Over the holidays this winter, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) solicited information on how “to accelerate the American scientific enterprise, enable groundbreaking discoveries, and ensure that scientific progress and technological innovation benefit all Americans.” Building on work to accelerate and reform the American scientific enterprise, I offered suggestions for how to effectively direct this effort to improve the function, productivity, vitality, and health of American science. It is a welcome attempt to wrest American science from the grip of malaise that characterizes the status quo. Science is viewed as slowing down, productivity decreasing, and requiring more resources, more grants, and more personnel to achieve tremendous breakthroughs.
Author: Ian R. Banks
The NDAA Should Support SMRs
The Department of Defense (DOD) needs a fast lane to the deployment of small modular reactors for powering stations, and the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) offers a road forward.
Prioritizing Speed-to-Power for AI Infrastructure on DOE Land
This recent Request for Information on the siting of AI infrastructure on DOE lands is an example of the Department of Energy setting out to do just that. In our response, C3 Solutions argued that speed-to-power should be the chief consideration when assessing the projects and that a variety of tools should be used to achieve speed-to-power.
A Short Overview of Energy-Related Provisions in the Reconciliation Markup Text
With marathon markup sessions in full swing, these draft bills telegraph the direction of the reconciliation process and the negotiating points for the House Republicans.
A Secretarial Order to Unleash the National Labs
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced an executive order on March 27, 2025, to improve the efficiency of the National Laboratories and to reduce bureaucratic kludge at these key federal research and development centers.
Which Way Forward? All-Cost Climate, Geopolitical Conflict, or Energy and Economic Prosperity?
On February 12th, Shell released a report detailing three visions for how the future of energy security could proceed. The report included the new scenario, “Surge,” and re-published two modified scenarios, “Archipelagos” and “Horizon,” describing the future of the energy economy. Each scenario describes a vision for the energy economy based upon a narrative foundation of the world.
A Step Forward on Legislative Permitting Reform
After the failure of the Manchin-Barrasso Energy Permitting Reform Act in the last Congress and with the zone flooded by executive action, legislative approaches to permitting reform in a new Congress are also kicking into gear.
Defense + Energy = Trump’s National Energy Emergency
Among the raft of executive actions in the first days of his second term, President Trump issued several related to energy and the climate. This included the declaration of a “National Energy Emergency.”







