Hill Heat

Witness

• Ralph Cicerone, president, National Academy of Sciences

Witnesses

Panel 1

• Mark F. Rockefeller, Chairman, Board of Directors, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
• Peter Kareiva, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, The Nature Conservancy
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Perry L. McCarty Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
• John Baughman, Member, Sporting Conservation Council

Panel 2

• Shirley A. Pomponi, Ph.D., Executive Director, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University
• William Jackson, Ph.D., Deputy Director General, IUCN-USA Multilateral Office
• Franklin W. Nutter, President, Reinsurance Association of America
• Brian Rothschild, Ph.D., Montgomery Charter Professor of Marine Science, School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts

The purpose of this oversight hearing is to examine the progress on smart grid initiatives authorized in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and funded in the stimulus bill, and to learn of opportunities and impediments to timely installation of smart grid technologies.

Witnesses

Panel 1

• Suedeen Kelly, Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• Patricia Hoffman, Department of Energy
• Dr. Patrick Gallagher, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Panel 2

• Frederick Butler, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
• Katherine Hamilton, GridWise Alliance
• Edward Lu, Google Inc.
• Evan Gaddis, National Electrical Manufacturers Association

Witnesses

• Robin Nazzaro, GAO director for natural resources and the environment
• Mary Kendall, Interior deputy inspector general

From E&E News:

“This is a pre-budget hearing to get an assessment from [watchdog agencies] on the functioning of the department,” said George Behan, chief of staff to Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.).

Robin Nazzaro, director for natural resources and the environment for the Government Accountability Office, said committee members did not give her any specifics on which issues to address when she testifies. “The focus is just oversight of the Department of Interior so we will talk about a number of areas that we feel are major management challenges for the department based on the work that we’ve done over the last few years,” she said Friday. . . Interior Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall will testify about the many issues of concern to the IG’s office. Kendall is filling in for Inspector General Earl Devaney as he takes a leave to chair a federal watchdog panel overseeing the economic stimulus law.

From February 27-March 2, more than 11,000 student climate leaders descended on Washington, DC to take part in the Power Shift Climate Action Conference and Capitol Hill day of action. Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, held a special Congressional briefing with student leaders on Monday, March 2, 2009, at 1:30 PM, in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building.

The Congressional briefing, entitled “Youth Climate: Green Jobs, Clean Futures,” featured testimony from campus leaders and youth activists whose lives have been impacted by global warming and are meeting the climate challenge by building a clean energy future. Witnesses included a young cancer survivor who is now fighting to curb pollution in her local community, the son of an oil worker who is working to bring green jobs to New Mexico, a United Nations Climate Change youth delegate, a student entrepreneur who started a clean energy fund, and the head of the Energy Action Coalition.

Other Hearings in the Series:

• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: Environmental and Commercial Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: State Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 24, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.

Other Hearings in the Series:

• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: Environmental and Commercial Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: Industrial Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.

The kickoff of the Georgetown State-Federal Climate Resource Center at Georgetown Law will take place on Monday, February 23, 2009, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. on the 12th Floor of the Gewirz Student Center, located on the Georgetown Law campus at 120 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

Gov. Chris Gregoire (D-Wash.) and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.) will deliver remarks at 5:30 p.m. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson will speak at 6:30 p.m.

Speaker: Steven Chu, US Energy Secretary

Please join Platts reporters and other credentialed journalists as Energy Secretary Steven Chu remarks on the President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment plan. Chu was confirmed by the US Senate in January as the 12th energy secretary, after having been the director of DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. A scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, Chu has devoted his recent career to the search for new solutions to energy challenges and stopping global climate change.

Please contact Nancy Covey at Platts at [email protected].

Location: McGraw-Hill/Platts, Washington Office, 1200 G St., NW, Ste. 1000