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Hearing page

Witnesses

• Subin DeVar, Director, Initiative for Energy Justice
• Chandra Farley, Just Energy Director, Partnership for Southern Equity
• Donnel Baird, Chief Executive Officer, BlocPower
• Kiran Bhatraju, Chief Executive Officer, Arcadia
• José L. Pérez, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hispanics in Energy
• Louise Carter-King, Mayor, City of Gillette, Wyoming

Hearing page

Witnesses

• Pete Buttigieg, Secretary, Department of Transportation
• Michael Regan, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency
• Gina Raimondo, Secretary, Department of Commerce
• Marcia Fudge, Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Witnesses

• Deb Haaland, Secretary, Department of the Interior
• Rachael Taylor, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management, and Budget, Department of the Interior

A February 22, 2021 notice announced a Commissioner-led workshop to be held on April 16, 2021, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The workshop will follow a series of listening sessions with stakeholder groups.

The workshop will provide interested parties with the opportunity to provide input to the Commission on the creation of the Office of Public Participation. The Commission intends to establish and operate the Office of Public Participation to “coordinate assistance to the public with respect to authorities exercised by the Commission,” including assistance to those seeking to intervene in Commission proceedings, pursuant to section 319 of the Federal Power Act (FPA). 16 U.S.C. § 825q–1. Congress directed the Commission to provide, by June 25, 2021, to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a report on the Commission’s progress towards establishing the Office of Public Participation, including an organizational structure and budget for the office, beginning in fiscal year 2022.

The Commission plans to hear input on the following considerations in forming the Office of Public Participation, including:

• the office’s function and scope as authorized by section 319 of the FPA;
• the office’s organizational structure and approach, including the use of equity assessment tools;
• participation by tribes, environmental justice communities, and other affected individuals and communities, including those who have not historically participated before the Commission; and
• intervenor compensation.

The Commission seeks nominations for stakeholder panelists to provide input about each of these areas of consideration at the workshop by March 10, 2020. Each nomination should indicate name, contact information, organizational affiliation, what issue area the proposed panelist would speak on, and suggested workshop topics to [email protected].

For questions, please contact Stacey Steep of the Office of General Counsel at (202) 502-8148, or send an email to [email protected], and Sarah McKinley, (202) 502-8368, [email protected], for logistical issues.

Witness

• Victoria Christiansen, Chief, U.S. Forest Service

Witness

• Pete Buttigieg, Secretary, Department of Transportation

This hearing will explore the changes we are seeing in climate, the efforts underway to study those changes, and the economic risks and impacts the climate crisis poses to labor supply, human health, and the American economy. It will also explore the disparate impacts of the climate crisis on low-income communities and communities of color.

Witnesses:

• Heather McTeer Toney, Climate Justice Liaison, Environmental Defense Fund & Senior Advisor, Moms Clean Air Force. A former Southeast Regional Administrator for President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Toney now supports a network of more than one million moms and dads united against air pollution and climate change. She was also the first female, first Black, and youngest Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi, where she served for two terms.
• Waleed Abdalati, Director, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Abdalati leads a team of more than 800 scientists who work in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study issues related to weather and climate, changes at Earth’s poles, air quality and atmospheric chemistry, water resources, and solid Earth sciences. A professor of geography, Abdalati also works on research that uses satellites and other science-based observations to measure changes in Earth’s glaciers and ice sheets, studying the processes that contribute to sea level rise.
• Michael Greenstone, Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, University of Chicago. An expert on environmental and energy economics, Greenstone served as the Chief Economist for President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, where he co-led the development of the government’s social cost of carbon. He also serves as director of the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics and the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago (EPIC).
• Shawn Gillen, PhD, City Manager, Tybee Island. Gillen is in charge of daily operations in Tybee Island, a coastal city in Georgia with approximately 3,000 residents. He previously served as city manager in Doraville, Georgia; as city administrator in Grand Rapids, Minnesota; and as mayor of Monmouth, Illinois.

Hearing page

Witnesses

• David Wallace-Wells, Editor At Large, New York Magazine, Author, The Uninhabitable Earth
• Dr. Robert B. Litterman, Chair, Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, Professor Of Economics, Columbia University
• George R. Oliver, Chairman And CEO, Johnson Controls, Chair, Business Roundtable Energy and Environment Committee
• Richard J. Powell, Executive Director, ClearPath Inc.