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Jurriaan Kamp, host of EarthxTV's "The Way Out," sat down with Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN 3rd District) to discuss the energy transition, finding common ground, and the potential of nuclear energy.
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Jurriaan Kamp, host of EarthxTV's "The Way Out," sat down with Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN 3rd District) to discuss the energy transition, finding common ground, and the potential of nuclear energy.
EarthX
Love Our Planet.
The Official Network of Earth Day.
About Us:
At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.
EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
Follow Us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthxtv/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxtv
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthxtv
How to watch:
United States:
- Spectrum
- AT&T U-verse (1267)
- DIRECTV (267)
- Philo
- FuboTV
- Plex
- Fire TV
#EarthDay #Environment #Sustainability #Eco-friendly #Conservation #EarthxTV #EarthX
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TVTranscript
00:00Welcome back to the EarthX television stage here at the EarthX Congress of Conferences.
00:07My name is Julian Kamp and we're going to talk this afternoon to a few very inspiring
00:11and interesting people.
00:13First off, to Congressman Chuck Fleissman.
00:16Good afternoon.
00:17Who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2011, if I'm correct?
00:23Correct, sir.
00:24And you serve on the Appropriations Committee as well as on the Committee on Science, Technology,
00:29if not Science, Space and Technology.
00:32Science, Space and Technology and Approps, yes sir.
00:36So, you know a lot about the very things we're talking about this week and let me ask you,
00:41you were giving an address to the conference last night and you spoke about the future
00:47of the environment.
00:48Let me ask you, what is the future of the environment?
00:52Well that's an excellent question.
00:54I spoke about energy and the environment and it's been such a privilege to be here at
00:59EarthX speaking on several occasions and to wonderful, vibrant audiences who care
01:06about the environment and where our country is going, where the world is going.
01:12We have choices to make and I work very closely in one particular sphere, that is the nuclear
01:19energy sphere, which is clean energy, truly carbon-free energy, safe, abundant energy
01:25and proven technology.
01:27There are a lot of technologies out there for different forms of energy, but when we
01:33look at the traditional forms of energy, they work and nuclear works, it works in the great
01:39state of Tennessee, where our portfolio is about 47% nuclear.
01:45Other forms that are proven are hydro, very important, about 11% of our portfolio in Tennessee.
01:51But the bottom line is the future will depend on the choices we make today.
01:57And the abundance of energy, I want that to be part of the future as well.
02:02So not only a safe environment, but abundant energy as well.
02:06You just mentioned your support for nuclear energy and from a climate change perspective,
02:11there's a lot in favor of that clean energy source.
02:17At the same time, it comes with issues of safety.
02:20Can you speak to the consumer, you know, why we should not be concerned about that?
02:28First and foremost, historically, nuclear energy has been safe.
02:33Countries that have invested in nuclear energy, not only in the United States, but our friends
02:38in France, for example, are net exporters of energy due to their strong nuclear portfolio.
02:45Other countries, such as Germany, that decided to jettison their nuclear portfolio are now
02:50having to import and be dependent on other people.
02:54So nuclear has been safe, but the new nuclear designs are even more safe, if they could
03:02be.
03:03And what I mean specifically is our fuels, our operation, our designs, the new nuclear
03:09power plants tend to be smaller in terms of size, and obviously smaller in terms of output,
03:16so we'll need more of them.
03:19But on the front end and the back end of the fuel cycle, it's very important.
03:25And let me say this.
03:26The United States made a decision that the French, the Russians, and the Japanese did
03:31not make years ago.
03:33We made a decision not to reprocess those fuel rods.
03:36I hope we can reverse that, because that creates the issue, and I won't say the problem, but
03:42the issue of interim storage, and we can and will address that.
03:47But we also know, you know, an unfortunate situation in the world today is the war in
03:52Ukraine.
03:53There are nuclear power plants close to that front, and that seems unsafe.
03:58And we know there is, people are concerned about that.
04:01Now, we're not expecting, hopefully, God forbid, bombs falling on Tennessee anytime soon, but,
04:07you know, what do we do against that threat?
04:10Once again, the design of a nuclear power plant is so secure, whenever we build a nuclear
04:16facility.
04:17Today, they're dealing with, for example, the potential for a natural disaster, like
04:21an earthquake.
04:22These can be designed and dealt with so that there's not a safety concern.
04:28Obviously, we want to see peace everywhere, including in Ukraine.
04:34The older Soviet era nuclear power plants that are there, that have been actually producing,
04:42I won't say they're not safe, but they're antiquated.
