Join fellow climate activists to sit in on the 10:15 am House Natural Resources Committee markup as they push a dangerous plan to expand oil and gas drilling on public lands. Let’s show up and make it clear that we stand against oil & gas expansion. RSVP
Energy & Environment Summit
The Hill’s Energy & Environment Summit is set to take place on May 6, in Washington, D.C. Since Jan. 20, the White House has declared a national energy emergency, exited the Paris agreements and established the National Energy Dominance Council.
Join us as we gather leaders in government, sustainability and global energy solutions to discuss how the rapidly changing policies will affect the future of U.S. energy and the environment.
Agenda
- 8:15am: Registration & Networking Breakfast
- 9am: Welcome Remarks, Bill Sammon, SVP Editorial Content, The Hill & NewsNation
- 9:03am: U.S. Energy Dominance, Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) in conversation with Mike Viqueira
- 9:20am: Clean Energy Commitment, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in conversation with Mike Viqueira
- 9:40am: Panel - Energy Policies & Priorities, Alice Hill, Lesley Jantarasami, Sean Gallagher in conversation with Rachel Frazin
- 10:00am: Cusp of American Energy Expansion, Heather Reams in conversation with Mike Viqueira
- 10:15am: In-person Coffee Break/Virtual Debrief, Alex Gangitano, The Hill’s White House Reporter & Rachel Frazin discuss takeaways from the morning session
- 10:30am: Panel - Conservative Youth View of Energy & the Environment, Chris Barnard, Pavan Venkatakrishnan in conversation with Rachel Frazin
- 10:50am: The Case for Environmental Protection, Christine Todd Whitman in conversation with Mike Viqueira
- 11:10am: Panel - Accelerating the Shift to Sustainable Transportation, Rebecca Higgins, Elaine Buckberg, Albert Gore in conversation with Rachel Frazin
- 11:45am: Event Concludes
Presented by Climate Power
Speakers:
- Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Co-Chair, Senate Climate Change Task Force; Member, Senate Environment & Public Works Committee
- Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), Vice Chair, House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy
- Christine Todd Whitman, Former Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); President, Whitman Strategy Group
- Chris Barnard, President, American Conservation Coalition
- Elaine Buckberg, Senior Fellow, Salata Institute for Climate & Sustainability, Harvard University; Former Chief Economist, General Motors
- Sean Gallagher, SVP – Policy, Solar Energy Industries Association
- Rebecca Higgins, VP – Policy, Eno Center for Transportation
- Alice Hill, Senior Fellow – Energy & Environment, Council on Foreign Relations
- Lesley Jantarasami, VP – Research & Industry Strategy, Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA)
- Albert Gore III, Executive Director, Zero Emission Transportation Association
- Heather Reams, President, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions
- Pavan Venkatakrishnan, Infrastructure Fellow, Institute For Progress
HOSTS:
- Bill Sammon, SVP – Editorial Content, The Hill & NewsNation
- Mike Viqueira, Washington Bureau Chief, NewsNation
- Rachel Frazin, Energy & Environment Reporter, The Hill
- Alex Gangitano, White House Reporter, The Hill
Vote on Nomination of Stephen Vaden to be Deputy Secretary and Tyler Clarkson to be General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture
Full committee business meeting to vote on nominees in conjunction with floor vote. Rescheduled from April 29th.
Nominees:
- Stephen Vaden, of Tennessee, to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, vice Xochitl Torres Small, resigned
- Tyler Clarkson, of Virginia, to be General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture, vice Janie Simms Hipp
The nomination hearing took place on April 8.
05/05/2025 at 05:30PM
Nomination of Paul Dabbar to be Deputy Secretary of Commerce for global trade and technology
Full committee hearing.
Nominee:
- Paul Dabbar, of New York, to be Deputy Secretary of Commerce for global trade and technology
Dabbar is Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Bohr Quantum Technology, a company developing quantum networking systems. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. During the first presidency of Donald Trump, he was a United States Department of Energy Under Secretary, serving as Under Secretary of Energy for Science. As a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan, leading various energy business areas, he had over $400 billion in investment experience across all energy sectors including solar, wind, geothermal, distributed-generation, utility, LNG, pipeline, oil & gas, trading, and energy technologies, and has also led the majority of all nuclear transactions. In addition, he had a senior leadership role for the company’s commodity trading business, including power, oil and gas.
