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
House Appropriations Committee
Senate Appropriations Committee
Agriculture Subcommittee
2362-A Rayburn
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
House Appropriations Committee
Senate Appropriations Committee
Interior and Environment Subcommittee
B-308 Rayburn
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.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
2167 Rayburn
02/13/2008 at 10:00AM
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
366 Dirksen
02/13/2008 at 09:45AM
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
Brookings Institution
District of Columbia
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
House Appropriations Committee
Senate Appropriations Committee
Interior and Environment Subcommittee
B-308 Rayburn
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])
Environmental and Energy Study Institute
1334 Longworth
02/11/2008 at 02:00PM
Witness
- Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of Interior
House Appropriations Committee
Senate Appropriations Committee
Interior and Environment Subcommittee
B-308 Rayburn
02/07/2008 at 10:00AM
House Energy and Commerce Committee
2123 Rayburn
02/07/2008 at 10:00AM