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Hearing page

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State
• Camille Dawson, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Asia, U.S. Department of State
• Craig Hart, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau of Asia, U.S. Agency for International Development

The FY 2023 Pacific Deterrence Initiative is a $6.1 billion subset of the Department of Defense’s FY 2023 budget.

The Budget also in­cludes nearly $1.8 billion to support a free and open, connected, secure, and resilient Indo- Pacific Region and the Indo-Pacific Strategy, and $400 million for the Countering the People’s Republic of China Malign Influence Fund.

Hearing page

Placeholder text with proposed budget:

• H.R. 7900

The Department of Defense $773 billion budget request includes $56.5 billion for air power platforms and systems; more than $40.8 billion for sea power, to include nine more battle force ships, and nearly $12.6 billion to modernize Army and Marine Corps fighting vehicles; more than $130.1 billion for research and development; and more than $3 billion to address the effects of climate change, bolstering our installation resiliency and adaptation to climate challenges.

The FY 2023 DoD Budget request of $773.0 billion is a $30.7 billion, or 4.1% increase, from the FY 2022 enacted amount.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, at 10 a.m. ET to consider the following Presidential nominations:

Nominees:

• Robin Hutcheson to be Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (PN1944)
• Dr. Michael C. Morgan to be Assistant Secretary for Environmental Observation and Prediction, Department of Commerce (PN1674)
• Sean Burton to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (PN1535)

Dr. Michael Morgan is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and associate chair of its undergraduate program. He served on the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) Board on Women and Minorities and on the AMS Scientific and Technological Activities Commission. Dr. Morgan has served on the World Meteorological Organization World Weather Research Program’s Science Steering Committee and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Physics. Dr. Morgan was an AMS/UCAR Congressional Science Fellow in Senator Ben Cardin’s office working as a senior legislative aid on energy and environment issues. Previously, Dr. Morgan was Division Director for the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences at the National Science Foundation.

Hearing page

Panel 1

• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)

Panel 2

• Annie Caputo, Nominee to be Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Bradley R. Crowell, Nominee to be Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The purpose of this hearing is to assess the challenge of oil and gas sector methane leaks from a scientific, technological, and policymaking perspective. The hearing will discuss the current scientific consensus regarding the role of methane leaks as a driver of oil and gas sector methane emissions. The hearing will highlight recent advances in innovative leak detection and repair technologies, as well as the importance of deploying such technologies broadly throughout oil and gas sector operations to achieve large-scale reductions in methane emissions. Finally, the hearing will examine research gaps related to oil and gas sector methane emissions and opportunities for the Federal government to support scientific research activities pertaining to oil and gas sector methane leaks.

Hearing charter

Committee report

Committee staff conclude that oil and gas companies are failing to design, equip, and inform their Methane Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) activities as necessary to achieve rapid and large-scale reductions in methane emissions from their operations. The sector’s approach does not reflect the latest scientific evidence on methane leaks. Oil and gas companies must change course quickly if the United States is to reach its methane reduction targets by the end of this decade. The Committee staff also learned that oil and gas companies have internal data showing that methane emission rates from the sector are likely significantly higher than official data reported to EPA would indicate. A very significant proportion of methane emissions appear to be caused by a small number of super-emitting leaks. One company experienced a single leak that may be equivalent to more than 80% of all the methane emissions it reported to EPA – according to EPA’s prescribed methodology – for all of its Permian oil and gas production activities in 2020.

Witnesses:

• Dr. David Lyon, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund
• Riley Duren, Chief Executive Officer, Carbon Mapper
• Dr. Brian Anderson, Director, National Energy Technology Laboratory
• Dr. Greg Rieker, Co-Founder and CTO, LongPath Technologies, Inc.

The purpose of this hearing is for Members of the Subcommittee to discuss the safety of our nation’s roadways, explore programs and policies included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve roadway safety, and learn from key stakeholders about their role in implementing these programs and other roadway safety strategies.

