SBA’s Role in Climate Solutions
The Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations will hold a hybrid hearing titled: “SBA’s Role in Climate Solutions.” The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 in Room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Participating members can also join remotely via Zoom.
Climate change is increasingly becoming a threat to local economies, but small businesses can take steps to become more resilient and boost their competitiveness. The SBA can support efforts to facilitate access to capital for climate change mitigation investments and resilience efforts. This hearing will allow members to learn more about the role that small businesses can play in addressing climate change, and how federal programs and services support small businesses adapt, innovate, and thrive.
Witnesses- Laurel Walk, Chief Lending Officer, Colorado Lending Source, Ltd., Testifying on behalf of the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO)
- Rick Chapman, General Manager and Certified Marina Manager, Port of Sunnyside Club, Inc., Stillwater, MN, Testifying on behalf of the Midwest Marina Association in his role as President
- Dr. Lynn Abramson, President, Clean Energy Business Network
- Mark Glenn, Owner and Chief Executive Officer, FASTSIGNS, Carrollton, TX, Testifying on behalf of the International Franchise Association (IFA)
Examining the Potential for a Civilian Climate Corps
- Tonya Gayle, Executive Director, Green City Force
- Chas Robles, Corps Director, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps
- Scott Segerstrom, Executive Director, Colorado Youth Corps Association
- LaJuan D. Tucker, Environmental Program Coordinator, Wildlife Austin and the Austin Nature Preservation System
- Tate Watkins, Research Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center
21st Century Communities: Climate Change, Resilience, and Reinsurance
- Dr. Abdollah Shafieezadeh, Lichtenstein Endowed Professor Of Civil, Environmental And Geodetic Engineering And Director Of The Risk Assessment And Management Of Structural And Infrastructure Systems Lab, The Ohio State University
- Dr. Rachel Cleetus, Policy Director, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Frank Nutter, President, Reinsurance Association of America
- Roger Pielke Jr., Professor Of Environmental Studies, University of Colorado
- Jerry Theodorou, Director Of Finance, Insurance, And Trade, R Street Institute
Treatment of Environmental Justice in NRC Activities
The purpose of these meetings is to describe NRC staff efforts in assessing Environmental Justice in NRC’s programs, policies, and activities as directed by the Commission in Staff Requirements Memorandum (ADAMS Accession No. ML21113A070). The staff will provide an overview of current and planned activities and receive comments from members of the public.
There will be two meetings; one from 1:30 pm to 3 pm and one from 8 pm to 9:30 pm.
Comments will be accepted from members of the public and other stakeholders from 8:30 until meeting closing at 9:30 pm. NRC staff will also answer process-related questions after everyone has had a chance to provide comments during the meeting, time permitting. A transcript of the meeting will be available approximately 10 days after the meeting and a link to the transcript will be referenced in the meeting summary.
1:30 pm-3 pm: Webinar Link (Microsoft Teams)NRC staff contacts are Allen Fetter, Office of the Executive Director for Operations, at [email protected] or (301) 415-8556, and Ed Miller at (301) 415-2481.
Additionally, NRC is requesting comments as part of its systematic review for how NRC programs, policies, and activities address environmental justice. Specifically, the NRC would like input on how the agency is addressing environmental justice, considering the agency’s mission and statutory authority. The information will be used to inform the agency’s assessment of how it addresses environmental justice.
Submit comments by August 23, 2021. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
You may submit comments by any of the following methods:- Telephone: 301–415–3875.
- Email: NRC[email protected]
- Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7–A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
Please reference Docket ID NRC–2021–0137 in your comment submission.
Policy + Pints: The Urgent Need for a Civilian Climate Corps with Sen. Ed Markey
Markey your calendars: Evergreen’s next Policy + Pints happy hour is coming up—and, as you might have guessed, Senator Ed Markey is joining us! We’re going to be talking about the urgent need to launch a Civilian Climate Corps. (Think of it as a justice-driven, climate-centered version of FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps.)
In this virtual BYOB special hosted by Evergreen Action campaigns director Lena Moffitt, we’ll chat with:- Senator Markey
- Tonya Gayle, executive director, Green City Force
- Lauren Maunus, advocacy director, Sunrise Movement
about:
- Why the CCC is such a powerful opportunity for taking on our overlapping climate and economic crises
- How overwhelmingly popular it is
- What corpsmembers would actually do in communities across the country
- And more!
Bring beer, tea, wine, kombucha—whatever!—and join us on Wednesday, July 14 at 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT.
