Hill Heat

This hearing will review Bipartisan Infrastructure Law policies and investments that would improve grid resilience and consider which additional climate investments are needed.

• Nancy Sutley, Senior Assistant General Manager of External and Regulatory Affairs & Chief Sustainability Officer, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. Sutley oversees conservation, regulatory, and sustainability efforts for the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving 4 million residents. She previously served as Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, where she was one of the chief architects of President Obama’s 2013 Climate Action Plan.

• Dr. Karen Wayland, Chief Executive Officer, GridWise Alliance. An expert in energy and environmental policy, Wayland leads a diverse group of stakeholders supporting grid modernization. During the Obama Administration, she oversaw the development of strategies for working with state and local governments at the Department of Energy. Wayland also previously served as Senior Advisor for Domestic Energy Policy to the Deputy Secretary of Energy.

• Katherine Hamilton, Chair, 38 North Solutions; Chair, Global Future Council on Clean Electrification, World Economic Forum. At 38 North Solutions, Hamilton provides public policy and business development services to clean energy companies and organizations. An international clean energy policy expert, she has led several councils of the World Economic Forum. Hamilton previously led buildings research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and designed grids for Virginia Power.

• Mark Mills, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute; Faculty Fellow, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science & Co-Director, Institute on Manufacturing Science and Innovation, Northwestern University. A former experimental physicist and engineer, Mills has provided science and technology policy counsel to numerous private-sector firms, the Department of Energy, and U.S. research laboratories. He previously served in the White House Science Office under President Reagan.

The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will hold a Business Meeting to consider pending business of committee.

• S.1617, to modify the requirements for the Administrator of the Small Business Administration relating to declaring a disaster in a rural area
• S.2042, to reauthorize the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise
• S.2521, to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish an SBIC Working Group
• H.R.3462, to require an annual report on the cybersecurity of the Small Business Administration.

Hearing page

Witness:

• Michele J. Sison, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Dr. Shawn Wilson, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
• Victoria Sheehan, Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Transportation
• Joung Lee, Deputy Director and Chief Policy Officer, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
• Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP, Michigan State University
• Mark McClymonds, President, McClymonds Supply & Transit Co., Inc

The Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 11:30 a.m via Cisco Webex.

Briefing memo

Witnesses

• J. Christian Bollwage, Mayor, The City of Elizabeth, NJ, On behalf of U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities
• Michael Largent, Commissioner, Whitman County Board of Commissioners Whitman County, WA, On behalf of National Association of Counties
• Lee Ilan, Chief of Planning, Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation, The City of New York, NY, On behalf of National Brownfields Coalition
• Jason Seyler, Brownfields Coordinator, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, On behalf of Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO)
• Patrick B. Ford, Business Development Director, Frontier Group of Companies

The Committee on Natural Resources will hold a virtual, fully remote Full Committee legislative hearing on the following legislation:

• H.R. 2021 (Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-AZ) To restore, reaffirm, and reconcile environmental justice and civil rights, and for other purposes. Environmental Justice For All Act.

Witnesses:

• Nicky Sheats, director of the Center for the Urban Environment at the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University
• Laura Cortez, co-executive director of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.
• Amy Laura Cahn, acting director for the Environmental Justice Clinic at Vermont Law School.

Republican Witness:

• Harry K. Brower Jr., Mayor, North Slope Borough, Alaska

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the opportunities and challenges in using “clean” hydrogen in the transportation, utility, industrial, commercial, and residential sectors.

Witnesses:

• Dr. Sunita Satyapal, Director, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, Hydrogen Program Coordinator, U.S. Department of Energy
• Dr. Glen Richard Murrell, Executive Director, Wyoming Energy Authority
• Mike Fowler, Director, Advanced Energy Technology Research, Clean Air Task Force
• Michael J. Graff, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
• Brian Hlavinka, Vice President, New Energy Ventures, Corporate Strategic Development, Williams

Business meeting to consider the

• Nomination of Shalanda D. Young to be Director, Office of Management and Budget;
• Nomination of Nani A. Coloretti to be Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget;
• Nomination of Dimitri Kusnezov to be Under Secretary for Science & Technology, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The purpose of the hearing is to review the implementation of the Great American Outdoors Act.

Witnesses:

• Shannon Estenoz, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Chris French, Deputy Chief, National Forest System, USDA Forest Service

In a business meeting, the committee will consider the following:

• Nomination of Glenna Wright-Gallo to be Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the Department of Education
• Nomination of Christopher Williamson to be Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health at the Department of Labor
• Nomination of Mary Lu Jordan to be a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
• Nomination of Timothy (T.J.) Baker to be a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

A proud Appalachian and native of the coalfields of southern West Virginia, Williamson currently serves as Senior Counsel to Chairman Lauren McFerran of the National Labor Relations Board. Prior to joining the NLRB, he served in the Obama-Biden Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor as a member of the senior leadership team at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. In that role, he advised the Assistant Secretary for MSHA on all aspects of agency policy, operations, and communications.

Before his service at MSHA, Williamson worked in the United States Senate as Labor Counsel to Chairman Tom Harkin on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Joe Manchin III. As Labor Counsel, he advised Chairman Harkin and Committee Members on labor, occupational and mine safety and health, and black lung benefits and other workers’ compensation issues. Serving on Senator Manchin’s Legislative Team, Williamson was the Senator’s primary policy advisor on labor, mine safety and health, pensions, and agriculture issues and also advised him on energy and environmental policy, including Senator Manchin’s work on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Mary Jordan was appointed as a Commissioner on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission in 1994 and has served in that capacity almost continuously since then. She has served as Chair of the Commission from 1994 to 2001, from 2009 to 2014, and from 2015 to 2017. Her most recent term as Commissioner ended on August 30, 2020 and since then she has served as Senior Attorney-Advisor at the Commission.

Ms. Jordan was employed as Senior Staff Attorney at the United Mine Workers of America from 1977 to 1994. She is a graduate of Saint Bonaventure University and Antioch Law School and is a member of the New York and D.C. Bar.

Williamson began his career in public service as an attorney-advisor to Administrative Law Judge Jacqueline R. Bulluck at the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. He earned a Juris Doctor from the West Virginia University College of Law, a Master of Public Policy from American University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from West Virginia University. Williamson is originally from Dingess in Mingo County, West Virginia, and currently resides with his wife and children in Crofton, Maryland.

Timothy (T.J.) Baker is currently the Associate General Counsel of the United Mine Workers of America and has been with the Union since 2018. From 2012 to 2018, he worked for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, first as an attorney-advisor in the Office of Administrative Law Judges in Pittsburgh and then as an attorney-advisor in the Office of the Commissioners in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Washington and Lee University School of Law. At Washington and Lee, he participated in the third-year Black Lung Clinic, seeking to obtain benefits for miners afflicted with occupational lung disease. Baker is the son of a coal miner. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with his wife Laura and their children, Lydia and Jon.