Recent Projects – DOE

In May, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an order under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act requiring a coal-fired power plant in Michigan to continue operating past its scheduled retirement date. DOE claimed that the plant’s continued operation was necessary to reduce the risk of regional energy supply shortfalls over the summer. But DOE’s claim contradicts the conclusions reached by the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the entities responsible for ensuring sufficient energy supply to meet regional demand.

In an amicus brief submitted in litigation challenging DOE’s Order, we explain that decisions about “resource adequacy,” or the amount of energy supply necessary to meet demand, belong jurisdictionally to the states, supported by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and regional grid operators. We also describe the complex, region-specific analyses that resource adequacy planning requires. Finally, we explain that DOE is not the proper entity to make decisions about resource adequacy planning, and the reasoning underlying its order does not establish that this specific plant is necessary to regional resource adequacy.

In September 2025, the Department of Energy issued a request for information on large-scale generation, transmission, and grid infrastructure projects that can accelerate speed to power to support increased electricity demand growth. In response, Policy Integrity offered various recommendations for the agency to use its existing authorities to support ongoing efforts designed to do just that.

Policy Integrity submitted comments on the Department of Energy's (DOE) 2024 LNG Export Study. In them, we examine DOE's improved methodology for assessing whether LNG exports to non-Free Trade Agreement countries serve the public interest. We also set forward some key recommendations, focusing on how DOE should handle export authorizations associated with LNG terminals that do not have committed investments. Policy Integrity confirms DOE's and other commenters' analyses demonstrating that existing LNG export authorizations are unlikely to become a binding constraint, and even in unlikely scenarios, would not do so until at least 2040. This supports a policy scenario in which DOE denies export authorization extensions for export rights currently held but not acted upon by private investors.

In oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on the DOE Energy Conservation Standards the judges noted that "Monte Carlo" sounds like gambling and so sounds random and inherently "arbitrary." The DOJ attorney responded that the technique in general and DOE's approach in this case is used all the time by other agencies and by academics, which is an argument Policy Integrity made uniquely in our brief.

In June, the Department of Energy (DOE) released draft goals for its Environmental Justice Strategic Plan and requested feedback through public comments. Executive Order 14,096 directs each federal agency to create an environmental justice strategic plan that “sets forth the agency’s vision, goals, priority actions, and metrics to address and advance environmental justice.” Our comments suggested that DOE should include objectives under their proposed goals to develop and issue agency-wide guidance on how to consider and analyze environmental justice concerns in their regulatory and policy actions. 

In 2023, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued new energy conservation standards for consumer water heaters and consumer furnaces. In April 2024, a natural gas trade association challenged the standards in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, arguing that the standards are not economically justified. In response, Policy Integrity filed an amicus brief supporting DOE’s economic analyses and explaining how Petitioners’ and certain amici’s arguments overlook DOE’s sound assumptions and the relevant statutory framework.

In March 2024, the Department of Energy published a Notice of Intent Regarding Launching a Voluntary Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchasing Challenge. To participate in the Purchasing Challenge, organizations must disclose to DOE several details about each associated carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credit, including the purchaser, supplier, underlying project, and crediting methodology. The Institute for Policy Integrity submitted comments recommending ways DOE could better balance concerns about the disclosure of commercially sensitive information with the benefits of allowing researchers and market actors to access price data.

On April 25, 2024, the Department of Energy (DOE) released its final rule under 16 U.S.C. § 824p(h) to expedite the federal authorization of transmission projects. We commented in support of the proposal, including DOE's proposed requirement that project proponents describe how the transmission project would affect power-system greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the final rule, DOE retained the requirement to describe power-system GHG impacts and, in response to our recommendation, clarified that the ambiguous language in the proposal does require project proponents to estimate non-power-system GHG emissions and power-system emissions of local air pollutants. 

In January, the White House announced a pause on LNG export approvals for the Department of Energy to update its underlying analyses for authorizations, which underpin its public interest determinations. In particular, the announcement notes that DOE’s economic and environmental analyses are outdated and calls for them to be updated. This letter offers recommendations for updating DOE’s analyses.

In January, the Department of Energy proposed to strengthen its energy efficiency standards for fans and blowers, which would save consumers in energy costs and reduce pollution that harms public health and exacerbates climate change. Our comment offered several suggestions to improve the rule and accompanying analysis.