Heat, Fires, and the Climate Connection
The wildfires forecast this summer in the American West could be the biggest climate story of 2021 (until November’s Glasgow summit). And the unprecedented heat waves now scorching much of the American West are another painful sign that the climate emergency is here. Conditions are likely to worsen as much of the region is suffering severe drought and the hottest months of the year are still to come. Good journalism will not only inform people how to stay safe, but also make the climate connection to communicate what’s driving the dangers at hand.
To talk about how to cover the story, please join Covering Climate Now for our next Talking Shop webinar. We’ll discuss the science behind the heat wave, drought, and wildfires; the extreme weather that is also afflicting countries throughout the world; and how journalists can cover these stories in ways that connect with their audiences.
All bona fide journalists are invited to attend, even if their newsrooms are not formal partners of CCNow.
Panelists:- Adriene Hill, Managing Editor at NPR’s California Newsroom
- Sarah Kaplan, Climate Reporter at The Washington Post
- Sammy Roth, Energy Reporter at Los Angeles Times
Mark Hertsgaard, CCNow’s executive director, and the environment correspondent for The Nation, will moderate.
Date/Time:
Thursday, July 8th at 1pm US Eastern Time/10am US Pacific Time.
RSVP:
Reserve your spot here — You can submit your questions ahead of time in the RSVP form or during the Q&A portion of the webinar.
Questions? Please email [email protected]
Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research: Moving from Staggering Statistics to Sustainable Systems
The purpose of this hearing is to discuss federal research and development and standards development needs to help address the plastic waste crisis and barriers to the current recycling system. In addition, the Subcommittee will explore challenges and opportunities for adopting sustainable upstream plastic waste reduction solutions and efficacy of existing lifecycle analysis models for assessing the impact of plastic waste and metrics for sustainability. The Subcommittee will also consider the role that the Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Act can play in addressing these important issues.
Opening Statements- Chairwoman Haley Stevens (D-MI) of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology
- Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
- Keefe Harrison, Chief Executive Officer, The Recycling Partnership
- Dr. Marc Hillmyer, Director and Principle Investigator, University of Minnesota National Science Foundation Center for Sustainable Polymers
- Dr. Gregory Keoleian, Director, Center for Sustainable Systems, Peter M. Wege Professor of Sustainable Systems, School for Environment and Sustainability, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, co-Coordinator, Engineering Sustainable Systems Program, University of Michigan
- Joshua Baca, Vice President, Plastics Division, American Chemistry Council
Infrastructure needs of the U.S. energy sector, western water and public lands
The purpose of this hearing is to examine the infrastructure needs of the U.S. energy sector, western water and public lands, and to consider the legislative proposal attached, the Energy Infrastructure Act.
Opening Remarks- Sen. Joe Manchin, Chairman, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Dr. Kathleen Hogan, Acting Undersecretary for Science and Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
- Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science, U.S. Department of the Interior
- Chris French, Deputy Chief, National Forest System, U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum
- Collin O’Mara, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation
- Mark P. Mills, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
While President Biden gave his blessing for a bipartisan infrastructure framework yesterday, Sen. Joe Manchin was already pushing the committee he chairs to get a jump-start on its portion of the spending.Manchin, chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has long pressed for a bipartisan infrastructure package. Indeed, the West Virginia Democrat is widely seen as the key reason negotiations on a deal have persisted.
Now all Manchin needs to do is get everyone on board with his $95 billion draft proposal.
“This bill will go into our infrastructure package,” Manchin told E&E News yesterday in the midst of a hearing on his proposal, which emerged late last week as the negotiations on a bipartisan deal began ramping up.
The timing of yesterday’s hearing — just hours before Biden backed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure framework agreed to by White House negotiators and a group of senators that included Manchin — was no accident.
Former Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who was one of the 10 senators who spent hours this week negotiating the agreement with top Biden administration officials, said yesterday that her successor atop the panel used the weeks of meetings to inform his draft bill.
“We have the contours of the energy infrastructure in our framework,” Murkowski said in an interview after returning from a meeting with Biden on the plan.
“What Manchin has done — and keep in mind, this has come together very, very quickly — is to try to write a bill utilizing the framework that has been under discussion now for these past few weeks.”
However, while the framework released by the White House contains a $73 billion line item for “power infrastructure including grid authority,” it leaves the details to Congress.
“We got to write the bill,” Murkowski noted.
