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U.S. senators offer perspectives on U.S. energy policy
Nuclear energy dominates the discussion among lawmakers and the tech industry as a top potential power source for AI data centers, which consume large amounts of electricity.
AI is reshaping U.S. energy demand and needs. As the technology plays a role in spurring next-generation nuclear and geothermal investments, it's also prompting the presidential administration and lawmakers to assess U.S. energy investments and policy.
Business leaders at energy companies said during the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Forum 2025 this week that some of the challenges facing U.S. energy development are slow permitting times, a dearth of critical mineral access and workforce needed for new energy plants, and limited financing options for new energy projects. Big tech vendors like Google, Microsoft and Meta have poured their own investments into new energy projects to support AI data centers.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in May to expedite the production of nuclear energy in the U.S. The order tasks leaders of federal departments, including the U.S. Department of Energy, with crafting a U.S. energy policy focused on supporting nuclear fuel management and nuclear waste materials. Trump wants to use federal financial resources to support restarting and building nuclear plants, setting a goal of constructing ten new nuclear reactors by 2030. The order also focuses on expanding the domestic nuclear workforce and supporting other emerging technologies to enable U.S. energy growth.
However, Congress is working on a U.S. budget reconciliation bill that would significantly cut funding to nuclear programs within the Department of Energy, as well as research institutions such as the National Science Foundation. The bill also targets tax incentives for clean energy provided through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The bill is currently being worked on by the U.S. Senate, and Trump has called for a finalized version by July 4.
Three U.S. senators who spoke during the energy forum this week provided insight into their thinking about U.S. energy policy.
IRA tax credits, critical minerals and permitting reform
As the U.S. Senate works on the budget reconciliation bill, divisions along party lines are making negotiations difficult, said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).
Part of the issue is that the bill targets IRA tax credits for clean energy, Hickenlooper said. Should those credits be cut, he said U.S. states, including Republican-led states, would lose not just tax incentives for clean energy investments but jobs created by clean energy industries.
"It's not just wind and solar, it's geothermal," he said. "All these different sources of energy that are going to get sliced to pieces. Things like hydrogen get almost eliminated."
Aside from keeping clean energy tax credits, Hickenlooper said he would like to see U.S. energy policy focus on making permitting faster for new energy transmission lines and critical mineral mining. Critical minerals such as copper, nickel, gallium and germanium are used to build energy transmission lines, solar panels and lithium batteries for electric vehicles. China accounts for a significant percentage of critical mineral mining and refining capabilities.
Hickenlooper said it can take companies 10 to 15 years to go through existing permitting processes for mining and building transmission lines. He said he hopes to see a permitting reform bill this year in Congress.
"How can we make sure we protect the environment, give predictability and a sense of security around having something scary like a mine in a community, but at the same time go a lot faster?" he said. "It's got to be transparent. It's got to provide the protections a community needs, but it's got to go faster."
Competing with China
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he would like to see a U.S. energy policy that institutes a foreign pollution fee on products made in countries such as China, which have different environmental standards for manufacturing than the U.S. and its allies.
"China, in its effort to gain economic advantage relative to the U.S., does not enforce rules governing pollution that are acceptable to the international community," he said. "That lowers their cost of manufacturing by about 20%, incentivizing manufacturing to move to China, making their economy stronger."
Cassidy said that imposing a foreign pollution fee would level the playing field between the U.S. and China.
Cassidy has proposed the Foreign Pollution Fee Act, which covers products including steel, solar panel components, battery inputs, cement, glass, aluminum, fertilizer and hydrogen.
Exporting, financing nuclear technology
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) wants U.S. energy policy to go a step beyond building domestic nuclear energy capacity. Coons has introduced four bills supporting the export and financing of U.S. nuclear technology globally.
Though Trump has set a goal of starting construction on 10 new nuclear reactors domestically, Coons said the U.S. has failed for decades to open any new nuclear facilities. The dramatic increase in power needs generated by AI presents an opportunity for the U.S. to export nuclear technology to global partners but also help companies responsible for the technology finance and build overseas.
He said the U.S. "should be at the forefront of commercializing and deploying" nuclear technology.
"For decades, we've had the world's leading nuclear technology," he said. "Yet our regulatory structure and some of the restrictions on exports and financing have prevented us from being a leader in nuclear globally."
Coons said while the unresolved issue of managing nuclear waste has been a "real stumbling block," there is bipartisan consensus on the benefits of next-generation nuclear technology.
"There is no way to achieve the climate goals of the left without nuclear," he said. "There is no way to achieve the manufacturing, economic and national security goals of the right without nuclear."
Makenzie Holland is a senior news writer covering big tech and federal regulation. Prior to joining Informa TechTarget, she was a general assignment reporter for the Wilmington StarNews and a crime and education reporter at the Wabash Plain Dealer.
