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Join the U.S. EPA and U.S. Department of the Army for an opportunity to comment on the proposed “Waters of the United States” definition. This is the third of three public hearings.

Please visit Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2021-0602 on Regulations.gov for additional information about how to submit a public comment. The comment period on this proposed rule will close on February 7, 2022.

A public hearing to provide interested parties the opportunity to present data, views, or arguments concerning the proposed rule typically consists of morning, afternoon and evening sessions. In a virtual environment, these hearing sessions will be held on different days. To allow more time for speakers, the agencies prerecorded a video introduction and overview of the rule.

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Speaker list:

Hearing Session 1: 5:00 PM – 6:25 PM ET

1. Kristine Oblock, Environment America
2. Jen Pelz, Rio Grande Waterkeeper/WildEarth Guardians
3. David Brooks, Montana Trout Unlimited
4. Ryan Yates, American Farm Bureau Federation
5. Chris Edgington, National Corn Growers Association
6. David Simpson, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection
7. Lauren Williams, New York Farm Bureau
8. Anne Coan, NC Farm Bureau Federation
9. Carl Harris, Carl Harris Co., Inc.
10. Gregory Ugalde, National Association of Home Builders
11. Tim Kellogg, WDH Real Estate
12. Kaitlynn Glover, Public Lands Council/ National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
13. Brandon Reeves, Virginia Cattlemen’s Association
14. Sparky Wellman, independent cattle producer; Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Member
15. Jim Magagna, Wyoming Stock Growers Association
16. Lucy Evert
17. Kelly Moser, Southern Environmental Law Center
18. Garrett Hawkins, Missouri Farm Bureau
19. Lowry Crook, Best Best & Krieger LLP
20. Alex Ortiz, Sierra Club
21. Nelson Brooke, Black Warrior Riverkeeper

Hearing Session 2: 6:35 PM – 8 pm ET

1. Victoria Okula, Arizona Farm Bureau
2. Thomas Allen, Cook Allen Engineers and Surveyors
3. Mervin Wright, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe
4. Alexander Funk, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
5. Michelle Diffenderfer, Lewis Longman & Walker
6. Charlie Besher , Besher Farms
7. Kim Bednarek, Okefenokee
8. Aaron Mintzes, Earthworks
9. Lisa Gover
10. Alan Hunt, Musconetcong Watershed Association
11. Vicki Watson, University of Montana

Business Meeting agenda:

• Eighteen GSA Resolutions
• David Uhlmann to be Assistant Administrator of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, of the Environmental Protection Agency
• Martha Williams to be Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, of the Department of the Interior
• Henry Christopher Frey to be Assistant Administrator for Research and Development of the Environmental Protection Agency

Hearing page

Witnesses

• David Strickland, Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs, General Motors, Washington, D.C.
• Lincoln Wood, Electrification Policy Manager, Southern Company, Atlanta, GA
• Matthew Laughridge, President and Managing Partner, Terry Reid Automotive Group, Cartersville, GA on behalf of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA)
• Trevor Walter, Vice President of Petroleum Supply Management, Sheetz, Inc., on behalf of National Association of Convenience Stores, Altoona, PA
• Geoff Cooper, President & Chief Executive Officer, Renewable Fuels Association, Ellisville, MO
• Josh Nassar, Legislative Director, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), Washington, D.C. Republican witness:
• Mark Mills, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, Chevy Chase, MD

THE COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS will meet in OPEN SESSION, HYBRID FORMAT to conduct a hearing entitled, “Disaster Recovery Assistance – Authorization of the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery Program.”

Rescheduled from December 9th.

Witnesses:

• Michael A. Sprayberry, Senior Advisor For Emergency Management, Hagerty Consulting
• Matt Mayer, President, Opportunity Ohio

Business meeting to vote on various nominations, most of which are from a October 26 hearing.

The World Bank has not committed to aligning its financing with limiting warming to 1.5C. And the Financial Times reports that the Trump-appointed president of the World Bank, David Malpass, pushed for the joint statement by development banks at the UN COP26 climate summit to be shortened and weakened. The Bank is governed by a 25-member Board of Directors, of which Dr. Kugler is nominated to be the U.S. member, replacing the acting U.S. director Lea Bouzis.

The State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs includes the Division for International Finance and Development.