Manchin conceded the point yesterday. “Everything that you are seeing in that framework the president put out, that has to be all worked in every committee of jurisdiction,” he said. “So we started ours because we knew where we were at and how much we had to work with.”
Yesterday’s hearing, which will be followed by a markup after the July 4 recess, “gives us a little bit of a jump on everybody,” he said. “That’s why we wanted to do the hearing now.”
Manchin’s draft legislation would infuse $95 billion into efforts like fortifying fragile electric grids, bolstering supply chains for critical minerals and ramping up energy efficiency efforts.
The proposal also includes the creation of a $1.2 billion annual credit program that would give the executive branch the power to help financially struggling nuclear power plants stay online. It would also fully fund clean energy demonstration projects approved by the Energy Act of 2020.
“With the right strategy, reinvesting in our nation’s infrastructure can also strengthen the economy, create jobs, boost our competitiveness and help tackle climate change,” Manchin said yesterday during the hearing on energy infrastructure.
But he still faces a challenge in selling the plan to his Senate colleagues. Murkowski, who led the panel in the last Congress with Manchin at her side as ranking member, isn’t entirely sold on it, although she conceded that she’s been so busy this week on infrastructure talks that she’s still absorbing the substance of the bill.
“Let’s just say it’s not perfect, but we don’t even know how we’re going to work out some of the details here,” Murkowski said.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who has encouraged the bipartisan negotiations, said yesterday that he was encouraged that there was a deal on individual line-item spending, but noted, “We still need a lot more details on that.”
He had not seen Manchin’s plan, but said bipartisan support for the $73 billion for energy infrastructure bodes well for agreement on the finer details.
“Anything that this group of Democrats and a group of Republicans agree to is likely to be acceptable,” he said in an interview. “It’s likely to leave a lot of things undone, but it’s likely to be acceptable.”
Manchin kicks off energy debate Manchin made his case for the bill during yesterday’s hearing, which featured witnesses from the Biden administration across the Energy and Interior departments.
Those officials and some Democratic senators largely endorsed the draft language put forward by Manchin, although backers pressed the committee to go even further in its spending to better match the proposals pitched by the White House in the American Jobs Plan.
Kathleen Hogan, acting undersecretary for science and energy at DOE, largely heralded the Manchin proposal, backing the grid authority language, clean energy demonstration project funding and billions in energy efficiency spending.
“That said, additional capabilities, flexibilities and funding as outlined in the American Jobs Plan are needed,” Hogan cautioned, including the need for a clean energy standard along the lines pitched by the Biden administration to move the electric sector to 100% clean energy by 2035.
The call for a clean energy standard was echoed by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).
“I think we need to look hard at a clean energy standard to meet the scale of time that is necessary in this transition,” Heinrich said.
Progressives have demanded that any infrastructure package include significant provisions dedicated to tackling the climate crisis.
While many Democratic lawmakers applauded Manchin’s proposal, they insisted that more money needs to be in the final package.
“We are going to need, in my view, increased funding above what is in this proposal, but I think we all know we have to work on these issues in the way this committee has always focused, which is to do it in a bipartisan way,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Republican opposition While the proposal largely earned high marks from Biden administration officials, Republicans were more skeptical about the committee process so far for the crafting of the bill, as well as the high price tag associated with some of the programs in Manchin’s draft proposal.
Energy and Natural Resources ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) specifically griped that Republicans were not consulted in the drafting of the bill, although he did express support for programs that would help keep online the existing nuclear fleet and advance carbon capture technology.
“The lack of consultation means we are not including the priorities from all of our committee members, who represent states with different needs,” Barrasso said. “There is time to right the ship, to build this consensus, and to pass something we all can support.”
Barrasso also complained that the bill would extend past the authorization responsibilities of the committee to include direct appropriations, a prospect with “no precedent where this committee appropriated anything close to the $100 billion included in this draft bill.”
Those criticisms specifically targeted provisions in the bill that would promote energy efficiency, including money to bolster building code improvements, $500 million set aside for efficiency improvements at schools and $3.5 billion for DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program.
In addition to price tag complaints, Republicans lamented the lack of language to induce permitting reforms for energy infrastructure like transmission lines or natural gas pipelines.
Such changes are needed, they argued, to have any chance of deploying infrastructure on the scale needed to meet the Biden administration’s carbon reduction targets.
“I’m not an opponent to any of this, but we have to figure out what are realistic timelines for how we are going to handle the permitting and how we are going to be able to solve that, or all of this is good theory and we will still be discussing it in 2060,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).