04:45The newer designs are much safer, much stronger.
04:48And I will say this, power, whether it's nuclear power or from fossil fuels or from whatever
04:54the source, that are reliable, natural gas, is probably the best defense buffer.
05:02If we see a situation where a country is energy dependent, then sometimes the political, geopolitical
05:09choices they make are less than advantageous to their nation.
05:14There's another issue with nuclear energy, that is the waste.
05:18Where are we going to leave that?
05:20Again, some countries, France, Japan, Russia, have traditionally reprocessed.
05:27And what a reprocessing is, is they'll take a spent nuclear fuel rod, actually, after
05:34it's done, and reclaim about 95% of that.
05:38And it's a very efficient process.
05:41It's worked well for years.
05:43The United States, under President Carter, decided to take us in a different direction.
05:48So what we've been basically doing as a nation is storing these.
05:52This is not necessarily nuclear waste.
05:54It's a spent nuclear fuel rod, which can be reprocessed and recycled.
06:00Now we are currently doing interim storage, hopefully the future.
06:04Myself, I put about $15 million in the last energy and water bill.
06:09That's what I do in Congress.
06:11I'm the chair of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations.
06:15The last bill, for the first time, had money for American reprocessing technology.
06:22Some scientists say that we can create a future, even without nuclear energy.
06:30What do you say to that?
06:31We can create a future.
06:32I mean, if we do a lot more solar panels and windmills and all these things.
06:34No, never get there.
06:35We can create a future, but there'll be a strong deficiency in energy.
06:40And that has proven in Germany, where they decided, I think to their detriment, now they
06:47realize to their detriment, to scuttle their nuclear program.
06:52Their friends and our friends, the French, have decided to upgrade and grow their nuclear
06:57portfolio, as have other countries, South Korea, Canada.
07:02And what has happened?
07:03They become net exporters of energy, which is not only profitable for the country, but
07:09also good for the defense of their nation, and allows them to be politically independent
07:15and make the decisions that are best for their respective citizens.
07:19So energy transitions have a major role to play for business.
07:25That's where business plays a major role.
07:27However, governments can and should sometimes regulate and support that.
07:33What role do you see for government towards the clean energy transition?
07:37Well, two roles.
07:39First of all, investing.
07:40Most of the initiatives that we have in our appropriation bills are 50-50 cost shares.
07:47What that means is the federal government will put up 50% of the money, and then private
07:53investment will be 50%.
07:55That's good for both, because unlike some of our competitors, and I'll be specific,
08:00Russia and China, where the state-owned enterprise goes in and does it all, that puts us as Americans
08:06at a disadvantageous position, because if we give nothing to the process, it will never
08:14work.
08:14We will never get there against our foreign competition.
08:17But having a 50-50 cost share means that these companies will have to raise capital, they'll
08:22have to be very responsible, because they will have to answer not only to their investors,
08:27but also be attractive to their investors to raise capital.
08:30What was the other part of your question?
08:32Well, I was just asking, you said there were two roles for government.
08:36Yes, investing and regulating, very important.
08:39United States uses the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, known colloquially as the NRC.
08:46We are very safe.
08:47We are safer than any country in the world in the way that we regulate our nuclear industry.
08:55Other countries are not as stringent.
08:57We want them to be safe, we want them to be stringent, but on the other hand, we want
09:02to make sure that our regulators know we have got to start getting some of these new
09:06designs out there and in production, otherwise we will fall woefully behind our friendly
09:13competition and our less than friendly competition.
09:17So the present government of the United States, under the leadership of President Biden, passed
09:23the Inflation Reduction Act, an interesting name for an act as such, but forget about
09:30that.
09:30A lot of it is about energy, clean energy.
09:33So what do you say to the attempts in that bill to smooth the clean energy transition?
09:42Well, these large bills that have been passed many times have been too large and off the
09:49mark.
09:50The Biden administration has a bent toward total renewables.
09:57And the reality is we cannot get there.
09:59I'm not against renewables.
10:00They can be a part of our portfolio and should be a part of our portfolio.
10:05But if you look at the most recent budget, there's been a 6 percent reduction in the
10:12president's proposed budget for fiscal 25 to reduce nuclear energy.
10:17Well, I think we need to plus that up because, once again, nuclear is reliable, it's
10:22predictable, it's efficient, it's safe.
10:26And it is so critically important to the baseload of not only my part of the world, but
10:33to the United States and really to the rest of the world that is looking at new nuclear.
