Hill Heat

Subcommittee hearing

Chair Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.)

Witnesses:

• Debra Nesbitt, Chair, National Rural Lenders Association, Wilmington, NC
• Jessica Bowman, Executive Director, Plant Based Products Council, Washington, D.C.
• Joshua Winslow, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation, on behalf of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Shallotte, NC
• Matthew Holmes, Chief Executive Officer, National Rural Water Association, Duncan, OK
• Olga Morales-Pate, Chief Executive Officer, Rural Community Assistance Partnership, Washington, D.C.
• Cornelius Blanding, Board Member, National Cooperative Business Association, CLUSA International, East Point, GA

The Committee on Rules will meet Monday, June 12, 2023 at 4:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• H.J. Res. 44 – Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives relating to “Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces’”
• H.R. 277 – REINS Act of 2023 [Rule Markup Only]
• H.R. 288 – Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2023 [Rule Markup Only]
• H.R. 1615 – Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act [Rule Markup Only]
• H.R. 1640 – Save Our Stoves Act [Rule Markup Only]

President Biden faced fierce opposition when he approved the Willow oil drilling project. He has done it again with the Mountain Valley Pipeline as part of the debt ceiling deal. Join us in front of the White House to demand Biden stop the MVP.

By backing Manchin’s Dirty Deal, the Biden administration has signaled they are willing to sacrifice Appalachians for their own political gain. For over a century, Appalachia has been deemed a sacrifice zone. The fossil fuel industry has destroyed our home and our wellbeing. We will not let the Mountain Valley Pipeline add to this legacy. We will stop MVP and secure a better, more just future for our home.

This is Biden’s pipeline. He can stop MVP just like he stopped Keystone XL. He can reclaim his climate legacy by stopping all new fossil fuel projects.

The MVP is one of many fossil fuel projects Biden could stop. This action sets off a stampede of distributed actions across the country June 8 – 11th with thousands of people calling on President Biden to stop all new fossil fuel projects.

RSVP

The purpose of this hearing is to examine the Federal response to escalating wildfires and to evaluate reforms to land management and wildland firefighter recruitment and retention.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement will hold a hearing on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. ET. The hearing, “The Border Crisis: Is the Law Being Faithfully Executed?,” will examine the Department of Homeland Security’s policies that, according to the Republican majority, “violate the law and encourage illegal immigration.”

Witnesses:

• Chad Wolf, former Acting Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer, America First Policy Institute
• Joseph Edlow, former Acting Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Managing Member, Edlow Group
• Steven Bradbury, Bush torture official, Distinguished Fellow, Heritage Foundation

Hearing on the horticulture title of the Farm Bill.

Witnesses:

• Chris Alonzo, Owner/Operator, Pietro Farms, Kennett Square, PA
• Nicholas Carter, Owner, Mud Creek Farm; Co-Founder, Market Wagon, Indianapolis, IN
• Charles A. Wingard, Vice President, Field Operations, Walter P. Rawl and Sons, Pelion, SC
• Dr. Margaret Leigh Worthington, Associate Professor, Horticulture, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
• Diana Kobus, Executive Director, PCO Certified Organic, Spring Mills, PA

Hearing of the Committee on the Budget to consider: “Cultivating Stewardship: Examining the Changing Agricultural Landscape”

Witnesses:

• Brandon Willis, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Economics, Utah State University
• Martin Larsen, Larsen Family Farm & Byron Area Farmers Group
• Brent Johnson, President, Iowa Farm Bureau
• Bryan Sievers, Chief Operating Officer Of Sievers Family Farms & Director of Government Relations, Roeslein Alternative Energy

Full committee hearing on ecosystem restoration projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Witnesses:

• Eric Eikenberg, Chief Executive Officer, the Everglades Foundation
• Tricia Balluff, Environmental Programs Coordinator, Water, Wildlife & NEPA, Office of Environmental Programs, City of Phoenix
• Lorianne Riggin, Director of Environmental Programs, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

Joint subcommittee hearing on ESG compliance.

Witnesses:

• Mandy Gunasekara, Director, Center for Energy & Conservation, Independent Women’s Forum
• Jason Isaac, Director, Life:Powered, Texas Public Policy Foundation
• Stephen Moore, Distinguished Fellow in Economics, Heritage Foundation
• Brian E. Frosh, Former Attorney General, State of Maryland

On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials will hold a hearing entitled “Clean Power Plan 2.0: EPA’s Latest Attack on Electric Reliability.” The hearing will examine preliminary observations concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed greenhouse pollution standards for the power sector and the reliable delivery of electricity.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Patrick O’Loughlin, President and CEO, Buckeye Power Inc. and Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives
• Todd Snitchler, President and CEO, Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA)
• Michael J. Nasi, Partner, Jackson Walker
• Jay Duffy, Litigation Director, Clean Air Task Force

Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, EPA issued on May 11, 2023, an omnibus proposed rulemaking that would limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for fossil fuel-fired power plants, including from both new and existing natural-gas-fired plants and from existing coal-fired plants, pursuant to Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The May 11, 2023, proposal for fossil-fuel fired power plants would set limits for new gasfired combustion turbines, certain existing gas-fired combustion turbines, and existing coal, oil, and gas-fired steam generating units. The proposed standards are based on technologies including carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS), low-greenhouse-gas (GHG) hydrogen co-firing, and natural gas co-firing, which can be applied directly to power plants that use fossil fuels to generate electricity.

The proposed rules are part of a larger, comprehensive suite of regulatory actions for power plants. EPA Administrator Regan announced this suite of actions, known as the EGU (for “electric generating unit”) strategy, to address climate, health, and environmental burdens from power plants. These regulatory actions include the Interstate Transport Rule, Regional Haze, Risk and Technology Review for the Mercury Air Toxics Rule, effluent limitations, and a legacy coal combustion residue rule.

In February 2023, the nation’s largest grid operator, the PJM Interconnection, released a report noting that the current pace of retirements of dispatchable generation, mainly coal- and gas-fired generation, may outpace the addition of new resources onto the bulk power system. The PJM report cites three specific EPA policies that are leading contributors to this challenge, coal combustion residuals regulation, effluent limitations, and the Interstate Transport Rule, as key drivers in the loss of some 23 GW generation.