Oceans and Climate Legislation
On Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. (EDT), the Committee on Natural Resources will hold a virtual, fully remote legislative hearing on the following bills:
- H.R. 660 (Rep. Stacey Plaskett, D-VI), To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish a grant program to benefit coastal habitats, resiliency, and the economy, and for other purposes. Shovel-Ready Restoration Grants for Coastlines and Fisheries Act of 2021.
- H.R. 1415 (Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-WA), To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to authorize grants to Indian Tribes to further achievement of Tribal coastal zone objectives, and for other purposes. Tribal Coastal Resiliency Act.
- H.R. 1689 (Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, R-PR), To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to apply to territories of the United States, to establish offshore wind lease sale requirements, to provide dedicated funding for coral reef conservation, and for other purposes. Offshore Wind for Territories Act.
- H.R. 2750 (Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-OR), To establish an Interagency Working Group on Coastal Blue Carbon, and for other purposes. Blue Carbon for Our Planet Act.
- H.R. 3160 (Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-ME), To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to establish a Working Waterfront Task Force and a working waterfronts grant program, and for other purposes. Keep America’s Waterfronts Working Act.
- H.R. 3228 (Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-NY), To direct the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to improve science, data, and services that enable sound decision-making in response to coastal flood risk, including impacts of sea-level rise, storm events, changing Great Lakes water levels, and land subsidence. National Coastal Resilience Data and Services Act.
- H.R. 3692 (Rep. Julia Brownley, D-CA), To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a climate impact management plan for the conservation of certain marine mammal species, and for other purposes. Marine Mammal Climate Change Protection Act.
- H.R. 3748 (Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-OR), To improve data collection and monitoring of the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts, and for other purposes. BLUE GLOBE ACT.
- H.R. 3764 (Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-AZ), To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide for ocean-based climate solutions to reduce carbon emissions and global warming; to make coastal communities more resilient; and to provide for the conservation and restoration of the ocean and coastal habitats, biodiversity, and marine mammal and fish populations; and for other purposes. Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act of 2021.
- H.R. 3817 (Rep. Charlie Crist, D-FL), To allow coastal States to participate in regional ocean partnerships with one or more other coastal States that share a common ocean or coastal area with the coastal State to conserve living resources, expand and protect valuable habitats, enhance coastal resilience, and address such other issues related to the shared ocean or coastal area as are determined to be a shared, regional priority by those States. Regional Ocean Partnership Act.
- H.R. 3864 (Rep. Anthony Brown, D-MD), To express the sense of Congress that the Chesapeake Bay Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall be the primary representative of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Chesapeake Bay, to require the Secretary of the Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to provide grants supporting research on the conservation, restoration, or management of oysters in estuarine ecosystems, and for other purposes. Chesapeake Bay Oyster Research Act.
- H.R. 3892 (Rep. Don Beyer, D-VA), To improve the National Oceans and Coastal Security Act, and for other purposes. National Oceans and Coastal Security Improvements Act.
- H.R. 3906 (Rep. Jared Huffman, D-CA), To establish a Blue Carbon program to conserve and restore marine and coastal blue carbon ecosystems, and other purposes. Blue Carbon Protection Act.
Witnesses
Panel I: Congressional Panel- Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (H.R. 1689)
- Rep. Chellie Pingree (H.R. 3160)
- Rep. Don Beyer (H.R. 3892)
- Rep. Jared Huffman (H.R. 3906)
- Stephen Guertin, Deputy Director for Policy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Nicole LeBoeuf. Acting Administrator, National Ocean Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- State Senator Chris Lee, Hawaii State Legislature
- Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Co-Founder, Urban Ocean Lab
- Marce Gutierrez-Graudins, Founder and Executive Director Azul
- Mauricio Guardado, General Manager, United Water Conservation District
Nominations of Jeffrey Prieto to be EPA General Counsel, Jane Nishida to be EPA Assistant Administrator for International and Tribal Affairs, and Alejandra Castillo to be Commerce Assistant Secretary for Economic Development
On Wednesday, June 16, at 10:00 AM ET, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing on the following nominations:
- Jeffrey Prieto, General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. He was a member of the Biden Agriculture transition team. He was a long-time Department of Justice environmental lawyer who helped set up its environmental justice division.
- Jane Nishida, Assistant Administrator for International and Tribal Affairs of the Environmental Protection Agency
- Alejandra Castillo, Assistant Secretary for Economic Development of the Department of Commerce