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to replace the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan.
All this comes as electric power markets in the United States continue to undergo disruption, with natural gas and renewable energy gaining ground on coal and nuclear power, and innovations such as microgrids, energy storage and analytics promising even bigger changes in the electricity business.
On a this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless discusses the changes sweeping the industry, as well as the significance of public policy, with Mauricio Gutierrez, President and CEO of NRG Energy, one of the largest competitive power generators in the U.S. and a major energy retailer, serving nearly three-million customers throughout the country.
Mauricio joined NRG in 2004. He has served as Chief Operating Officer, led NRG's engineering and construction activities related to new generation and repowering projects, and he has overseen commodities trading as Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations and Senior Vice President, Commodities Trading. Prior to NRG, he was Managing Director of the Southeast and Texas regions for Dynegy and a senior consultant and project manager at Mexico City-based DTP Consultores.
Among many topics Bill and Mauricio discuss, several include: The future of competitive power markets in the U.S.; Reliability and resilience of the grid; Impacts of President Trump's efforts to save coal and nuclear power; Efforts by the power sector to reduce carbon emissions.