This Week on the Hill
This week, as with the last few weeks, all attention is trained on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where Chairman Henry Waxman continues trying to cobble together a majority to move his cap-and-trade legislation out of the committee. From all indications, the fragile negotiations are moving towards a conclusion. Oil patch Democrats want more allowances for their hometown industries. Congressmen from coal country want to see greater funding for carbon capture, a less ambitious renewable energy standard (RES) and even less reductions by 2020. It is likely that the entire Republican side of the committee dais will oppose the bill, and, with close to a dozen members on the Democratic side wary of a bill that can’t be sold back home, the task of moving a bill by Memorial Day is difficult but not impossible.
With the frenzy of negotiations in the House and multiple budget hearings on Capitol Hill, there are only two climate-related hearings slated for this week. On Wednesday, May 13 the House Science and Technology Subcommittee will conduct a markup of the National Climate Service Act of 2009 in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building at 10 a.m. On Thursday, May 14 the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will conduct a hearing in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Building at 2:30 p.m. to receive testimony on S. 1013, the Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Capture and Sequestration Program Amendments Act of 2009. The first panel of witnesses includes Dr. Victor K. Der, Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. DOE; Dr. Kit Batten , Science Advisor, Office of the Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior; and The Honorable Thomas E. Lubnau, II , State Representative from Wyoming, House District 31. The second panel of witnesses includes Mr. John Tombari, Vice President, Schlumberger Carbon Services; Mr. Karl R. Moor , Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Southern Company; Mr. Scott Anderson , Senior Policy Adviser, Environmental Defense Fund; and Ms. Chiara Trabucchi, Principal, Industrial Economics, Inc.