Witnesses:

• Elaine Clegg, City Council President, Boise, Idaho, on behalf of the National League of Cities
• Shawn Wilson, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, on behalf of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
• Ludwig P. Gaines, Executive Director, Washington Area Bicyclist Association
• Billy Hattaway, Principal, Fehr & Peers
• Cindy Williams, President, Time Striping, Inc., Board of Directors Member, American Traffic Safety Services Association; on behalf of the American Traffic Safety Services Association

The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:

• S. 387, to protect, for current and future generations, the watershed, ecosystem, and cultural heritage of the Grand Canyon region in the State of Arizona, to provide for a study relating to the uranium stockpile in the United States, and for other purposes
• S. 1264, to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to improve the management of grazing permits and leases, and for other purposes
• S. 1412, to provide for the conveyance of certain Federal land in Carson City, Nevada, and for other purposes
• S. 1750, to redesignate land within certain wilderness study areas in the State of Wyoming, and for other purposes
• S. 2254, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain streams in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and Smith River system in the State of Montana as components of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes
• S. 2568, to establish the Open Access Evapotranspiration (OpenET) Data Program
• S. 2708, to provide for greater consultation between the Federal Government and the governing bodies and community users of land grant-mercedes in New Mexico, to provide for a process for recognition of the historic-traditional uses of land grant-mercedes, and for other purposes
• S. 2980, to authorize the voluntary donation of grazing permits and leases in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes
• S. 2996, to provide for the distribution of certain outer Continental Shelf revenues to the State of Alaska, and for other purposes (Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska))
• S. 3046, to codify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to conduct certain landscape-scale forest restoration projects, and for other purposes
• S. 3129, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments of the Gila River system in the State of New Mexico as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, to provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes
• S. 3144, to establish the Sutton Mountain National Monument, to authorize certain land exchanges in the State of Oregon, to convey certain Bureau of Land Management land in the State of Oregon to the city of Mitchell, Oregon, and Wheeler County, Oregon, for conservation, economic, and community development purposes, and for other purposes
• S. 3269, to provide for the recognition of certain Alaska Native communities and the settlement of certain claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and for other purposes;
• S. 3370, to release the reversionary interest of the United States in certain non-Federal land in Salt Lake City, Utah, and for other purposes
• S. 3404, to provide the consent of Congress to an amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Mexico
• S. 3644, to require the collection of certain data relating to Bureau of Land Management land acquisitions, and for other purposes
• S. 3709, to require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out vegetation management projects and timber production projects on certain National Forest System land in the States of Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming, and for other purposes
• S. 3997, to amend the Land Between the Lakes Protection Act of 1998 to clarify the administration of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, and for other purposes
• S. 4062, to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to authorize the sale of certain Federal land to States and units of local government to address housing shortages, and for other purposes
• S. 4080, to modify the boundary of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include certain Federal land in Lake County, California, and for other purposes; and
• S. 4227, to streamline the oil and gas permitting process and to recognize fee ownership for certain oil and gas drilling or spacing units, and for other purposes (Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.))

Opening Remarks

• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Subcommittee Chair, Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests & Mining
• Sen. Mike Lee, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests & Mining

Witness Panel 1

• Nada Culver, Deputy Director, Policy and Programs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Christopher French, Deputy Chief, National Forest System, USDA Forest Service
• Jake Garfield, Deputy Director, Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office
• Dr. Sean McKenna, Executive Director, Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Desert Research Institute
• Jerimiah Rieman, Executive Director, Wyoming County Commissioners Association

The United States and European allies have largely cut Russia out of the global economy following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, given European reliance on Russian natural gas and oil, sweeping energy sanctions have lagged. The European Union spends nearly a billion euros a day on Russian energy, and several EU Member States are struggling to wean themselves off Russian resources in order to implement a full embargo.

This hearing will examine plans to create a Europe that is wholly free from Russian oil and gas. Witnesses will discuss the importance of a robust energy embargo to starving the Russian war machine; options to ensure that Ukraine’s energy needs are met; alternative sources of energy for Europe; and the perspective of Germany, which plays an outsize role as the most powerful economy in Europe and a primary consumer of Russian natural resources.

Witnesses:

• Yuriy Vitrenko, CEO, Naftogaz Ukraine
• Constanze Stelzenmüller, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution
• Benjamin Schmitt, Research Associate, Harvard University, Senior Fellow, Democratic Resilience Program, Center for European Policy Analysis

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Andy Mueller, General Manager, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Glenwood Springs, CO
• Tom Willis, Owner/Manager, Kansas Farmer with the KSU Water Farm, Liberal, KS
• Dr. Courtney Schultz, Associate Professor, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
• Earl Lewis, Chief Engineer, Western States Water Council Manhattan, KS
• Dr. Ellen Herbert, Senior Scientist, Ducks Unlimited, Memphis, TN