Hill Heat

From E&E News:

Overall, the fiscal 2009 USDA budget would cut discretionary spending by 4.8 percent. The major increases in the budget would go to food assistance programs to cover the growing number of people who qualify for food stamps and other aid programs. Two of the hardest hit areas of the budget would be research and conservation, which would each see budget cuts of almost 15 percent.

The administration’s proposal would cut more than 10 percent from USDA’s research budget, which includes a wide range of programs, from livestock safety to farm-based energy, biotechnology and food safety. USDA Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner said last week that the cuts came from wiping out congressional earmarks for different research projects.

The White House also made what has become an annual effort to zero out funding for a number of discretionary programs it says are redundant, including local watershed surveys and flood prevention programs. The Bush administration has tried to eliminate the programs in previous years, but congressional appropriators have restored them each year. DeLauro noted she plans to restore the funds again this year.

This year the administration also targeted a popular renewable energy program in its spending cuts for the first time. The budget includes no funding for grants or loans for the “Section 9006” renewable energy program, which gives money to help farmers improve energy efficiency on their farms and develop small on-farm business ventures in wind, solar, biomass or geothermal energy.

The House and Senate both proposed large increases for the renewable energy program in last year’s farm bill and appropriations measures, and the administration had proposed expanding it in the farm bill. USDA included it this year in a list of programs that “serve limited purposes for which financing and other assistance is available.”

Witness

• Edward Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture

02/13/2008 at 10:00AM

From E&E News:

The agency’s fire suppression efforts would get a $148 million increase – to just under $1 billion – under the plan, a total based on the 10-year average of fire suppression costs. Last year, the Forest Service spent $1.4 billion fighting fires, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

The Bush administration budget proposal would provide $297 million for projects to reduce hazardous fuels, down from $310 million in fiscal 2008. Fire preparedness would fall to $588 million from $666 million in fiscal 2008.

Several lawmakers last week slammed the proposed budget, saying it overemphasizes firefighting at the cost of fire prevention and forest restoration. . . Kimbell will be the sole witness before House appropriators on Wednesday. The chairman of the Interior subcommittee, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), was also highly critical of the agency’s proposed budget cuts.

The Forest Legacy Program, which helps conserve threatened private forests, would be reduced $40 million, to $12.5 million. The budget would also eliminate $40 million that Dicks placed in the fiscal 2008 budget for road decommissioning and reclamation.

“The Forest Service has just gotten crushed,” Dicks said in an interview last week. “It’s cut 16 percent … and they don’t have enough money over there to do the trail work, the road work, the forestry with the states, the conservation.”

Witness

• Abigail R. Kimbell, Chief, U.S. Forest Service

02/13/2008 at 10:00AM

The committee held an earlier hearing on the recommendations.

Witnesses

Panel I

• Mary Peters, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation

Panel II

• Pete Rahn, Director of the Missouri Department of Transportation and President, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
• Christopher Boylan, Vice Chair, Government Relations, American Public Transportation Association and Deputy Executive Director, Corporate Affairs and Communications, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
• Randall Mullett, Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs, Con-Way, Inc.

02/13/2008 at 10:00AM

02/13/2008 at 09:45AM

02/12/2008 at 11:00AM

America’s Energy Future: Carbon, Competition, and Kilowatts: An Address by John Rowe, President and CEO, Exelon Corporation

On February 12, the Brookings Institution will host John W. Rowe, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Exelon Corporation, the country’s largest electric and gas utility and largest nuclear operator, for a discussion of critical energy challenges facing the United States.

Rowe is regarded as one of the utility industry’s leading voices on energy and public policy. He has a long history of participating in collaborative efforts with policymakers and key stakeholders in fashioning pragmatic solutions to energy challenges, at both the federal and state levels. Rowe has served as a co-chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy as well as the Edison Electric Institute; he currently serves as chair of the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Rowe will share his views and recommendations on the pressing and inter-related challenges that must be addressed to meet this country’s growing energy needs in an environmentally responsible manner, including: global climate change and emerging federal legislative energy initiatives; the case for competitive wholesale markets in the electric industry and the risks of returning to traditional state regulation; the need for more low-carbon nuclear power and the roadblocks to its expanded use; and general observations on managing energy politics at the national, state, and community levels.

After the program, Mr. Rowe will take audience questions.

Participants

Introduction and Moderator

• David B. Sandalow, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy

Featured Speaker

• John Rowe, President and CEO, Exelon Corporation

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

02/12/2008 at 10:30AM

Witnesses * Dr. Anthony L. Westerling, University of California, Merced * Dr. Roger B. Hammer, Department of Sociology, Oregon State University * Albert C. Hyde, Consultant, Brookings Institution’s Center for Executive Education * Robin Nazzarro, Director for Natural Resources and Environment, GAO * Kathleen Tighe, Deputy Inspector General, USDA * Kirk M. Rowdabaugh, President, National Association of State Foresters and Arizona State Forester * James Cason, Asst. Secretary for Policy & Budget, Department of Interior * Mark E. Rey, Under Secretary for Natural Resources & Environment, USDA

02/12/2008 at 10:00AM

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to learn about the likely effects that global climate change will have on the structure, function, and ecological dynamics of forest ecosystems in the United States. As Congress discusses climate change policies and legislation, it is important to develop a better understanding of these impacts.

Panel

• Dr. Anthony C. Janetos, Director, The Joint Global Change Research Institute
• Dr. Allen M. Solomon, National Program Leader for Global Change Research, U.S. Forest Service
• Dr. Anthony L. Westerling, Assistant Professor, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, UC Merced

Changes in average annual temperature, precipitation, length and timing of the growing seasons, and other climate-related factors can result in a number of both short- and long-term changes to forests, including altered growth rates, changes in stand structure and dynamics, and shifts in geographic distribution of both individual tree species and forest types. In addition to these direct effects, climate change has the potential to indirectly change the structure and dynamics of the entire forest ecosystem by affecting insect infestations, wildfire patterns, and other key processes and components of forested landscapes. In 2005, mortality due to mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) alone affected over 3 million acres, and this number is rapidly increasing over a significant portion of the intermountain West. Recent studies have tied both increases in catastrophic wildfires and the rapid expansion of bark beetle infestations to climate change. These changes will have dramatic and far-reaching effects on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, water management, and recreation and tourism, as well as the multi-billion dollar forest products industry in the United States.

This briefing is part of an EESI initiative focusing on sustainable forest bioenergy. To adequately assess the role that forests can play in addressing climate change, it is critical that we first have a firm understanding of the effects that climate change will have on forests. Biomass assessments and carbon sequestration formulae that pre-suppose static forest dynamics and processes will inevitably result in unreliable conclusions. As one of the key elements of the global carbon cycle, it is essential that the dynamic interaction between forests and climate must be taken into account when discussing bioenergy, carbon sequestration, afforestation or other forest-based solutions to climate change.

This briefing is open to the public and no reservations are required. For more information, contact Jetta Wong at 202-662-1885 ([email protected]) or Jesse Caputo at 202-662-1882 ([email protected])

02/11/2008 at 02:00PM

Witness

• Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of Interior

02/07/2008 at 10:00AM

02/07/2008 at 10:00AM