Dabbar is a ClearPath advisor.
05/01/2025 at 10:00AM
Examining Insurance Markets and the Role of Mitigation Policies
The full committee is conducting a hearing on “Examining Insurance Markets and the Role of Mitigation Policies.”
Witnesses:
- Robert Gordon, Senior Vice President, Policy, Research & International, American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)
- Alex Epstein, President and Founder, Center for Industrial Progress
- Michael Newman, General Counsel, Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS)
- Jessica Pyska, Supervisor, County of Lake, California
Alex Epstein is a fossil-fuel advocate and climate denier.
Gordon testimony: “Property losses are likely to continue to increase with demographic shift, inflation, climate change, and regulatory costs.”
Newman testimony: “Recent years have seen a marked increase in the frequency and severity of damaging severe weather.”
Pyska testimony: “If Congress intends to uphold the goals of pre-disaster mitigation and protect communities nationwide from escalating climate risks, immediate action is needed.”
05/01/2025 at 10:00AM
Documentary: Exposing the Unspoken: Behind the Power 4 Southern People NOT Southern Company Movement
The Palm Collective and Debt for Climate DC present “Exposing the Unspoken: Behind the Power 4 Southern People NOT Southern Company Movement”. A Documentary by Arm in Arm & The People’s Justice Council.
Time and time again, the dirty energy economy — the extraction and burning of fossil fuels and nuclear energy — sacrifices those most vulnerable. Profit-obsessed corporations and the politicians who do their bidding use, abuse, and discard our communities. Southern Company is at the root of a system that values shareholders and company CEOs’ bottom lines instead of the communities they serve in the Southeast across Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. By weaponizing their influence and resources, they have been able to manipulate legislators to actively deny the climate crisis and dismantle our democracy and reproductive rights. They discard their toxic waste in our backyards and charge us prices we can’t afford. Company money is embedded across each state’s legislature, and they are not held accountable. As discussions are taking place about how we transition the U.S. energy future to a system that is just and accessible for all, Southern Company’s practices and the politicians that shield them should be held up as predatory and detrimental to our communities and future.
Solidarity City
5 Columbus Monument Drive Northeast, Washington, DC
Pro-Fossil Fuel Legislation
The Subcommittee on Energy will hold a hearing on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at 10:15 a.m. (ET) in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled, “Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation.”
Legislation:
- H.R. ____, Electric Supply Chain Act
- H.R. ____, Reliability Protection for States Act
- H.R. ____, State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act
- H.R. ____, Hydropower Relicensing Transparency Act
- H.R. ____, National Coal Council Reestablishment Act
- H.R. ____, Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act
- H.R. ____, Researching Efficient Federal Improvements for Necessary Energy Refining Act (REFINER) Act
- H.R. ____, Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act
- H.R. 1949, Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025 (Rep. Pfluger)
- H.R. ____, Improving Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act
- H.R. ____, Expediting Generator Interconnection Procedures Act of 2025
- H.R. ____, Reliable Power Act
- H.R. 1047, GRID Power Act (Rep. Balderson)
- H.R. ____, Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025
Witnesses:
Panel 1
- Mike Goff, Acting Undersecretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
- David L. Morenoff, Acting General Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- Terry Turpin, Director, Office of Energy Projects, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Panel 2
- Jim Matheson, Chief Executive Officer, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
- Amy Andryszak, President & Chief Executive Officer, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America
- Todd A. Snitchler, President & Chief Executive Officer, Electric Power Supply Association
- Kim Smaczniak, Partner, Roselle LLP
04/30/2025 at 10:15AM
Vote on nomination of Jared Isaacman for NASA, Permanent Time Zone Shift, PFAS, Weather and AI, NASA Privatization, Crypto, and more
Full committee executive session.
Nominees:
- Olivia Trusty, of Maryland, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission
- Jared Isaacman, of Pennsylvania, to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Coast Guard Promotion (PN 114)
The nomination hearing for Isaacson and Trusty took place on April 9th.
Olivia Trusty reported favorably 21-7.
Isaacman reported favorably 19-9. The four Democratic yes votes were Senators Maria Cantwell (Washington), Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), John Hickenlooper (Colorado) and Andy Kim (New Jersey).
