A Year in the Fishtank: 2024 Recap and 2025 Preview

Cheers to a bright future for American energy!

What the heck did I do in 2024? It was my first full calendar year as Director of Energy and Environmental Policy Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, and I had a productive year of writing and speaking. As you can see from the 72-item list here, I wrote about 50 pieces (a mix of blog posts, op-eds, and written testimony) and had about 20 speaking engagements (a mix of podcasts, conferences, and spoken testimony).

Much of the credit for this work should go to my Research Associate, Joshua Loucks, and his tireless support. What makes it even more impressive is that he also supports Adam Michel, Cato’s Director of Tax Policy, and is completing a Master’s degree in Economics at George Mason University. Joshua is going places, and we’re lucky to have him.

2024 Writing Highlights

The year culminated with an ambitious piece titled “We Must Unleash Free Enterprise to Meet the Electricity Challenge of Artificial Intelligence,” which you can read here. Prepared as part of a series on innovation, it combined elements of permitting reform with a call to legalize private grids of any size (an idea that some might characterize as radical). In a nod to the many productive uses of artificial intelligence, I used two images generated by the program Leonardo AI, which I highly recommend. For example, I asked for an image of electric liberty in the style of a palette knife oil painting, and in ten seconds, it delivered this. God bless America.

I also contributed to a few Cato projects led by others, including the Fall 2024 edition of Cato’s Free Society magazine, the Cato Handbook on Executive Orders and Presidential Directives, and Cato’s report to the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The latter two were organized by my fearless leader at Cato and supervisor, Alex Nowrasteh. By the way, if you want to support the work of the Cato Institute, either reach out to me or read more here.

2024 Speaking Highlights

Although I love writing, my favorite part of working at Cato is engaging in policy discussions and stepping into the policy arena. I was fortunate to testify at several hearings in 2024 at both the federal and state level on topics ranging from offshore wind mandates to federal power plant regulations. I particularly enjoyed addressing the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September at the hearing titled “From Gas to Groceries: Americans Pay the Price of the Biden-Harris Energy Agenda.”

Below is a picture of me outlining my vision for a free, prosperous, and bright energy future for America. Along with Joshua sitting behind me is Maria Sofia, Cato’s Manager of Government Affairs, who is instrumental in connecting me with Capitol Hill and making sure members of Congress and their staff know about Cato’s important work. In fact, all of my colleagues at Cato are wonderful, and the list of everyone supporting me is too long to go name by name here, but here’s a shout-out to you all!

Immediately following a different hearing on the House side (back in March), I was invited to Fox Business Network to discuss energy policy with hosts Dagen McDowell and Sean Duffy. You can watch that exchange here. My main talking point: if the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is meant to be an energy investment, it’s a bad one!

I also traveled to Austin to join the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Mark Mills on a panel about energy policy. I made my case for the libertarian approach and expressed optimism regarding the chances of IRA repeal. I expressed my hope that, once members of Congress realize the IRA will cost not $370 billion but more like $4 trillion, they will vote to reform or repeal the law. By the way, I think the chances of reform in 2025 are excellent.

Two other conferences stand out, mostly because the attendees were people from outside the DC Beltway. I gave one keynote address to the National Energy and Fuels Institute in April and another to The Energy Professionals Association in November. As a recovering regulator and former political appointee at both the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, my goal was to translate the obscure energy policy world into plain English for people who don’t live and breathe it every day. Clear communication is especially valuable now as we move into uncharted territory with the new DOGE-powered Trump administration.

Finally, in December, I joined a panel at the DOE’s Deploy24 conference to discuss energy policy in 2025 and beyond. Although few in the crowd shared my free-market perspective, we did find some common ground in lamenting the whipsaw politics of fast but flimsy measures by both political parties.

Energy Policy in 2025

Speaking of the 2025 outlook, here is my wish list for expanding liberty in the energy sector this year (the short and politically feasible version—please reach out if you want to hear the long version!). First, I expect the Trump administration to curtail many of the Environmental Protection Agency’s worst overreaches, including the harmful “Clean Power Plan 2.0,” and free up natural gas exports with DOE approvals.

Second, Congress has a golden opportunity to repeal the IRA and enact lasting permitting reform. Third, even if the IRA is not fully repealed, the incoming administration will have ample opportunity to limit taxpayer liability by clawing back some of the Treasury Department’s most subsidy-friendly interpretations of the IRA. I’m also cautiously optimistic about what the DOGE twins will bring us.

Here's a dark horse prediction: we might get a bonus dose of freedom from the state level this year. Several states are considering reforms that would allow for private grids to be built to accommodate large new loads like data centers or manufacturing sites. The status quo power grid isn’t cutting it, and policymakers are looking for new solutions. For those of us who want to “accelerate the watts,” state-level policy might be the place to go!

A Personal Note

The Fisher family has grown to three boys (ages 10, 3, and 2—none of whom wanted to take a Christmas picture) and three dogs (ages 5, 2, and 1). And we recently celebrated a new career milestone for my brilliant wife Alex—she’s now co-owner and leader of an award-winning real estate group, DMV Living. Find out more about Alex here.

Bear with me for a shameless sales pitch. If you’re thinking about making any real estate moves (renting, buying, or selling) in the DMV area, I highly recommend DMV Living, especially Alex! Her team includes experts in relocation, senior living, and family real estate needs and can help with every stage of the moving process. I have personally seen Alex go to great lengths to make sure her clients are confident in their decisions and happy in their new living space. I know I’m biased, but she has a true gift for real estate!

Best wishes for a bright 2025, and please keep in touch. If you want to collaborate with me in 2025, let me know!

-Travis