10:38Can you give me an example where you think that government policy really helped to
10:43change the course of industry in some kind of right direction?
10:46It doesn't have to be energy, but I want to see that role between government and
10:50industry.
10:52Government does several things.
10:53First of all, we incentivize with a 50-50 or another cost share.
10:57Sometimes we will do direct grants for projects and the like.
11:03But more importantly, in a macro sense, depending on the worldview of the
11:10government, and my worldview is less government regulation, more private control
11:20over whatever the endeavor may be.
11:22But this administration tends to want to overregulate.
11:26They can impede or stymie many of the individual endeavors of many industries.
11:34For example, LNG gas.
11:36The Biden administration basically stopped the exporting of that.
11:40It was stunning that he did that.
11:42Many Republicans and Democrats want to see an immediate reversal of that.
11:47It's not good for the industry.
11:48It's not good for the nation.
11:50And sadly, countries like Germany have to turn to other folks, many times their
11:56adversaries like Russia, to look for their energy needs.
11:59So the bottom line is, government has to be vigilant, but government has to be
12:04very careful, because if they regulate in the wrong way, they can actually hurt or
12:09destroy a complete industry, much to the detriment of an entire country.
12:13So you make clear that there are very different views on, as they say, on both
12:20sides of the aisle, if you like.
12:21Exceedingly.
12:22But, and I see that point, but clean energy, climate change, these are global
12:26issues, but how do we get some kind of alignment that helps these policies, you
12:32know, in the United States Congress?
12:34Well, I think the best model is a free enterprise model.
12:38I want people to invest in all forms of energy, clean energy, nuclear energy,
12:46which is clean, and any, even a traditional energy, and I want them to be
12:51able to gain a profit.
12:52I want to see them incentivized to do that.
12:56And that's, that's critically important because the American people will not
13:00stand for losing enterprises.
13:02In fact, we've seen certain endeavors in the energy sphere that are not
13:07productive and do not yield a profit, and they ultimately fail.
13:12If we structure the economic side of it correctly and incentivize it correctly,
13:16it can be a win-win.
13:18It can be a win for the investors.
13:19It can be a win for the government, and it can be a win for the American people.
13:23And how do you bring your brothers on the other side of the aisle into this
13:26conversation?
13:27Well, we meet on a regular basis.
13:30Once again, everyone brings an ethos, a worldview, a political view to the table.
13:36435 members of the House, 100 members of the Senate, and a gentleman in the
13:43White House right now.
13:45Everyone has a different view, but communication and trying to find common
13:50ground.
13:51I routinely sit with the Secretary of Energy, who's from the other
13:55administration, or from our administration, from the other party.
13:59We do not agree on some things, but we do find common ground.
14:04For example, on nuclear, I have stressed the need for new nuclear, and this
14:08administration has actually worked with me in some areas to get that done, along
14:13with my Republican colleagues and some Democratic colleagues in the House.
14:18By the way, I should have said your brothers and sisters.
14:20Indeed.
14:21Across the aisle.
14:21Indeed.
14:22But apart from that, what gives you hope?
14:24What gives me hope?
14:26America right now has some of the brightest and best minds.
14:32When I go into schools, when I go into universities, when I go into our
14:36national labs, to sit there with the men and women who have the intellectual and
14:41educational ability to sit there and project what we are going to do now and
14:46in the future, I'm really hearkened to believe that our best days are ahead of
14:52us.
14:53Technologically, America is far superior to any of our adversaries.
14:58Our designs, our will to succeed is stronger and better than ever.
15:04Do we have some bumps in the process?
15:07Certainly we do.
15:09We're competing with state-owned enterprises.
15:11We're competing sometimes with individuals who don't want us to see and
15:16move forward, or who wrongfully and I think benignly believe that we can get
15:21there just with renewables.
15:23We cannot get to clean energy goals by 2040, 2050 or ever without nuclear and
15:30other forms of energy such as natural gas.
15:32You've been at EarthX before.
15:34Yes.
15:35What do you take away from this conference, from Dallas back to Washington
15:40D.C.?
15:41Optimism, collaboration, great minds from industry, academia and government
15:51coming together from around the world to talk about these key issues and of
15:56course, EarthX TV, which we're on right now.
15:59I was very laudatory of EarthX when I spoke with Crammel Crow today about this.
16:06It's a wonderful station.
16:08The quality of your programming is outstanding and it's a privilege to be
16:13with you today.
16:15Thank you, sir.