Much of the world’s climate attention, for the next two weeks, will be focused on the negotiations in Copenhagen for a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.  Among the Americans planning a visit are dozens of  congressional staffers, a handful of senators (assuming they pass a health care bill) and representatives (assuming they pass a financial regulatory bill), as well as members of the Administration and the President.  With so much attention pointed to Denmark, the work of the House and the Senate will proceed along a more routine path.

In the Senate, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to consider a bevy of bills referred to them by the House.  Among the legislation that they will examine are bills to increase funding for solar energy research and commercialization; advanced automotive development; wind energy research; and to train architects and engineers in green building design.  All of these bills passed the House with large bi-partisan majorities.  Additionally, the Energy Committee will take a look at a few bills introduced in the Senate, including legislation creating an “X Prize” for developing CO2 scrubbing technologies.

Tuesday, December 8

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will conduct a hearing on the energy bills at 2:30 p.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Thursday, December 10

At 10 a.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will receive testimony on the role of grid-scale energy storage in meeting our energy and climate goals.

For further information about this topic, please contact Akin Gump.