Nominations:

• Dr. Adriana Debora Kugler, of Maryland, to be United States Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the lending arm of the World Bank, for a term of two years
• Ramin Toloui, of Iowa, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Economic and Business Affairs)
• Marc R. Stanley, of Texas, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Argentine Republic
• Rashad Hussain, of Virginia, to be Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom
• Thomas Barrett, of Wisconsin, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
• Erik D. Ramanathan, of Massachusetts, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Sweden
• Scott Miller, of Colorado, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Swiss Confederation, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Principality of Liechtenstein

8. Ms. Jamie L. Harpootlian, of South Carolina, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Slovenia

Hearing to consider the nominations of

• Enoh T. Ebong, of the District of Columbia, to be Director of the Trade and Development Agency
• Oren E. Whyche-Shaw, of Maryland, to be United States Director of the African Development Bank
• Leopoldo Martinez Nucete, of Virginia, to be United States Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank for a term of three years
• Maria Fabiana Jorge, of the District of Columbia, to be United States Alternate Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank
• Alice P. Albright, of the District of Columbia, to be Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation
• Michele Taylor, of Georgia, for the rank of Ambassador during her tenure of service as United States Representative to the UN Human Rights Council
• Christopher R. Hill, of Rhode Island, to be Ambassador to Serbia
• Joe Donnelly, of Indiana, to be Ambassador to the Vatican

The USTDA runs the Global Partnership for Climate-Smart Infrastructure. USTDA also supports international fossil-fuel projects.

The African Development Bank is allocating 40 percent of project approvals to climate finance. It also finances fossil-fuel projects.

The Inter-American Development Bank has allocated limited funding in the past to climate finance, and finances both renewable and fossil-fuel projects.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation has recently announced plans to “commit more than 50 percent of our program funding to climate-related investments over the next five years.” The Corporation has financed several electricity modernization projects around the world.

During the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26), financial institutions and governments all over the world made unprecedented pledges and commitments to reduce financed emissions and begin to address climate-related financial risk. Now that the dust has settled, the real work of implementing these commitments begins. What will this mean for the Biden administration? Will President Joe Biden’s financial regulators endeavor to reign in banks and other financial institutions that continue to fund fossil fuels and other high-carbon-emitting industries or leave the U.S. economy and financial system at risk of another crisis?

Please join the Center for American Progress and Sierra Club for the launch of important new research revealing the enormous size of carbon emissions financed by the largest banks and asset managers in the United States and a discussion of actions the Biden administration can take to curtail this problem before the carbon bubble bursts.

Speakers:

• Caroline A. Crenshaw, Commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange
• Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)

In conversation:

• Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
• John Podesta, Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors, Center for American Progress

Research Presentation:

• Ben Cushing, Campaign Director for Fossil-Free Finance, Sierra Club

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Fossil fuel companies learned over 50 years ago that burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change, and were soon predicting “globally catastrophic effects.” Company executives recognized that addressing climate change could require burning fewer fossil fuels — making climate action a threat to industry profits. In order to protect their bottom line, oil and gas companies masterminded a decades-long, multi-million dollar climate denial, disinformation, and deception campaign that stopped climate policy in its tracks. Join leading experts in the field of climate accountability for a deep dive into the documentation of Big Oil’s deception (from past to present). Learn how the fossil fuel industry fits into the larger picture of modern-day corporate deception and how local communities (and U.S. Congress) are using this evidence to hold the industry accountable.

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Hearing link

Witnesses

Panel I

• Sean O’Donnell, Inspector General & Acting Inspector General, Environmental Protection Agency & U.S. Department of Defense
• Michael J. Roark, Deputy Inspector General for Evaluations, U.S. Department of Defense
• Richard G. Kidd, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Energy Resilience, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Sustainment, U.S. Department of Defense
• Laura Macaluso, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Force Safety and Occupational Health, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Readiness, U.S. Department of Defense

Panel II

• Anthony M. Spaniola, Co-Chair, Great Lakes PFAS Action Network
• Andrea Amico, Co-Founder, Testing for Peace
• Mark Johnson, Deputy Director for Business and Regulatory Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, State of Ohio

Hearing page

Witnesses

• Stephen Gardner, President, Amtrak
• David Kim, Secretary, California State Transportation Agency
• Kevin Corbett, President and CEO of New Jersey Transit, Co-Chair, Northeast Corridor Commission
• Julie White, Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation, North Carolina Department of Transportation, Commission Chair, Southeast Corridor Commission
• Donna DeMartino, Managing Director, Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency
• Knox Ross, Mississippi Commissioner and Chair, Southern Rail Commission