Legislation:
- S. 29, Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (Scott-FL), to permanently shift U.S. time zones to Daylight Saving Time, was supported 16-12, but only ten supporters were present, so the bill was not reported. Republicans Ted Cruz (Texas), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Ted Budd (N.C.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.) Bernie Moreno (Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va.), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), and Democrats Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), and Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) were present and voted aye, with ayes by proxy from Republican John Curtis (Utah) and Democrats Ed Markey (Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (Wisc.), Hickenlooper (Colo.), John Fetterman (Pa.), and Andy Kim (N.J.). The nos were Republicans John Thune (S.D.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Jerry Moran (Kans.), Todd Young (Ind.), Tim Sheehy (Mont.) and Democrats Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), and Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.).
- S. 191, Licensing Individual Commercial Exam-takers Now Safely and Efficiently (LICENSE) Act of 2025 (Lummis), to relax certain requirements related to commercial driver’s license` (CDL) testing
- S. 196, Mitigating Automated Internet Networks (MAIN) for Event Ticketing Act (Blackburn), to limit automated ticket scalping
- S. 259, Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (Fischer), to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to annually publish a list of entities that hold a license or other authorization granted by the FCC and have ties to China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, or Venezuela
- S. 320, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2025 (Padilla)
- S. 580, Combating CCP Labor Abuses Act of 2025 (Peters), to require the Secretary of Commerce to provide training and guidance relating to human rights abuses, including such abuses perpetrated against the Uyghur population by China
- S. 606, Contaminated Wells Relocation Act (Kaine), to authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to reimburse the Town of Chincoteague, Virginia, for costs directly associated with the removal and replacement of drinking water wells contaminated with PFAS
- S. 688, Federally Integrated Species Health (FISH) Act of 2025 (Sullivan), to consolidate the management and regulation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), with respect to anadromous species, within the Fish and Wildlife Service
- S. 725, Enhancing First Response Act (Klobuchar), to ensure Americans can reach help when they dial 9-1-1 during natural disasters
- S. 769, United States Research Protection Act of 2025 (Cornyn), to remove ambiguity in what qualifies as a malign foreign talent program under the CHIPS and Science Act
- S. 1003, Lulu’s Law (Britt), to require the Federal Communications Commission to include a shark attack as an event for which a wireless emergency alert may be transmitted
- S. 1081, Comprehensive NASA Reporting Act of 2025 (Cruz), to require copies of all NASA reports to Congress be sent to the Science committees
- S. 1278, Fog Observations and Geographic Forecasting Act (Cruz), to require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to conduct a project to improve forecasts of coastal marine fog
- S. 1378, Transformational Artificial intelligence to Modernize the Economy (TAME) against Extreme Weather and Wildfires Act (Schatz), to partner with the private and academic sectors on AI weather and wildfire forecasting
- S. 1433, Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2025 (Murray), to promote the protection of the resources of the Northwest Straits
- S. 1437, Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries (ASCEND) Act (Hickenlooper, Cornyn), to privatize space-based and airborne Earth remote sensing data, services, distribution, and applications wherever possible
- S. 1492, Deploying American Blockchains Act of 2025 (Moreno, Blunt Rochester), to promote the adoption of blockchain technology
04/30/2025 at 10:00AM
Advancing Federal Water and Hydropower Development: A Stakeholder Perspective
On Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight hearing titled “Advancing Federal Water and Hydropower Development: A Stakeholder Perspective.”
Witnesses:
- Michelle Bushman, Deputy Director and General Counsel (Democratic Witness), Western States Water Council, Murray, UT
- Jim Webb, President and CEO, Lower Valley Energy, Afton, WY
- Jonathan Haswell, Chief Business Officer, OceanWell LLC, Woodside, CA
- Patrick Sigl, Director of Water and Natural Resources Law, Salt River Project, Phoenix, AZ
04/30/2025 at 10:00AM
Building on the IIJA’s Successes: Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen Water Infrastructure Programs
Full committee hearing.
Witnesses:
- Tom Goulette, City Administrator/Utility Superintendent, West Point, Nebraska, on behalf of the Nation Rural Water Association
- Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Chief Executive Officer, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, on behalf of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies
- Eric J. Oswald, Director, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division
04/30/2025 at 10:00AM