This Week on the Hill
This is a relatively quiet-some might say anti-climactic-week in the Congress with respect to energy and climate change issues. There is not much happening in any of the Senate or House committees, save for a hearing on the “Clean Energy Economy” on Tuesday in the Joint Economic Committee. But it is what is not happening on the floor of the Senate that has most observers interested: this week, the Senate is expected to take up-and probably pass-an energy bill that doesn’t contain any language that directly addresses the regulation of greenhouse gases.
Sens. Kerry and Lieberman originally introduced legislation that would create an economy-wide cap and trade regime. That got pared down to a proposal to cap and trade the emissions from utilities only, but when 60 votes could not be found for even that proposal, its inclusion into an energy bill was nixed altogether. Also jettisoned was a proposal to have a renewable energy standard mandated for utilities. That leaves a less ambitious energy bill that contains incentives for renewables, the removal of the cap on oil spill liability, incentives for natural gas vehicles, the HomeStar program, and reforms of the on outer-continental shelf drilling. This effectively kills climate change legislation for this year. Keep an eye on the debate over the Rockefeller Amendment, which would delay any new EPA greenhouse gas regulations for two years in hopes that the stick of impending regulations would provide Congress with the incentive to create its own legislation.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia, The Pacific and the Global Environment will hold a hearing discussing climate change finance in regards to how the U.S. can honor financial commitments to countries without a cap-and-trade revenue. The hearing will be held at 2:00 p.m. in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Witnesses include Lael Brainard, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs; Jonathan Pershing, State Department deputy special envoy; Navy Rear Adm. David Titley, oceanographer and navigator of the Navy; Elliot Diringer, vice president, Pew Center on Global Climate Change; Kenneth Berlin, partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; and Redmond Clark, CEO, CBL Industrial Services.
The House Committee on Appropriations will hold a markup hearing on the 23 billion dollar Agriculture FY2011 budget which includes a boost for energy. The hearing will be at 3:00 p.m. in Room 2359 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
The Obama Administration’s six-month moratorium will be discussed in a hearing held by the Senate Small Business Committee on how the deepwater drilling ban will effect small businesses in the Gulf of Mexico. The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witnesses include Ethan Treese, vice president of federal government solutions, Dun and Bradstreet; Joseph Mason, chairman of banking, LSU’s Ourso School of Business; Don Briggs, president, Louisiana Oil and Gas Association; Charlotte Randolph, president, Lafource Parish, La.; Leslie Bertucci, owner, R&D Enterprises; and Troy Lillie, employee, Exxon Mobil Corp.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The House Science and Technology Committee is holding a markup hearing on the Nuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 2010. The R&D bill would aim to make nuclear energy safer and possible less expensive. The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
The House Committee on Agriculture will on a markup hearing on the Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act, a controversial bill that has earned support from the farm and building industries but draws opposition with environmentalists. The hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m. in Room 1300 of the Longworth House Office Building.
The Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing entitled, “Protecting America’s Water Treatment Facilities” which will review the current state of protection at water treatment plants. The hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m. in Room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witnesses include Cynthia Dougherty, director of U.S. EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water; Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Benjamin Grumbles; Paul Orum of the Blue Green Chemical Security Coalition and an independent consultant to the Center for American Progress; Miox Corp. President Carlos Perea; and Darius Sivin, international representative for the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
The House subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing on The Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010. The bill would require manufacturers to provide minimum safety information to EPA and set up tiers of chemicals to expedite human health risk process. The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
The House Natural Resource Subcommittee on Water and Power will hold an oversight hearing to review opportunities involving hydropower in western states. The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. in Room 1334 of the Longworth House Office Building. Witnesses include The Honorable Michael L. Connor, Commissioner of U.S. Department of Interior; Michael F. Ensch, Chief Operations and Regulatory Community of Practice of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Jeff Wright, Director of the Office of Energy Projects at the Federal Energy Regulation Commission; Sonya Baskerville, Manager of Bonneville Power Administration; Jon Lambeck, Manager of Power Resources at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Gary Esslinger, Treasure-Manager at Elephant Butte Irrigation District; Thomas Graves, Executive Director at Mid-West Electric Consumers Association; Gia Schnieder, Chairman and CEO at Natel Energy, Inc.; John Prescott, President and CEO at PNGC Power; and Andrew Fahlund, Senior Vice President at American Rivers and the Hydropower Reform Coalition.