The R Street Institute is a nonprofit, center-right public policy research organization (think tank) founded in 2012. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional state offices, it promotes free markets and limited, effective government.
Coverage areas
Guests (1)
Episodes (1)
2026-07-14
Devin Hartman Discusses Energy Policy and Transmission Challengeswith Devin Hartman
In the latest episode of the Powering America Podcast, host Bryan Hyde interviews Devin Hartman, a Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute. Hartman discusses the complexities of energy policy, particularly focusing on electricity transmission challenges, regulatory oversight, and the need for consumer representation in transmission reform. He emphasizes the importance of improving existing infrastructure, enhancing economic planning, and fostering competition to ensure reliable and cost-effective energy delivery.
Notable quotes
“The most cost-effective way to serve most customers is to have large central power plants, and those are gonna be located farther away from customers.”
“It turns out it's expensive and contentious to build, and a lot of times, there's so many beneficiaries of it.”
“There's usually thousands or millions of people who benefit from a single power line, which means a lot of times you need these big regional planning apparatuses to come in.”
“We've seen a pretty chronic underrepresentation of consumer interests.”
“A lot of times what we're seeing in this field is you're having this... we don't subject most of transmission expansion to cost-benefit tests.”
“When the conservative community started to recognize, like, 'Whoa, we're not building enough infrastructure, and then what we are building is unnecessarily expensive,' like, all right, there's a case for us to get involved.”