This Week on the Hill

After two weeks away, one for the President’s Day Recess and the other for the snow, Congress returns this week to a full plate though it will mostly be focused on job creation and health care reform.  Progress towards a bi-partisan energy bill got a boost over the recess with President Obama’s announcement on nuclear energy, a favorite issue for southern Republicans. All indications continue to point to steady progress being made by Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman to a consensus legislation, though whether cap and trade is part of it is still very much in doubt. 

This week most committees with jurisdictional oversight on the environment and energy continue their examinations of the budget needs of various agencies under their purview.  The Senate Commerce Committee will have a hearing on Tuesday to take a look at smart grid and electricity management technologies.  At the same time the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on the infrastructural needs for making the shift to large scale adoption of plug in hybrid technologies.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation will hold a hearing entitled “Improving Energy Efficiency Through Technology and Communications Innovation” at 10:00 a.m. in room 253 of the Russell House Office Building. Witnesses include Aneesh Chopra, chief technology officer, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President; Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint Nextel; Adrian Tuck, CEO, Tendril Networks Inc.; Kathrin Winkler, chief sustainability officer, EMC2 Corp.; and Lorie Wigle, general manager, Eco-Technology Program Office, Intel Corp.

The Energy and Water Development Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the infrastructural needs for making the shift to large scale adoption of plug in hybrid technologies at 10:15 a.m. in Room 192 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witnesses include Henry Kelly, EERE principal deputy assistant secretary; Fredrick Smith, president and chairman of FedEx and member of the Electrification Coalition; Richard Lowenthal, founder and CEO of Coulomb Technologies; Alan Taub, vice president of research and development for General Motors; and David West, vice president of Raser Technologies.

Lisa Jackson, U.S. EPA  Administrator, will testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to defend the White House’s $10 billion budget request for EPA. The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. in Room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Lisa Jackson, U.S. EPA  Administrator, will testify before the The House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee  to defend the White House’s $10 billion budget request for EPA. The hearing will be held at 2:00 p.m. in Room 308 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

The Full Committee and Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife will hold a joint hearing at 9:30 a.m. in Room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building entitled “Joint Hearing on the Legislative Approaches to Protecting, Preserving, and Restoring Great Water Bodies.” Witnesses include Peter Silva, assistant water administrator, U.S. EPA; Harris Sherman, undersecretary for natural resources and environment, Agriculture Department; Patrick Wright, executive director, California Tahoe Conservancy; David Dicks, executive director, Puget Sound Partnership; Alexander “Pete” Grannis, commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; Debrah Marriott, executive director, Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership; David Naftzger, executive director, Council of Great Lakes Governors; John Tauzel, senior associate director of public policy, New York Farm Bureau; and David Ullrich, executive director, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiatives.

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

 It is a largely quiet week on the Hill, as far as climate legislation or hearings go.  The big news this week will be roll out of the President’s budget and the expected votes to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.  All of which will overshadow the one truly interesting hearing on climate science that will be held in the House Science and Technology Committee on Thursday.  The hearing will be the first real Congressional examination of geoengineering and whether it would work to reverse climate trends.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing for the FY 2011 budget at 10:00 a.m. in Room 608 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The House Budget Committee will also hold a hearing for FY 2011 budget at 2:00 p.m. in Room 210 of the Cannon House Office Building. The Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag will testify for the budget committee hearings.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold nomination hearings for Larry Persily and Patricia Hoffman at 2:30 p.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Persily has been nominated to serve as federal coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects and Hoffman has been nominated to be assistant secretary of Energy for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment will hold a hearing in Room 2325 of the Rayburn House Office Building to continue to explore the science and engineering specifics of the geoengineering concept, which many scientists say is a potential “Plan B” to cool the planet.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to receive testimony by the Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on the U.S. Department of Energy’s budget for fiscal year 2011. The hearing will be at 10:00 a.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Another hearing on the Fiscal 2011 Budgets, as previously mentioned, will be held by the Senate Finance Committee at 10:00 a.m. in Room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

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